Hi,
I'm not sure if this post is in the optimal place....
I'm designing an electric one-pot RIMS system where I use a BiaB bag to hold the grain during the mash. You could say: another Braumeister clone...
I'm not a real metal worker and my wife is handy with the sewing machine ;-) Therefore I opted for this bag solution instead of some metal false bottom with slits/holes that act as a sieve. I see quite a few people making 'Braumesiter' clones, using malt pipes and the like. In my first attempts, I used a false bottom (with big holes) and had the bag sitting on top of that, just to prevent it from touching the bottom/heater.
I use a small 12 Volt pump (the brown Chinese one ;-) that is rated 109 G/hr (6.9 L/min) and I found that it runs dry because the wort doesn't flow quickly enough through the grain bed and filterbag. In my first version, the bag was sitting against the wall of the brew kettle so that in the end only the bottom was 'available' as active filter area. The version I tried today is shaped like a bucket, so it tapers to the bottom, and hangs free in the kettle, so that the total submerged area is available for passing the liquid. But alas, still not good enough. Within 30 sec. you see the level of the wort rising inside the bag with 2 or 3 cm (1 inch) and it doesn't take much longer or the pump runs dry.
Especially when the system is heating up in a multi-step mash, I would like the pump to run continuously to avoid overshoots in temperature.
I read that even the Braumesiter suffers from this type of blocking with higher gravity beers. Therefore I was wondering what solutions people have come up with that work.
Just pumping slowly?
How much is slow or too fast?
What volume rate per area is more likely to work? (of course it also depends on the height of the grain bed.)
Any other solutions or ideas?
Thanks a million,
I've added a few pics to clarify
Stuck mash, Biab bags and recirculating
Post #1 made 11 years ago
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