I purchased an Anvil foundry last month and did my first all grain batch a couple weeks ago. The recirc pump comes with a clamp which constricts the pump hose to increase or decrease the flow during the sacchrification rest. SInce I have no experience to fall back on, I relied on a few youtube videos that featuring the Foundry. I tried to match the flow rate these guys were using in the videos but the pump started protesting with howling noises the more I tightened the clamp so I backed off. I don’t think I got a nice and slow flow out of the pump. In the end, the mash got stuck at least four times and the recirc pump would just be overflowing the basket when I’d check on it. The first couple times I was careful to only rake the top two thirds of the mash and not disturb the bottom of the grain bed. After 30 minutes in though, and two stuck mashes later, I just decided to go deep. That seemed to get things draining again but after sparging I was at 1.054. After a 60 minute boil and two cups of sucrose later it was up to 1.064. I have the batch in the kegerator right now carbonating so haven’t tried it yet. Despite all the shenangians, it doesn’t smell too bad. Tasted like beer alright when I pulled a sample after fermentation was done.
I used Northern Brewers’s Chinook IPA kit and boosted the grain bill a little in Brewersfriend to get a little higher ABV. The grain bill I ended up with is below. Should I have used rice hulls with a 14lb grain bill? If so, how much do you add? I don’t have a grain mill and just had the grain pre-crushed from the brew shop so can’t really do any adjusting there. I could maybe request a different crush I suppose but I don’t really know what to ask for.
10 lb Rahr 2-Row
2 lb Rahr - Pale Ale
1.50 lb Dingemans Cara 45
0.50 lb Briess Caramel Malt
I’ve used anywhere from 150-250 g (~5-8.5 oz) of rice hulls and that’s helped with overflowing quite a bit. You really need to crank all the way down on the flow rate as well in my experience.
Try not recirculating and just stir the mash 3-4 times in the hour long mash with all but a gallon of the total water additions, then sparge with just the last gallon. If you must or wish to recirc, let the mash sit for 10-15 minutes before Starting the flow. Choke it down to a slow flow and pause the pump fully to stir a couple times during the mash. Also consider using the side plate accessory that limits the flow to the bottom screen only (sold for small batch use). Finally, consider using the Brew Bag sized for the foundry with 400 micron mesh to allow for the recirc at a pretty slow flow. Cheers!
I don’t use an all-in-one system, but I recirculate throughout the entire mash via a RIMS.
To eliminate stuck recirculation I have found it takes a balance between mill gap setting (grain crush), pump recirculating speed, and liquor:grist ratio.
For my system I opened my mill a bit to get more grits vs flour, slowed the pump down with a linear flow control valve, and increased my liquor to 1.75-1.85 qt:1 lb.
You might have to find your sweet spot. It took several trial and errors to find mine but now that I did I have no further issues.
Thanks all. I was going to try the no-sparge but I’m still trying to figure out the boil volumes (120 volt).
The Anvil PDF[1] is a little confusing. On page 4, it says 120v will boil off “about 1/2 gallon of water per hour at 100% power”. Ok, this is closer to what I’m actually getting rather than the customary 1 gallon loss. The chart for "The “Sparge” method (14lbs of grain) lists 6.3 gallons of strike water and 7.3 gallons “Total water” (another word for pre-boil I guess). Under those charts it says “volumes should be 2.75 and 5.5 gallons to compensate for losses during brew day.” I’m missing something or their math is messed up. A 1/2 gallon of boil-off on 7.3 gallons of water doesn’t work out to 5.5 gallons.
I’m a little disappointed with the recirc pump. It just has too high of a “default” flow rate. I should probably contact Anvil and ask what to do. As ynotbrusum mentioned, yeah maybe just go without recirc or try a brew bag. I intended to do this but the bag I purchased is too short. I’m still looking for a longer one.
Wilbur, thanks for the info on the rice hulls. 5-8oz sounds like a good place to start then. I’m going to get a pound or two on my next order and probably just add some regardless.
I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a good deal on a grain mill. Buying a whole sack of 2-row does save some cash and less trips to the brew shop… Especially since shops could close up any time with this pandemic.
Where are you setting the clamp for the flow restriction? The clamp should always be put on the outlet side of the pump so you don’t starve the pump and cause cavitation. I have not had any issues with completely choking off the flow from the pump, and that is usually how I start the pump at before opening up the clamp slowly to get a flow of around a liter per minute.
