My new (different) cooler mash tun

[thern001]

I have finally decided to go down to my store and build my mash tun cooler. After a few hours of browsing what to do, a man with a dog in his cart asked me if I needed some help. I let him know what I needed and he guided me to a thing called a well point. This well point is a piece of pvc that has little slits on it (see pics below). This is what I used as a filter. The other parts I used where to connect the well point filter to the bottling bucket spigot that I attached to the 52 quart igloo cooler used to stop the flow of H2O. I haven't used it yet, planning on using next Tuesday. Will let U know how it went.

 

[Orange606]

Are those parts PVC? PVC becomes soft at mash temp.

 

[thern001]

They are thicker than normal pvc and I boiled a piece for about 20 min and i didn't see a change in hardness so I thought it would be ok since mash temp is around 170 f.

 

[lostboysbrew]

mash temp shouldnt be around 170f, mash in, yes......but I hope your not mashing grains that hot!

I know that they recommend CPVC for hotter water. Not so sure its about softness of pipe as much an issue as safety.......it seems like you have CPVC.......

 

[o4_srt]

You probably have schedule 80 instead of schedule 40 pvc, which is not cpvc, and not rated for hot water (hot water is usually less than our temps to begin with).

Cpvc isn't rated for the temps we throw at it, but it is rated for residential hot water use in some municipalities, and the better choice for our use.

A cheap cpvc manifold can be made for under $10 using some cpvc fittings and a hacksaw to cut slots.


As for mash temps, I've never used anything above 170 for my strike water. Your mash temperature after adding strike water should be between 148 to 158, generally.

For sparging, I use 200 degree water. You want to raise the mash temperature to 170, or just under, to make the extracted sugar more soluble, which results in a more efficient sparge.

 

[topend]

That looks like a pretty slick setup. Let us know how it works!

 

[beerkrump]

Couple of points...

+1 to using CPVC. I'm not sure how PVC is going to hold up under repeated heatings.

You want to only cut one side of your manifold and have that side facing the bottom of the tun to create a siphon when emptying and eliminate dead space.

 

[thern001]

no I would never mash at 170 degrees, I just said that because Im guessing that would be the highest temp that I could think of with out releasing any tannins from the grain.

The holes on the top are small, I did however used my hacksaw to open some bigger holes in the bottom for better water flow.

 

[o4_srt]

no I would never mash at 170 degrees, I just said that because Im guessing that would be the highest temp that I could think of with out releasing any tannins from the grain.

The holes on the top are small, I did however used my hacksaw to open some bigger holes in the bottom for better water flow.

You don't want any holes on the top, it will not allow a siphon to suck the remaining mash from the bottom of the tun

 

[thern001]

I guess thats true, but when I got the part I was thinking more of design that uses the stainless steel from the washing machine hose (the bazooka screen), where the wholes are everywhere. So the water flows out by gravity not a siphon. The only problem I'm guessing I'm going to have is when I'm using the continues sparging method the lighter gravity water(on top of filter) would mix with the higher gravity water on the bottom. well that and maybe a longer lauter.

 

[o4_srt]

I guess thats true, but when I got the part I was thinking more of design that uses the stainless steel from the washing machine hose (the bazooka screen), where the wholes are everywhere. So the water flows out by gravity not a siphon. The only problem I'm guessing I'm going to have is when I'm using the continues sparging method the lighter gravity water(on top of filter) would mix with the higher gravity water on the bottom. well that and maybe a longer lauter.

This design is extremely ineffective while continuous sparging. Palmer's "how to brew" has an appendix dedicated to manifold design for continuous sparge manifolds. Trying to do a continuous sparge with your current manifold will result in low efficiency, and possible tannin extraction due to channelling in the grain bed.

This style manifold is really only good for batch sparging.

Additionally, you will have to tilt your mlt at the end of the sparge to get the remaining mash out of the bottom, due to the holes on top of your manifold.

 

[thern001]

After doing my second batch I have to say the mash tun has worked perfectly for batch sparging. I have had both batches with a 75 percent efficiency.