This may sound a bit silly to ask but....(HERMS)

[MrWibble]

I'm lurking about getting ideas for a HERMS rig. In learning the normal path most builders follow, I had a thought. Durring doughing in and mash recirculation, there is a need to stir a lot to prevent channeling. I wondered if instead of drawing wort off the bottom, circulated through the hex, and being dumped on top perhaps doing the opposite would have some benefits. What if hot wort was pumped from the bottom and the pump drew from the top? would a march pump have the force to disturb the grains to keep a bit of movement and maybe remove the need for stirring? Maybe assist in higher efficiency? Could this cause over sparging?

Just my natural curiosity is getting very active thanks to this bad a$$ hobby!

 

[Gwitz]

Certainly an interesting idea. If you had a outlet near the top of the grainbed with a screen that could keep out the floating bits of grain without clogging it could perhaps work.

I have march pumps and my MT has a bottom drain, i pump strike water over and its an ok little splash but it isnt terribly forceful. But i dont think the potential for stiring would be the only advantage. I have to run my pumps thottled by a ball valve so it doesnt compact the grainbed to the point of 0 flow. This way i could run as fast as i want to heat the mash up with my herms! Intriguing. Might give it a try.

 

[Walker]

You're making this too complicated. There is no need at all to stir during recirculation.

To prevent channeling, you can either put some sort of sprayer on the hose that returns wort to the MLT (like this) or just have a good length of hose laying down into the MLT. That silicon hose floats and will result in your returning wort flowing in a horizontal direction into the MLT and not busting straight down through the grain.

 

[MrWibble]

Gwitz, thats kinds what I was thinking. By preventing compaction from the get go may be handy. plus i was hopping that by trying to keep the grain in a state of liquifaction more sugar would be availible. then a normal gentle sparge without it getting stuck. I plan on using quick disconects after valves when I build my rig so I may try it and see what happens. maybe place a manifold under the false bottom that will have upward facing nozzles to keep the grain moving.

 

[Cape Brewing]

While i kind of agree with Walker, one minor benefit might be a decreased probability of a stuck mash. Fine particles tend to settle out at the bottom of the tun during the mash and clog the drainage (hence the "stuck") If you are feeding the tun from the bottom, in theory you would be pumping this sentiment away from the drain (false bottom, manifold, etc)

If course... I dont know how the hell you're gonna run off the wort once you're done mashing. You have to pull it from the bottom at that point anyway.

 

[MrWibble]

I was thinking a separate manifold for the recirculation then a separate drain for transfer to the BK. Just not sure the extra cost would be worth the effort. Another down side might be if the upward direction of wort might push the hulls up and may make it even easier to get a stuck sparge. I gues i'll have to play the mad scientist and see what happens. worst case senario i get a stuck sparge and never do it again!