Cool vid. How many batches before you dialed in the lag time with the thermoter? (stopping at 148 for a 153 mash?) is this the same temp spread no matter what target temp?
I figured that out after the first attempt.
And really, I turn off the heat on the burner 5 to 6 degrees below my target temp and let the pressure cooker use up most of its steam finishing with shutting off the ball valve around 2 degrees below. Again, once you get your system figured out, it's pretty easy.
As you can see, once the steam gets cranking and you stir, the temp rises pretty quickly. That particular step in the video took me around 6-7 minutes to go from 122º to 152º.
What was your batch size in that video? Man, that mash looks to be very thin! What was your water to grain ratio? Would it work as well with a 10 or 12 gallon batch? I like the concept! May have to give it a try myself soon. I'll post back with my results. Time to go looking for a pressure cooker on Ebay I guess.
What is a good size ouput from the pressure cooker- 1/4", 3/8"?
I am going to be running a solenoid valve and have my steam infusion automated, so I need to know what size orifice I need on the solenoid valve.
Thanks FlyGuy, was hoping you would say that, have a 5 gallon canning setup already so that is one less thing I need to buy.
I'm also really interested in how your SIRMS setup turns out, I've been brewing with a friend for years who uses a RIMS rig and was originally thinking of going that route when I built my own, but I think your write-up has convinced me that using steam is a much safer and more efficient way to go. Keep up the good work.
To test the system, I heated 5 gallons of water from 122 degrees F to 152 F. Using only steam for heat, I was able to raise the temperature of the water in the cooler in about 15 minutes. I was a bit disappointed, since Brewman was able to heat water with his system at about twice that speed.
I did some trial and error with finer hose (1/8" silicone tubing), and a manifold made from smaller 1/4" copper tubing (see below). While the smaller diameter tubing and manifold increased the pressure of the steam injection, it did little to change the heating times (in fact it took longer).
I discussed this with Brewman across multiple, multiple PMs and we decided that the bottleneck in my system was the heat source. Through some fancy calculations based on heat transfer in the cooler, Brewman calculated that I was delivering the equivalent of 2.4 kw of energy with this system, which is approximately the output of the burner on my stove. We also decided that a larger pot, which holds a greater volume of water, would be able to deliver more heat to the manifold because it has a greater capacity to store energy in the form of heat and pressure. I confirmed this with my system I had an initial rise in temperature that was very fast for the first few minutes of steam injection, and then the heating dropped to a lower but consistent rate (apparently as the pressure in my pot dropped and the stored energy was transferred). Brewmans system was presumably more efficient because he has a 4.5 gallon pressure cooker that can store 4 times the heat.
Bottom line: If you want faster heating, a larger pressure cooker and/or a hotter heat source (e.g., a gas burner??) is necessary. However, the heating time in my system seems reasonable for achieving a multi-step mash. I am going to try one tonight when I brew an AG hefe-weizen recipe, and I will report back with my success.
Last month I finally got all the parts I need to finish the build. Time has been hard to come by lately, though. I have the itch to brew and finish the build, but sometimes life just gets in the way.Thanks for writing this up fly, any update on the SRIMS?
Is there a concern with using too much heat under the cooker?
Yes, I let the pressure cooker come to full boil, purge the cooker to expel any air in the cooker, then hook up the transfer hose to the MLT. Once it is back to a full boil and 15 PSI, then it is ready to use.I was curious at what pressure do you open the valve at? 15psi?
If I am using it to sterilize equipment, then just an inch of water or so.
If I am using it for steam injection in the mash, then I put about 3 gals in it. You will never come close to using all of that, but it provides a lot of thermal mass so that you can really transfer a lot of heat to your mash tun at once.
what type of burner are you guys using? The info that came with my pressure cooker said not to use a "turkey fryer" burner, should I just ignore this?
Hello folks, new member here. Apologies for resurrecting this thread - it seemed like the most appropriate place for my question. I'm a long time lurker with grand plans for steam driven mashing using a pressure cooker.
I'd prefer an all-electric solution for steam generation, and I've got 220v power available. I've not been able to find any external heating in the 4000+ watt range except for band heaters which would get expensive.
There's another thread that shows a heating element built into a corny keg for steam generation. My thoughts run to modifying the pressure cooker to take a heating element. That probably means drilling through the side of the cooker and mounting the element there. And heck, let's drill another hole for a temperature probe while we're at it, so I can run it with a PID. Goal would be to automate the system to maintain pressure at some point below 15 psi.
To note, I'm speaking of modifying a 23qt aluminum pressure cooker already in my posession. I'd leave the other safety features in place: pressure relief valve & emergency pop out pressure relief valve (present on this model).
Given appropriate mounting and leak testing, do you think the structural integrity of the pressure cooker would be significantly affected? Dangerously so?
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