The other thing that would help is to allow the mash to settle just a bit before turning on the pump. I dough in, stir for around 5+ minutes and then let the mash sit for 10 minutes before turning the pump on. This and the slow flow rate when the pump is turned on keeps the grain bed loose. Gravity will always start to compact the grain bed, but increasing the pressure difference between the bottom of the mash pipe where the wort is being pumped out and the top where the flow is deposited just increases the possibility of compacting the mash early in the rest.
The volume difference in the Anvil manual between the 7.3 gal of water needed, 0.5 gal boil off, and 5.5 gal into the fermenter accounts for grain absorption and deadspace in the bottom of the Anvil. These figures presented in the manual are also generic and the way you operate your Anvil will dictate what you actually need for water.
Agree with what was already said about waiting to start the pump. Allowing it to sit for 15 minutes until starches are hydrated and gelatinized will allow freer flow and prevent compaction early in the mash.
I’ve also been looking at crush recently since I bough a foundry. Previously I batch sparged at 1.5-2 qt/lb, and really didn’t have to worry much about optimal crush from a 2 roller, 1.5" monster mill. However, with the design of the malt pipe, I find that the tips of small pieces of husk that were partially shredded tend to plug a lot of the holes. This both makes recirculation harder and makes iifting the pipe to drain it a back-breaking endeavor, since a lot of liquid is retained and drains slowly. Purely batch sparging helps prevent compaction and slow draining, but with the area inside the pipe being smaller than the entire vessel, I find that efficiency suffers. Stirring more helps but reintroduces the problem of small bits of grain plugging the holes.
There are a lot of reasons right now that the all in one style electric system is much more convenient for me, but it makes sparging a little bit more complicated. I’m going to try a grain bag in the future to hopefully help with the filtering issue and also keep small bits of grain out of the pump. I added a blichmann linear flow valve, which is great for dialing back the rate but will clog with solids when set at < 1 gallon per minute rate.
Wow! It does appear that a lot of brewers are moving to all-in-one systems. I was taken back when Christine at Maryland Homebrew asked me if I was going “old school.” I did not know what she meant. Now, I understand why she asked that question.
About month ago I put my cooler and propane burner into storage. After using the Grainfther for a year, I decided to go back to the old school system for a brew. After I got that done and cleaned up, I knew it was the last time I’d be using it.
Yep! The foundry doesn’t have “automated” programmed step mashes, but it checked all the boxes for what I was looking for right now in terms of convenience.
-Indoor friendly (electric)
-120v/240v switchable.
-Full 5 gallon batches (in the keg, after kettle and fermenter losses)
-Modular, so I can bring my own pump.
-Price point ($369, including a new SS immersion chiller).
I have a newborn and want to do indoor brewing in a finished basement with minimum hassle and mess. I added a tri clamp fitting to the lid that fits a steam condenser and can even CIP thought it, though without a bottom dump valve I still have to tip it to get the trub out of the kettle. Still it’s great for what I want now until I eventually (maybe) put in a permanent 10 gallon electric system.
Yeah, I clamp it on the output side of the pump. I’ve sent Anvil an email about it. See what they say.
UPDATE: Answer from Anvil regarding clamping down on the output. IMO, they REALLY put a lot of thought into designing the Foundry:
This style of pump is made to be restricted without hurting the pump. You may want to take the pump head off and clean and inspect it to make sure it is in good shape. Sincerely, (redacted first/last name) Customer Service ANVIL Brewing
As mentioned above, you have to take into account for grain absorption which varies depending on how you sparge but is at least 0.1 gallon per pound of grain (unless you’re squeezing a grain bag to get more liquid out). So for 14 pounds, you’re going to lose another 1.4 gallons give or take.
You know, I’m not sure how long I let it sit. I doughed in and then went right to the pump. I do recall now that It didn’t work right away. I plugged it in and nothing. A few minutes of head scratching later I ended up taking it apart, putting it back together, plugging it back in and it worked. It’s still a mystery. That could have been 5 minutes though - at least. Next time I do this batch, assuming it doesn’t taste horrendous, I’ll be more aware of letting it settle first.
Yes, basically it’s “wort out = water in - losses”. Working backwards from the desired batch size, add extra water to account for dead space loss at the bottom of the kettle, boil off, and grain absorption to get your total water (strike + sparge).
Update: I used this bag (https://www.morebeer.com/products/drawstring-mesh-bag-24.html) to line the malt pipe yesterday and it improved flow. It was much easier to lift during sparge as well, so I think keeping grain bits from plugging up the holes is key. I’d recommend trying it if you’re having issues with a stuck mash.
I really appreciate your follow-up on this, and the pic, thanks. I checked out my LHBS and they have a 24x26 which might be close enough without going on a shopping spree at Morebeer for free shipping
