Recirculating biab

[falcon250]

G'day all, I've recently setup a recirculating biab and am wondering if anyone can advise me where to take the temp from, should I be reading the grain bed temp or the water temp in the urn?

 

[Mozz]

I take mine from the bottom of the urn near the outlet. Standard kettle setup basically.
The bag is held about 10cm off the bottom by a tray.
I run a fair recirc flow and temps will be even throughout the system anyway.
Good luck with it. I find it works a treat. I get much better efficiency and clear filtered wort.

 

[falcon250]

Cheers Mozz, I'll do that, I've used it a couple of times now and have been measuring grain bed temp which was ok once it settled down. I've modified a BigW stock pot with a false bottom which works awesome and much better than the the trusty old bag. You're right about Wort clarity mate, the recirculation definitely improves it by a mile and I've found a coarser crush is helping also. Can't beat biab for pure convenience and simplicity.

 

[homebrewkid]

How have you got it setup?


Do you have any pics?


What pump do you use?

Do you recirculate during the mash or after before the boil?

Im one batch into BIAB and curious.

 

[Mozz]

I've got a short 1min video of mine in operation but don't know how to post it?

 

[spog]

Like Mozz said. With the probe near the outlet your getting an accurate reading during recirculation as the flow is circulated past the probe , rather than reading from further away where the temp can vary due to pockets of warmer or cooler liquid.

 

[tumi2]

I have just got a recirc system setup. Ive not used it yet as i have a few more things to finalise. It struck me that i dont know how to clean afterwards. What do people use to run through the recirc for cleaning?

 

[spog]

I flushed with water first then sodium perc ,and rinsed again. Did the job.

 

[Mozz]

Some photos for you.
Wort exits at tap flows to pump and returned to the top of the wort.
I'm hanging the hose off the winch used to lift the bag later.
The bag is sitting on a rack to keep it off the bottom of the pot.

 

[Mozz]

I manually adjust the burner to get a stable temp. Find it pretty easy to do.

 

[Mozz]

I use a U shaped piece off copper so the wort flows upward on the return.

 

[falcon250]

Awesome setup Mozz, I like it ! I'll post some pics of my setup if I can figure out how to do it.

 

[falcon250]

Here's a front view of my configuration

 

[falcon250]

Here's my home made perforated pot with a false bottom dangling from the good old pulley setup.

 

[falcon250]

I made a wooden bracket to clamp onto the handle of the Urn, The arm pictured is an SS Brewgear sparge arm from Cheeky Peak Brewery in Wodonga. The arm came with a few different plastic adapters to alter the shower flow. The setup works pretty well so far, I'm only two runs in though! To control temp I use the Keg King MKII Temp Controller as it can handle 30 amps on the heating side so no dramas running the Crown urn off it and much better than relying on the thermostat. I also use the temp controller for fermentation in a 30+ year old tuckerbox freezer.

 

[Mozz]

Nice. I tried to make a malt pipe first up but it wasn't big enough for the grain..
The bag has served me very well however. Works the same.

 

[SBOB]

Pot hoisted.jpg

Here's my home made perforated pot with a false bottom dangling from the good old pulley setup.

what are the small bolts 1/3rd of the way up for?

 

[malt junkie]

20160919_161351.jpg

Here's a front view of my configuration

Just so you know the pump should be configured 90 deg to what it is per manufacturers spec. Having said that, mine is mounted similarly and hasn't skipped a beat in 2 years.
What pot did you use? Big W? Ebay? and what volume is it?

 

[falcon250]

what are the small bolts 1/3rd of the way up for?

I had those bolts extending out to sit the pot on the lip of the urn, I put them in the wrong position and it was more trouble than what it was worth due to draining too quickly. To prevent any particles getting out I just screwed them in all the way. I think I'll modify another pot shortly with the changes necessary now I've learned a few things.

 

[SBOB]

I had those bolts extending out to sit the pot on the lip of the urn, I put them in the wrong position and it was more trouble than what it was worth due to draining too quickly. To prevent any particles getting out I just screwed them in all the way. I think I'll modify another pot shortly with the changes necessary now I've learned a few things.

might be missing something, but if they fit inside the pot how would they also allow you to sit it on the lip?