I bought a 150 qt cooler and 30 gal boil kettle and I’ve been trying to do some bigger batches (20 gals). But 30 lbs of grain with 45L - 60L of water gets heavy. So, this is how I’ve been doing it but it’s a pain in the arse moving stuff around. I like batch sparging and for now I want to stay on that platform but does anyone have any other suggestions for ways to set up a larger batch sparge system?
Here’s what I’ve been doing so far. It works but it’s clumsy.
You have a home forklift? How awesome is that!
Exactly my first thought. ;D
You could add casters and platform to your kettle stand. That could eliminate some setup/tear down. Not sure how much else you are interested doing.
Paul
I have a friend with a machine shop and he had a spare so this was the system we came up with in order to raise/lower the cooler without blowing out a nut. It works but it’s something else to store and work around. So I have access to a forklift but I can’t say I have my own forklift.
I need a bigger burner, that’s for sure. The turkey burner just doesn’t have the oomph for a big boil like that.
I’m thinking about a pump or something. I can lower the cooler but I still have to hand bail all the mash and sparge water into the cooler. I realize that this falls into the category of “First World Problems” but it’s still sort of slow and clumsy. For now I’m using that aluminum pot you see to heat sparge water, lift it off the burner and then put the brew kettle on the burner so I can lauter into it as you see. The sparge water is near boiling to that I can set it aside while I lauter. I’m thinking about maybe a second burner or something. I have access to almost unlimited metal fab (remember machine shop/welder who loves my beer) so I’m trying to picture something. Maybe punch a hole in that sparge water kettle so I can put a tap in it? Just spitballing right now.
Up until now everything has been done by hand including collecting wort in a pail and pouring it into the mash kettle (which is why I don’t think much about hot side aeration - no one can do it worse than I’ve been doing and my beer is fine).
Forklift = pimped.
Get a pump or 2.
I have a platform raised by a hand winch.
Though a pump is really the more practical answer. I’ve been thinking about getting one.
But what pump? I know nothing about pumps and I’m open to burner recommendations too (affordable burners…)
March 809 HS is the standard. There’s also the 815 for a little more “oomph”. Here are some examples, although you can buy them from many sources…
And running the wort through hot is enough to sanitize a pump? Or, how do you sanitize them? Anyone use a “Chugger Pump”? This is what my local guy has http://www.torontobrewing.ca/servlet/the-1367/Chugger-Brew-Pump-with/Detail
I got a “Chugger Pump” w/ the stainless head and it works great. I set it up for a whirlpool w/ my immersion chiller. I’m very happy with the “Chugger” and if I ever decide to step up to a RIMS type system, I will get another “Chugger” to pump the mash. I have no experience w/ the March pumps, so I couldn’t give you any fair comparisons between them. The “Chugger” is a little less expensive though.
For cleaning/sanitizing the pump, when the brew session is complete and the wort is in the fermenter, I take the hot water that I collected from the beginning of the cooling and add Oxiclean. I then add some of that solution to the boil kettle (which I’ve sprayed and cleaned out) and recirculate through the pump. I then take some sanitizing solution that was made to clean the fermenter and equipment and do the same. After this is done, I spray some sanitizer on some foil and cover the ends of the pump.
Since I use my pump to whirlpool w/ my IC, I just put the IC and whirlpool arm in the boil for the last 15 minutes, start the pump and recirculate.
Not sure if this is the easiest method to clean and sanitize your pump, but it works for me.
There are some guys up in Canada that have some pretty neat 12V brewing pumps. They are about 65$ each! Burners = KAB4 for a conventional kettle, KAB6 for keggle, or, my next burner, the Blichmann!
I know it’s a little more expensive than other burners, but +1 for the Blichmann!
Here it is! GreatBrewEh Beer Home Brewing Pumps
I generally recirculate StarSan through it, then boiling wort, but a lot of people I know do only the boiling wort. The 809 has a kinda tough time with it, but since I upgraded to the 815 impeller it works great.
Boiling water run through the pump should be adequate. I plan to start running boiling water through my chiller as well.
Or boiling wort. After I KO, I start recirculating wort before turning on water for the immersion chiller. I assume same goes for a plate/counterflow chiller.
I agree. But until I did the impeller upgrade, the pump would cavitate if I ran boiling liquid through it. So I developed the two stage strategy.
Andy Tveekrem at NHC recommended ‘wet heat’ sanitation. He said 180 for 20 minutes which is probably overkill, but…
An advantage he mentioned is that if there is a clump of something bad in your lines/equipment - Star San will sanitize the surface, but heat will penetrate the whole clump.
I bet not too much overkill. figure It has to heat the whole pump body/housing/impeller plus anything else you are trying to sanitize (chiller etc.) all the way to that 180 point. bet it would take at least 20 minutes.