Show Us Your Sparge Arm

[Truman42]

Works just fine Truman. I'm using mine right now!

Lucky bugger, brewing while Im stuck at work..

 

[dicko]

I have tried sparge arms with holes and I have found that invariably they block up when recirculating.
If you are only adding sparge water then they are fine however if you are recirculating for clarity or herms/rims operation then you will need to use the "cup runneth over" method.



similar to above.

Cheers

 

[Yob]

I was thinking of putting some fine voile over the manifold to eliminate/reduce the chunks going through the system.

:unsure: will soon find out

Yob

 

[pk.sax]

I was thinking of putting some fine voile over the manifold to eliminate/reduce the chunks going through the system.

:unsure: will soon find out

Yob

After my brewing disasters with wheat, highly recommended. Works like a charm.
Go a step further and dough into a sheet of voile, makes grain removal a piece of cake.

Also, next time I'm gonna let water rise above the fb level before I dough in.

 

[mckenry]

After my brewing disasters with wheat, highly recommended. Works like a charm.
Go a step further and dough into a sheet of voile, makes grain removal a piece of cake.

Also, next time I'm gonna let water rise above the fb level before I dough in.

I use this beerbelly wort return, to do just that - return wort, i.e. for vorlauf. As far as sparging goes, underletting rules (IMO)

 

[Yob]

righty ho...

all set for 2 things this weekend... spacTAPular tmoz night and to use me bad boy Mk IV on sat. planned a double, probably back to back as it's the first use for a fair bit of the kit.



sits in there nicely, very stable and happy with the position in the MT



The flow..

I did add a couple of small holes at the bottom middle thirds of it after that photo, not too concerned about getting blocked but will be easy enough to enlarge the holes on the fly if I have to and will keep an eye on it.

a good beer weekend planned.. just hoping the hops turn up

 

[Screwtop]

I have tried sparge arms with holes and I have found that invariably they block up when recirculating.

Yep had three types over the years and they do!

Been using this for the past 3 years, inspired by the Blichmann Sparger, no float valve, just the silicon hose with a fishing net float at the end to hold the hose at water level. No channeling 90%+ mash eff.



Screwy

 

[bradsbrew]

Yep had three types over the years and they do!

Been using this for the past 3 years:

View attachment 54462

Screwy

Screwy are you using that for fly?

 

[Kingbrownbrewing]

I use the same thing screwy but I am getting some fierce channeling going on....

I'm thinking of lashing out on a beer belly wort return dish.

 

[bradsbrew]

I'm thinking of lashing out on a beer belly wort return dish.

I'm thinking the same except mine will consist of a SS camping cup and some silicon tube. Shouldnt cost anymore than $7.



Cheers

 

[razz]

I use the same thing screwy but I am getting some fierce channeling going on....

I'm thinking of lashing out on a beer belly wort return dish.

I use to use a BB wort return dish KBB, I now use a piece of silicon hose same as Screwy (see post #19) If you want a second hand BB unit you can have mine at a fair price.

 

[Screwtop]

Screwy are you using that for fly?

Natch..............real brewing :lol:

I use the same thing screwy but I am getting some fierce channeling going on....

If you're recirculating...................... stop fcuking stirring. All the flour and small particulate matter ends up forming an impervious layer accross the top of your grist.

Like this mud


Belongs to some slack brewer, can't remember who

Screwy

 

[NickB]

Slow your flow down dan, and make sure the outlet hose is sitting flat on the surface if possible. You saw how much channeling I got (not much) and lets face it, if you're batch sparging it's not really an issue.

Cheers

 

[MaltyHops]

...
sits in there nicely, very stable and happy with the position in the MT

Is the sparge arm going to sit well below the top of the grain ...?

 

[Wolfy]

I'm thinking of lashing out on a beer belly wort return dish.

I'm thinking the same except mine will consist of a SS camping cup and some silicon tube. Shouldnt cost anymore than $7.

Mine was $7.99 from Ikea: http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/30165971/

 

[bignath]

righty ho...

all set for 2 things this weekend... spacTAPular tmoz night and to use me bad boy Mk IV on sat. planned a double, probably back to back as it's the first use for a fair bit of the kit.

View attachment 54458

sits in there nicely, very stable and happy with the position in the MT

View attachment 54459

The flow..

I did add a couple of small holes at the bottom middle thirds of it after that photo, not too concerned about getting blocked but will be easy enough to enlarge the holes on the fly if I have to and will keep an eye on it.

a good beer weekend planned.. just hoping the hops turn up

that looks good yob, how much space have you got underneath that arm, and how far into the mash would it sit?

cheers,

BN

 

[Yob]

Wont really know for sure till tmoz, but i think it will sit just under the liquor right near the top of the bed for a single batch and probably within the bed for a double... Im going to use a bit of voille over the manifold.. Its a little bit of suck it and see at this stage but from the dry run it seems promising.

Its all a bit temporary as im planning to go to a keg MT in the near future so ill have to start again..

How did your return work out Nath? No blockages?

 

[bignath]

How did your return work out Nath? No blockages?

The return worked really well, but experiments still continue.

Blew one of the elements last weekend in my rig and trying to work out if it was just a dud element or some other issue.
Volume level seemed to fluctuate in the sightglass, so im wondering if the pump drew the wort out, back in through the return, but maybe the return liquor wasn't able to penetrate the mash as fast as what the pump was returning it. I may have ended up with the elements partially out of the wort hence blowing one up. Need to experiment with flow rates, and might try the original manifold again as this literally dumped all the water at a pretty feirce rate right to the bottom of the mash where i reckon it would have no problems making itself available for the pump again.........

Temp seemed to maintain very well though so i'm stoked with your idea of the holes - cheers mate!

 

[pb unleaded]

After numerous contraptions here is mine latest one. Adjustable, works OK.

 

[TidalPete]

May have posted this before?
A home-made version of the BarleyBelly Wort Return. Adjustable by moving up/down the ss threaded rod at rear.