Recirculating Mash

[RayF]

As some of you may have seen from my Hosehead post, I am in the process of building an Electric Herms system. Within the next month or so, if all goes according to my plans, I should complete the build. For the most part I'm confident I have designed and built my system to work just fine. One question I do have is the design of my Mash Tun. I'm planning on using my existing 10 gallon water cooler mash tun. I'm going to use one of those snap lock thingy majiggies for a sparge arm and hopefully my existing bazooka tube instead of a false bottom. I'm not sure if using the Bazooka screen will work for continuous recirculation. Do any of you recirculation brewers have any experience with or advice on using the bazooka screen in your Mash tun.

[Gymrat]

I don't have a herms system. But I learned something in an exchange with Pudge in another thread. viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5393 The discussion was on channeling. I mentioned that was not an issue in a mash tun. Pudge said channeling limits water exposure to the grain. I fully understood that and I wasn't saying it didn't. So I restated more precisely that channeling wouldn't happen in a mash tun. It was a case of Pudge and I not understanding each other due to the written word. I took this stand because I had never seen it happen when taking runnings in mine. I mentioned that I had a false bottom. Another poster speculated that the false bottom might be the reason I had never seen this happen. Pudge stated some facts from a source he had read that confirmed the reason I had never seen this happen was because I am using a false bottom.

Where I am going with this is, from what I learned in that discussion, I believe if you are going to use a recirculating system, a false bottom might be the direction you want to go. Recirculating will cause constant movement of the water and a concentrated collecting source could possibly cause channeling. Just something to think about.

[ScrewyBrewer]

Roger as long as we're talking channeling, I think the mash thickness definitely needs to be considered as part of the equation too. In my mind the looser the mash is the less likely there will be any issues at all with channeling, whether infusion mashing or recirculating the mash. My eBIAB system recirculates the wort evenly through a spray nozzle mounted above the grain bed. Gravity then pulls the hot wort down through the grains where it is heated and then pumped back up through the nozzle again. The maximum for the kettle is around 23 pounds of grain and using a 2.125 mash thickness the mash is easy to stir and there aren't any clumps or dough balls in it. Anyhow at least that's my take on it.

[Stinkfist]

The issue I think you are going to have with the bazooka tube thing is surface area, now instead of letting it flow you will be pulling water through it, with the smaller surface area to pull from you will most likely have issues, personally and also what I use, I would get a false bottom.but let us know if you have issues if you don't

[Gymrat]

Roger as long as we're talking channeling, I think the mash thickness definitely needs to be considered as part of the equation too. In my mind the looser the mash is the less likely there will be any issues at all with channeling, whether infusion mashing or recirculating the mash. My eBIAB system recirculates the wort evenly through a spray nozzle mounted above the grain bed. Gravity then pulls the hot wort down through the grains where it is heated and then pumped back up through the nozzle again. The maximum for the kettle is around 23 pounds of grain and using a 2.125 mash thickness the mash is easy to stir and there aren't any clumps or dough balls in it. Anyhow at least that's my take on it.

Another excellent point. I don't have anything recirculating but I do mash thin (1.75 to 2qts per pound)

[D_Rabbit]

Good stuff here guys. Ray, if you can spring the money in any manner for a false bottom I would recommend looking in to it. The Bazooka tube may work well initially but I foresee issues down the road with channeling as discussed up higher. I do fly sparging in my system and even though I keep the water consistently 1/2"-1" above the grain bed that doesn't mean the lower grain bed hasn't compacted down around my false bottom. The same principle will apply with the bazooka tube but there is less surface area for the water to flow in to it which may lead to "pulling" the liquid in and creating those channels that could really hamper your gravity.

PS, I use the snaplock thingy majiggers and love them! They take a little manipulating to make sure they aren't all pointing toward the center but they work really well once in place.

[Whamolagan]

I wouldn't use a bazooka. Unless you are really moving the grain around a lot, you will get channeling and most likely get real low efficiency. The gap below the false bottom is needed, so as the liquid is able to flow through the whole grain bed. Ray, when you are circulating liquid, is it circulating around the mash tun, or is it going in one spot? A fly sparge arm might help if you are set on using the bazooka screen, but you will be getting a false bottom before all is done.

[braukasper]

I tried that in my cooler mash tun and it clogged badly. I switched to a 15 gallon stainless mash tun with a false bottom. I have also found out that it will clog with hop particles when used to whirlpool hops with. Tell us more about the rig you are building

[RayF]

I tried that in my cooler mash tun and it clogged badly. I switched to a 15 gallon stainless mash tun with a false bottom. I have also found out that it will clog with hop particles when used to whirlpool hops with. Tell us more about the rig you are building

The bazooka worked great when I was using gravity. I also tried in the boil kettle in the past to filter out hops, not a good idea!

Its a three vessel electric herms. 15 gallon boil kettle, 15 gallon HLT, 10 gallon Water cooler Mash Tun, 2 pumps, controlled by Hosehead brew controller.

[RayF]

All great points made by all. I was hoping to be able to incorporate brewing gear into my system, that I had already had. A False Bottom, is the direction I need to go. Thank you all for your responses.

Does Anyone have any recommendations on a false bottom for a 10 gallon water cooler?

[braukasper]

keep crush on the larger side. You will take a small hit on efficiency that can easily be remedied by increasing the grain bill a bit

[D_Rabbit]

All great points made by all. I was hoping to be able to incorporate brewing gear into my system, that I had already had. A False Bottom, is the direction I need to go. Thank you all for your responses.

Does Anyone have any recommendations on a false bottom for a 10 gallon water cooler?

I have purchased most of my equipment from brewhardware.com. Bobby is fantastic with his products and his customer service exceeds ever other online store I have purchased from without question. The link below is for the one you would need.

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/fb12d.htm

[RayF]

I have purchased most of my equipment from brewhardware.com. Bobby is fantastic with his products and his customer service exceeds ever other online store I have purchased from without question. The link below is for the one you would need.

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/fb12d.htm

I have purchased almost all of my stuff from Brewhardware.