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THE DRUNK ARAB

Zen Arcade
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Gidday everyone, I am upgrading my mash tun to a 10 gallon rubbermaid (round cooler). I will be building a manifold and wan't to know of practical experience with such, what efficiencies do you get, any probs with run-off , do the dead mice that come with Adelaide tap water block the flow etc? B)
I have read John Palmers article on manifolds BTW.

Cheers and bollocks
TDA
 
TDA, I made mine from a bit of annealed copper same size as your plumbing. Bent it around a round tin and poked the ends into a T piece (no need to weld as it is quite snug). The takeoff out of the T is just another bent bit of copper which fits snugly into the hole drilled in the plastic bucked behind the tap.

Hacksawed lots of slits on the underside. I'm happy with it, no stuck sparges even with my Porkert mill grinding the malt. I reckon it would take 6 - 10 dead mice to block the sucker :eek: . Efficiencies have been right on 75% fairly consistenly. If I sparged slower I may get better but who cares for now.

One idea at least, there is a pic on this thread.
 
TDA

I have a Rubbermaid 10 gallon round Mash tun - bought from Grumpys brand new for 150.00.

I use a 304 SS False Bottom with 1mm holes sold by St Pats for 20.00USD. It is only10inch though - 12 inch fits better - mate uses the plastic 12 inch Phills False Bottom - smaller holes than the Phills ss.

I have a ss elbow flange/nut config that goes thru the FB onto a 1/2 inch Beer line vinyl tube.
Connected to this is a SS nut and tail onto my SS Ball valve - fittings supplied cheap from my mate in Canberra.

Come by some time and check it out.
 
tda
you could also try making up something similar to the bazooka screens.i fashioned one up out of a s/s colander screen.still waiting for my grain order to arrive to go full mash but used it for partials and it appeared to work a treat.
 
big d, I have been using a bazooka screen for over a year and although it is okay I reckon my efficiency has suffered. i have a friend who has made his own manifold and he gets near 80% efficiency. I get 65% :(
Plus I feel the urge to make something for The Drunk Arab Brewery :rolleyes:
Thanks for the suggestions one and all.
GMK, I will make it to the Barossa sometime this year and that's a promise :blink:

Cheers and bollocks
TDA
 
it may or may not be relevant tda but ive been reading abit that the grain crush can have an effect on efficiency.worth a thought if your efficiency is low.
 
Getting low efficiency does not mean it is your manifold.

Jayce and i GET ON AVERAGE 80%

HOWEVEY WE DO TAKE ABOUT AN HOUR TO SPARGE.

Have a close look at your process. Stick a thermometer in more often. And not just on top. The temp on top will always be higher of that of the bottom. (heat rises).

And dont be afraid to slow down the sparge. It wont matter as much as people say.
Our beer ends up excelent.

Also dont be afraid to use a little extra water. Yes the hydrometer will have a lowwer reading but you vcan boil it down to half the size even quarter without loosing extracted sugars. Therefore being stronger in the long run.
 
TDA,
Ever thought of one of these for a manifold.

The other day a plumber was working at our work and replaced one of these stainless covered water lines , I grabbed to old one and cut the fittings off the ends.
Then grabbed the rubber tube ,( which is inside ) with the vice and pulled it out.

I was going to use this one in my boiler but my also use one in my mash tun , they look good.

Just a 'T' and couple of stainless hose clamps and away you go
 
Batz

I have seen some of these work very well.
Being Stainless also helps....
 
i believe those larger ss braided pressure hoses with the guts ripped out work well.
was eyeing of a 1" unit last night thinking mmmmmm so many possibilities.
 
I think with people you and me , and most others on this site big d,
We will never really finish an AG system , just contistantly improve
upon it

Shit ! That sounds like what they feed us at work !! :blink:
 
my manifold, drilled rather than slotted, works great.

These ss braided hoses interest me, snaked all over the surface of the grain bed would make a shit hot sparge arm, I reckon. with a collar around the mastun for the sparge hose to go through, mebbe a sight tube and i can mash out and sparge without opening the lid!

Jovial Monk
 
That's it JM !

Top idea , that's what I am going to do , been a bit stuck on what to use there
 
between you and me batz those long 12 hour night shifts give us plenty of time to do our home brew magic.so many shiny things with so much possibilty.now what i would really like to do is score some copper sheet, have it rolled to suit my hlt and boiler and form a little chimney and polish it and turn it into minature brewery copper kettle and mash tun like those u-beaut breweries have.
now ive let the cat out of the bag.
anyway that is my dream kinda like a scaled down version of the big ones.
reckon that would look the grouse.

cheers
big d
chief brewer
big d,s brewhaus
visionary and part time fabricator of brewery stuff
 
Here's my manifold, for what it's worth. Yes, it is crooked, but it works great. I've used a lot of oats and wheat in some recipes and have never had a stuck sparge.

Cheers - Snow

Tun_manifold.JPG
 
I have a fair bit of SS mesh, very fine holes <1mm, probably <0.5mm. I plan to incorporate this in my mash tun and kettle in the near future. Will let everyone know how it goes.
 
Hoops

If you have enough i would like a small 200mm - will confirm size later - circle to use as a filter on my kettle.

Let me know what i would owe you and if you have enough.
 
Hoops,

Where might one obtain this mesh you speak of? I am just about finished my project but require a false bottom.
 
I am currently away with work until about mid May but when I get back i will check exactly how much I have.
I priced some a while ago but it was way too expensive to justify for my homebrewery but I bought this stuff recently on e-bay. The sheets are around 40cm X 70cm and are like a very thick strong flywire. The mesh is flexible and the holes are extremely small - I think it would be impossible to get a stuck mash.
 
Snow,
I feel like reaching in there and straighting that up for you
 
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