Sparge Arm identification

[Bender_]

Does anyone know what type of sparge arm this is - like a specific name?

I got it with all my gear I bought second hand and put it together today, but I was hoping to find some more information about it and how it works.

Cheers

 

[GalBrew]

Looks like the sparge arm from BeerBelly. I had the exact looking setup in my mash tun that they built.

 

[Bender_]

Looks like the sparge arm from BeerBelly. I had the exact looking setup in my mash tun that they built.

Were you happy with it?

 

[Jack of all biers]

I have a beerbelly one also. Works a treat. Set it so that the bottom is touching or just above the grains. Set your sparge liquor rate as slow as your sparge outlet rate and you will be right. If you sparge too quick you'll notice the current of the water flowing around the dish part causes a bit of a hole to be washed from underneath it. Happens even during gentle sparging, but only slightly, so will only be a concern if you're sparging way to quickly.

 

[GalBrew]

Were you happy with it?

Yep, it worked fine. Set it as per the comment above

 

[Bender_]

Is the vertical pole of problem with creating a channel in the grain bed?

 

[Jack of all biers]

No. I keep getting 86% mash/lauter efficiency or higher (usually above 90% now I have my own grain mill), so if there was a lot of channelling I'd doubt I'd get such efficiency results. I had thought about it though when I first got it. I guess it does depend a bit on the rest of the mash tun system. If the hydro-flow (is that a term?) is too strong then the grain bed compacts too much and the liquid will go the paths of least resistance. It is similar if the collection point(s) are not well designed for an even flow/suction in the manifold/false bottom. If that occurred then it would channel around the sides of the pot just as much if not more than down the metal stem. My Beerbelly mash tun was designed and well thought out regarding the flow of liquid and the shape and size of the false bottom and a central collection point (away enough from the metal stem).

Looking at your photo above though, it appears that you would have enough depth between the bottom of your tun and the bottom of the stem. Or is that an illusion of the photo?

 

[Bender_]

It goes down to about 2/3 of the converted keg. What you've said makes a heap of sense though, thanks very much for your input.