Brutus question: can one pump do the job?

[bigsipper]

I am designing my stand and brew system - largely based on the original Brutus 10 with lots of modifications found on this forum.

The way I understand it... the Brutus system needs two pumps only because it calls for a Therminator. During cool down one pump will recirculate the brew kettle through one side of the Therminator, while the second pump recirculates chilled ice water from the HLT through the other side of the Therminator.

But... If I use an immersion chiller in the brew kettle, and pump chilled water through it from the HLT I should only need one pump, right?

Sure the brew kettle may need to be stirred during this, to make sure there is an even cooldown throughout... just raising and lowering the immersion coils a few times should suffice (I think).

I'm not trying to be cheap, but... one less pump, and an immersion coil instead of the Therminator should save me some bucks.

Am I missing something - is there any other reason (other than cooldown) to have two pumps?

By the way here, attached is my design so far.

-bigsipper

 

[kickflip_mj]

How are you going to sparge? If you are going to build a system, don't skimp on one pump. you will regret it.

 

[maida7]

It's my understanding that the 2 pumps are needed to fly sparge. One to pump from the HLT to the MT and the second to pump from the MT to the kettle. Perhaps you could get away with one pump if you drained the MT by gravity into a bucket or something like that.

 

[gtpeebs1]

We use 1 pump. Pump Strike water into Mash Tun (17ga cooler) with a copper manifold in the bottom...we, hook up Mash Tun into the Hot Liquor Tank. They are all quick releases.

 

[maida7]

We use 1 pump. Pump Strike water into Mash Tun (17ga cooler) with a copper manifold in the bottom...we, hook up Mash Tun into the Hot Liquor Tank. They are all quick releases.

But what happens when you sparge?

 

[Bobby_M]

Single tier, one pump, batch sparge only.
Two pumps, batch or fly sparge.

 

[bigsipper]

Well... to confess, this is my first foray into all grain, so I may not have a clear picture of the process yet.
For sparging, I planned to recirculate until the wort clears, then drain to the brew kettle. Then switch the lines to add
some more hot water (67C) to the mash from the HLT; then fill the boil kettle from the mash until I reach my target boil volume. This is essentially
an 'English sparge' from my reading....
I've never really understood the reason for 'draining from the mash tun to the boil kettle, while simultaneously adding
water from the HLT to the mash tun'. It sounds over complicated... as I thought the extraction of goodness was being done during
the recirculation, and the extra water was basically just 'rinsing' the grains to wring out the best efficiency and adding volume to the boil.

I will in the end probably add two pumps anyway for increased flexibility (and decreased chances for regrets) - but I'm trying to understand the whole process now.

 

[logdrum]

I use one pump to batch sparge (with a $14 pond pump to run the cold side of my plate chiller ) I will be adding a second pump the minute I can afford it.