I have an upside-down bottom-draining keggle in use as a RIMS mash tun using BrewHardware's tri-clamp kit + RIMS tube. Have a Jaybird false bottom + ring stand, but I had flow issues so we've been using a BIAB bag for lautering and the false bottom as more of a grant for the pump.
We were hitting around 77-78% brewhouse efficiency for a while on this setup. Wore a hole in the bag after years of use, so I bought another one and had some issues with a few bags being more tapered at the bottom and having a lot of wort outside of the bag. I cut the lip down pretty much to the keg wall and ordered a fabbed SS mesh basket. However, had similar issues as the rolled lip of the keg is really the limiting factor of me getting a mesh basket that will fit closely to the keg wall. Went back to the bag, and clipping it on what remains of the lip that I had cut down, giving the bottom of the bag more room, and it seems more like normal, but still 1) getting brewhouse efficiency around 70% nowadays with nothing else really changing in equipment or process, 2) still get a surprising amount of grain particulate matter in my wort, not sure how, don't notice any holes in the bag, and 3) if I attempt to stir the grain bed during the mash (while recirculating) in an attempt to work dough balls further, I run into problems with a suction effect of the bag against the false bottom and have to pull it up a few times.
Pondering upgrades with those things in mind. I want to stick to bottom-drain. It seems pretty much nobody sells bottom-drain kettles, though I could probably have someone like Spike do a custom build as I see they're doing bottom-drain on their Nano 3-tier. I haven't asked if they would be able to add a SS mesh basket tailored to the dimensions of their kettle as an option. If I want to go basket, I could also attempt to cut and re-roll the top (actual bottom) of my keggle, but my fear is that I would get another basket fabbed and the dimensions would still be off (the one I did order was smaller than specified by a quarter inch, and I'm more or less out that $ now unless I can find someone to buy the basket).
One option is improving the filtration on my keggle such that I wouldn't need a bag or basket. But I do like the ease of cleaning this provides, as I can pull the grain and clean the bag/basket separately, and then essentially CIP the keggle by recircing PBW vs. lugging a kettle around being careful with bottom-draining hardware (generally cleaning outdoors, which sucks in the winter in Nebraska).
I don't know if issue #3 is inherently preventable in a recirculating setup, or if it's a bag-specific thing. Is disturbing the grain bed in a recirc pretty much always a no-no? (Or maybe at best, turn off the pump / recirc, stir, let the bed set a bit again, and then throttle up flow again?). Having something motorized that continuously stirs the bed would be a nice pipe dream. With a mesh basket, I think a more realistic option would be drill + paint stirrer attachment maybe once or twice after the initial dough-in. I feel like either dough balls or my crush would be the remaining culprit on efficiency issues even if process hasn't really changed there - I measure crush, etc. Attempting to measure mash efficiency might be more accurate, but again, this all changed around the initial bag switch. Outside chance the knurling is wearing down on my BC rollers at the same time, I guess - crush seems to generally look ok.
Took a quick look at all-in-one units, but it seems they're largely no-sparge and end up around my 70% brewhouse efficiency anyways, and then I'd have to look at 240V, etc.
If you made it this far, thanks for putting up with my stream-of-consciousness babbling post!
We were hitting around 77-78% brewhouse efficiency for a while on this setup. Wore a hole in the bag after years of use, so I bought another one and had some issues with a few bags being more tapered at the bottom and having a lot of wort outside of the bag. I cut the lip down pretty much to the keg wall and ordered a fabbed SS mesh basket. However, had similar issues as the rolled lip of the keg is really the limiting factor of me getting a mesh basket that will fit closely to the keg wall. Went back to the bag, and clipping it on what remains of the lip that I had cut down, giving the bottom of the bag more room, and it seems more like normal, but still 1) getting brewhouse efficiency around 70% nowadays with nothing else really changing in equipment or process, 2) still get a surprising amount of grain particulate matter in my wort, not sure how, don't notice any holes in the bag, and 3) if I attempt to stir the grain bed during the mash (while recirculating) in an attempt to work dough balls further, I run into problems with a suction effect of the bag against the false bottom and have to pull it up a few times.
Pondering upgrades with those things in mind. I want to stick to bottom-drain. It seems pretty much nobody sells bottom-drain kettles, though I could probably have someone like Spike do a custom build as I see they're doing bottom-drain on their Nano 3-tier. I haven't asked if they would be able to add a SS mesh basket tailored to the dimensions of their kettle as an option. If I want to go basket, I could also attempt to cut and re-roll the top (actual bottom) of my keggle, but my fear is that I would get another basket fabbed and the dimensions would still be off (the one I did order was smaller than specified by a quarter inch, and I'm more or less out that $ now unless I can find someone to buy the basket).
One option is improving the filtration on my keggle such that I wouldn't need a bag or basket. But I do like the ease of cleaning this provides, as I can pull the grain and clean the bag/basket separately, and then essentially CIP the keggle by recircing PBW vs. lugging a kettle around being careful with bottom-draining hardware (generally cleaning outdoors, which sucks in the winter in Nebraska).
I don't know if issue #3 is inherently preventable in a recirculating setup, or if it's a bag-specific thing. Is disturbing the grain bed in a recirc pretty much always a no-no? (Or maybe at best, turn off the pump / recirc, stir, let the bed set a bit again, and then throttle up flow again?). Having something motorized that continuously stirs the bed would be a nice pipe dream. With a mesh basket, I think a more realistic option would be drill + paint stirrer attachment maybe once or twice after the initial dough-in. I feel like either dough balls or my crush would be the remaining culprit on efficiency issues even if process hasn't really changed there - I measure crush, etc. Attempting to measure mash efficiency might be more accurate, but again, this all changed around the initial bag switch. Outside chance the knurling is wearing down on my BC rollers at the same time, I guess - crush seems to generally look ok.
Took a quick look at all-in-one units, but it seems they're largely no-sparge and end up around my 70% brewhouse efficiency anyways, and then I'd have to look at 240V, etc.
If you made it this far, thanks for putting up with my stream-of-consciousness babbling post!