The technique is continuously recirculating, no sparge brewing.
Two vessels, one upper, one lower.
The upper is your MLT, the lower is you HLT and Boil Kettle.
- To brew, you would fill the lower HLT/BK with the entire amount of brewing water (liquor).
- I would fire a propane burner on this lower vessel to bring the water to strike temperature.
- While heating to strike temperature, I would recirculate the water via pump up to my MLT and then gravity feed the hot water back to the HLT. This would serve to pre-heat the MLT.
- Once the water reaches strike temperature, the MLT gravity feed to shut off, a portion the hot water is pumped to the MLT to achieve the desired grist to water ratio. Pump is shut off.
- Mash is full, water remains in the HLT.
- Mash is stirred.
- MLT and HLT valves are opened once more, pump goes on and we recirculate, drawing the entire volume of water through the mash over the course of the hour.
- Propane burner is fired on the HLT through-out the mash to maintain desired mash temperatures.
- At the end of the mash the HLT valve and pump is shut off and the MLT is allowed to drain completely. We now have our pre-boil volume in the HTL (now BK).
Possible complications
- Equalizing flow between the MLT and the HLT. You want to maintain a level of water on top of the grist throughout the entire duration of the mash.
- Regulating the propane burner flame to maintain mash temperatures throughout the entire mash.
- Possibility of lower mash extraction efficiency
Possible benefits
- Smaller brewery footprint
- Eliminating cooler from the brewery
- No sparge means a shorter brewday
- No sparge is said to improve the quality of malt flavours
- No chance of tannin extraction from over sparging
- Mash pH stability
Update June 4th
I built my new manifold from CPVC and ported my 2nd vessel (MLT) which is the 36qt Turkey Fryer aluminum pot. I also ported the lid to fit the return feed from my HLT (50L Keggle).
Update June 5th
New MLT and manifold tests completed successfully. I'd like to give the new system a go this weekend.
Update June 9th
Before brewing, I adjusted my grain mill loosening the crush. I'd estimate the mill gap is now .040 (previously 0.036). It looks perfect to me. New crush tested with malted barley, malted wheat and even malted rye, all seem to crack well. Minimal husk shedding on the malted barley.
Began the brew by heating the HLT to 60c then started recirculating the hot water through the MLT to pre-heat. Once temperatures hit 66c, I doughed in. Almost immediately began recirculating the mash and remaining HLT water (forgetting to vorlauf) and continued to heat the HLT until the mashed temperatures stabilized @ 66c at which point the heat was shut off. The mash recirculated for 45 minutes. Three times I fired the HLT briefly (1-2 min), over low heat, to retain a mash temperature of 66c. The MLT itself might benefit from some type of insulation in the future. After 45 min, the HLT was fired over medium heat (still recirculating) raising temperatures to 76c for mash-out. Collected 30L pre-boil volume.
Managing the flows of both the MLT and HLT proved to be challenging. Once during the mash the fluid dropped below the grain. I corrected by shutting off the flow from the MLT and continued pumping from the HLT. Next time I will run the pump wide open and manage flow exiting the MLT. The good news is the new manifold and crush seem to be lautering very well!
In my brewing software I guessed the new system's brewhouse efficiency @ 70%, I wasn't far off @ 68% with a mash efficiency @ 70% (~26ppg).
I really like the temperature control over the mash. In the future I may experiment with conducting a more traditional mash and waiting for starch conversion before beginning the re-circulation this may help to improve efficiency a touch. I suspect the flow rates at which the mash and HLT exchange might also play a role in the systems efficiency.
Update June 5th
New MLT and manifold tests completed successfully. I'd like to give the new system a go this weekend.
Update June 9th
Before brewing, I adjusted my grain mill loosening the crush. I'd estimate the mill gap is now .040 (previously 0.036). It looks perfect to me. New crush tested with malted barley, malted wheat and even malted rye, all seem to crack well. Minimal husk shedding on the malted barley.
Began the brew by heating the HLT to 60c then started recirculating the hot water through the MLT to pre-heat. Once temperatures hit 66c, I doughed in. Almost immediately began recirculating the mash and remaining HLT water (forgetting to vorlauf) and continued to heat the HLT until the mashed temperatures stabilized @ 66c at which point the heat was shut off. The mash recirculated for 45 minutes. Three times I fired the HLT briefly (1-2 min), over low heat, to retain a mash temperature of 66c. The MLT itself might benefit from some type of insulation in the future. After 45 min, the HLT was fired over medium heat (still recirculating) raising temperatures to 76c for mash-out. Collected 30L pre-boil volume.
Managing the flows of both the MLT and HLT proved to be challenging. Once during the mash the fluid dropped below the grain. I corrected by shutting off the flow from the MLT and continued pumping from the HLT. Next time I will run the pump wide open and manage flow exiting the MLT. The good news is the new manifold and crush seem to be lautering very well!
In my brewing software I guessed the new system's brewhouse efficiency @ 70%, I wasn't far off @ 68% with a mash efficiency @ 70% (~26ppg).
I really like the temperature control over the mash. In the future I may experiment with conducting a more traditional mash and waiting for starch conversion before beginning the re-circulation this may help to improve efficiency a touch. I suspect the flow rates at which the mash and HLT exchange might also play a role in the systems efficiency.
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