QldKev's New Biab With Internal Rims

[marksy]

Cool, good replies. Could you in theory add all the water at the start? Then just lift the malt out?

Pros/Cons?

 

[dannymars]

I've either lifted the malt pot/pipe out and transferred the outlet hose to a bucket of 75C water.. (making sure to keep the pump primed etc)... OR have just lifted the malt-pipe out and poured the contents of the bucket in... have noticed no real difference in the two methods.. .and would happily do a no sparge, however if my recirc/mash water volume is too large I feel that the liquid between the main pot and the pipe doesn't move around enough and thus gets cold... (I've check with a thermometer and confirmed).. I have a HERMS which doesn't get all the liquid passing through if I have too much liquid in the mash.

Heating the pot directly worked, but it's a PITA to ride the gas throughout the whole mash.

 

[Matplat]

I'm about to make a system like this, and I am planning on using my stc-1000 to control mash temp.

Has anyone else done the same? would you put the sensor in the actual mash bed or just hang it in the pot outside the malt pipe?

I was originally thinking of only having one return into the malt pipe, but from what i've read having a second return/whirlpool is pretty important, however at the moment I only have an LBP equivalent which supposedly flows 10 L/min, will this be enough to supply both returns?

Sorry if these questions have been asked earlier in the thread....

Cheers, Matt

 

[QldKev]

My system started life with a stc-1000, heaps better than trying to control it manually. I put my temperature sensor in the wort return.

Lots of brewers especially BIAB brewers brew for years without the second return flowing against the heating element, it is just insurance. I kind of like that warm and fuzzy feeling it gives me. I think a lot of it will come down to the heat density of the heating element. With 10 lpm I think I would leave out the bottom return, but someone else may be able to chip in who has tried it with the smaller pumps.

 

[Matplat]

Yeah, I was initially thinking of putting the outflow to the pump either next to the heater terminal, or directly opposite (with the heater element pointing at it) to encourage flow around the element thinking that would be enough, but all this talk of scorching got me worried.

I might just add the port and see if the LBP can do it on it's lonesome... if it can't i'l buy another one!

Someone else also mentioned cold spots between pot and malt pipe, which sounds less than ideal so would be good to avoid that too.

I'm an engineer, so process control gives me a hard on :super:

Righto time to go home and drink the first bottle of Jamil's belgian pale ale!

 

[thebigwilk]

I think the return outlet below the mash bed is very important lets call this part of the water below the grain the foundation water. In the system I use I have an elbow fitting on the return above the grain bed and below, both creating a whirlpool effect this helps to avoid any channelling above the mash and also helps to mix an even layer of heated water through the mash. In the case of the foundation water the second return inlet also uses the elbow fitting to create a whirlpool below the mash bed again aiding in the process of eliminating any dead spots and to provide an even heat wave rising through the mash bed and also helping in interrupting any path of least resistance when the water passes through the mash. these are the reasons why I went with this system its very accurate way of controlling your mash.

Cheers!

 

[Matplat]

My system started life with a stc-1000, heaps better than trying to control it manually. I put my temperature sensor in the wort return.

Lots of brewers especially BIAB brewers brew for years without the second return flowing against the heating element, it is just insurance. I kind of like that warm and fuzzy feeling it gives me. I think a lot of it will come down to the heat density of the heating element. With 10 lpm I think I would leave out the bottom return, but someone else may be able to chip in who has tried it with the smaller pumps.

Did you ever run a full 10amps through your stc-1000?

It get's a bit warm running my fridge, so not sure if I need to run it through another relay or not....

 

[QldKev]

Did you ever run a full 10amps through your stc-1000?

It get's a bit warm running my fridge, so not sure if I need to run it through another relay or not....

Never a full 10 amps, but I did brew with my 2,000w element for over a year. Only reason I don't any more was I wanted to check out mathos controller so I converted to it.

 

[krausenhaus]

I've been using a recirculating brew-in-a-basket system for a while (this one) that returned wort through the whirlpool inlet, but I was getting very little wort exchange through the bag and so the bulk of the mash stayed a few degrees under my target temp for the whole mash.

I just upgraded to a top wort return and made a new mash basket out of a Big W pot and a false bottom, like this:



I gave it a spin on the weekend and got very little drainage through the mash. I had it at a trickle most of the time and completely shut off for the rest.

I think there is plenty of open area on the false bottom to give good drainage. The only two reasons I can think of are:

- I used 5% flaked barley in the mash. I didn't use rice hulls or a beta glucan rest, because it was only 5%. That said, I've never used flaked barley in a 3V setup so I don't know how much 5% can stick a lauter but I'm guessing it would be pretty insignificant.

- my pickup at the bottom of the kettle is angled towards the inside wall of the pot rather than towards the bottom of the mash basket, so probably not the best orientation for pulling wort through the mash. Still, I would expect gravity alone to give more flow than I was getting.

Interested to hear input from you guys on this, I'm pretty dissapointed!

 

[Pugwash]

I am having the exact same issue. I haven't brewed in ages as my wife and I just had another baby and have been a bit busy. I have talked about it earlier in this thread. Going to try rice hulls. My mashes have had a bit of wheat in them. Kev's malt pipe has longer slits than mine. But I would have thought like with yours there would be more than drainage. If you find a solution please let me know.

 

[Fylp]

I agree that returning to the top and bottom would get more movement and equaling more even heat, but would you think sucking it in from the bottom would have a similar effect?

 

[QldKev]

I don't think where the pickup is located would matter. Have you tried setting the grain bed before increasing the flow?

 

[Matplat]

In anticipation of having the same problem, (as the first brew I will do on my new system will be 50% wheat) what do you mean by 'setting the grain bed' exactly?


Cheers, Matt

 

[krausenhaus]

Yeah, can you clarify for me as well Kev?

 

[verysupple]

I think he means let it sit for a few min before starting recirculation so that the grain bed settles and forms a filter but does not compact (as can happen if pumping too fast before it has settled properly).

 

[QldKev]

Yep, there is a detailed procedure on here but basically
mash in,
sit for a minute or so with little to no recirc,
increase the flow to a slow speed, sit for a couple of mins,
keep increasing the flow, waiting at each step as you go, until you are happy with the speed.

You will find once you have done it a couple of times you can skip a lot of steps. I normally mash in with a slow flow for a few minutes then increase to a speed i am happy at.

 

[krausenhaus]

I added 150g of rice hulls to today's brew and tried the mash bed setting but still got bugger all flow.

I stirred in another 100g rice hulls (up to 5% of grain bill), went through the setting steps again and now it's filtering well.

Still not sure why it's so slow without the rice hulls but I'm happy, better buy a few kilos.

 

[Barge]

Krausenhaus,

What did you use for your insulation?

Cheers

 

[Rambo]

Just thought I would share a solution to the draining problem for those like me who don't have welding skills (or friends with welding skills). Didn't want to start a new thread so thought I would add it to the list of solutions on this thread (hope you don't mind Kev).

Pretty simple really. Took the idea Kev uses with the lift and turn onto latches welded to the outer pot, with bolts coming through the malt pipe. But instead of welded latches I've just screwed together a square frame with the inside side length greater than the inner malt pipe but still able to sit on top of the outer pot/urn. The screws just have to be able to fit through the diagonal on the frame.

No hassle trying to get a trivet under the malt pipe while lifting with one hand, and no spills.

 

[Barge]

Any benefit to leaving each piece of timber longer than necessary?