vorlauf

[funnycreature]

I pour the Vorlauf gently down the inside of the cooler at the opposite end to the valve. It will create some kind of disturbance but it won't affect the grain bed filter too much.

 

[kombat]

I have a coleman cooler and short SS braid. I vorluaf ~1 gallon then pour towards the back of the cooler.

I run a tight mill and the grain compacts really well and I by pouring slowly towards the back of the cooler, it doesn't disrupt the grain bed near the braid.

This is exactly what I do too, except my cooler has a bazooka screen instead of a SS braid.

It's less of an issue while sparging, because the surface is entirely liquid and absorbs the splashing better, but during the mash, the consistency is much thicker, and pouring the wort back in inevitably disturbs some of the grain bed (toward the far end of the cooler, opposite end from the screen/outlet port, at least).

 

[Yesfan]

no

First runnings will be quite clear enough.

Recirculating slowly to set the bed and filter the wort is one of those traditions homebrewers have inherited from probrewers. It makes a lot of sense when you're staring at a 30 barrel pot of murky wort, and for those of us using conventional systems that still need filtration help from a grain bed. BIAB is an engineered solution to that problem.

My last few batches have been a bit on the cloudy side, so that's why I was asking. I was thinking on the next batch, since a BIAB's mash is a lot more slurry, about draining the contents to a second vessel until I established the grain bed. Then at some point the collected wort would be returned through the grain bed to filter it out. Then pull the grains.

Either that or raise the bag (which sits in a perforated basket) up to a point where I could recirculate.

 

[msa8967]

For those brewers using a stainless steel braided hose I have been placing the hose section inside of a voile cover (the material I use for making BIAB sacks). I secure the open end of the voile sock with a plastic zip tie. I have never had a stuck sparge and get very clear runnings from the first discharge from the mashtun. The voile socks can be reused. If you don't want to make your own voile socks the you can use a longer pair of boiled panty hose. I have used this method for wheat beers through stouts with an average eff of 75%. My smallest batch was 4 gallons and the largest has been 13 gallons.