Kettle RIMS With Sparge?

[Hwk-I-St8]

I am still mulling over the electric brew rig I want to switch to and I keep coming back to kettle RIMS.

In general I want the following:

• Easy brew day - including clean up
• No wort through opaque tubing (like a counterflow heat transfer approach)
• Ability to brew both low and high gravity beers...up to OG's approaching 1.130
• Fast heat up for mash and to reach boil
• Ability to do accurate and reasonably fast step mashes
• Clear wort into the kettle (I know, don't need it for clear beer, but I want it)

It seems like a kettle RIMS might be a good fit, but everything I've read talks about it as a full volume mash option. I'm wondering if it can be done with less than full volume and then batch sparged.

I have a nice welded fittings 10G brewbuilt kettle for which I can get a false bottom. I was thinking a 10 gallon boil kettle with a TC fitting for a heating element combined with my existing kettle would make a nice kettle RIMS system. I doubt I could hit my numbers with a big stout using this a a full volume mash rig. I'm wondering if I could do a 70% volume mash and add sparge water to the mash tun after draining to the boil kettle. Then vorlauf until it pours clear and drain to the boil kettle.

Has anyone done something like this?

 

[BrunDog]

You could always cold water fly sparge. Basically just rinse the grain in the MT with cold water after a full drain. No downside that I know of.

 

[Mybuddypete]

Michael Tonsmire (the Mad Fermentationist) from Sapwood Cellars Brewing cold sparges. He does it in this video:

 

[verboten]

I sparge with my robobrew, I have another Urn for sparge water heating.

 

[Wagon_6]

I use to do exactly what you’re proposing. I had elements and pumps for both kettles and would mash in one and heat the sparge water in the BK. I didn’t know about cold sparging then, so would not need a heating source in your MT. I liked brewing that way but it was always temporary while i built a new controller and spike BIAB system.

 

[brewman !]

Robobrew, Grainfather and Mash and Brew are all essentially "kettle RIMS". Many people sparge with them.

The sparge volume is generally smaller than with a conventional mash tun because the underlet volume is higher.

 

[Moose_MI]

I have the 20G BrewEasy and do 15G batches. I usually need about 24G water total. I always reserve 3g for a “fly sparge” as i’m draining into the BK. It’s not required but I don’t mind doing it and keeps me in the 70-72% eff range

 

[bkboiler]

Planning to go this route in the next few months.. currently brewing in the kitchen with two pots and a brew bucket that I use with my brew bag to do a batch sparge
The plan is to buy a 6 gallon pot with false bottom and install a thermowell that I connect to an inkbird PID that is hacked onto the circuit of a $15 electric hotplate...just enough wattage to maintain temps on a 2.5 gallon batch ... Stepping may be challenging...anyway, I've got a second induction that's more powerful for the boil...
Having two burners will allow me to do my preferred mash ratio then batch sparge at the end...and drain by gravity down to the boil kettle...
Still planning to recirculate by pump since I also wanted to avoid having to manually vorlauf and also wanted to buy a pump anyway to whirlpool...

 

[brewbama]

I do not use a kettle RIMS. I use a MLT, RIMS tube, recirculating pump, and separate BK on an induction cooktop. I heat strike/ sparge water in the BK, separate the sparge into a water cooler, underlet the mash with strike water, recirculate constantly while step mashing, transfer crystal clear wort into the BK, add sparge water, recirculate constantly, transfer crystal clear wort into the BK, boil, cool with immersion chiller, transfer to fermenter.

I say all that to say this: if you already brew, you probably have half of the equipment I have. Buying a complete new system is not required. Simply add to your current setup in steps over time to get to where you want to go.