Two Vessel Two Tier Brewing

[MrC]

After a bit of research and applying what I've learned over the past few years I decided to trial a two vessel brew setup.  It's a basic proof of concept brew with not a lot of fancy bits and pieces and is still quite manual.

Here's the recipe:

http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/forum/topics/1500433:Topic:8?commen...

Brew day went well, was quite relaxed and was all over in 4.5 hours.

Here's the basic setup.  Mash Lauter Tun on top with Kettle below and a pump just below the kettle.  The pump is used to transfer from the kettle to the MLT and the MLT then gravity drains back into the kettle.

 

Step 1: Heat the strike water in the kettle.  In this case I heated 15L to 77C.

 

Step 2: Turn on the pump to circulate water around the system and preheat the mash tun.

Step 3: When the temp is up to strike temp, close the valve on the MLT and continue pumping strike water into the MLT until target mash water volume is reached.

Step 4: Turn off pump, close all valves and mash in.

Step 5: Leave the mash to to sit while heating up the remaining water minus 1L per kg of grain.  In this case I heated the remaining water to 67C.  By this time the mash was 30mins in and was already fully converted.

 

Step 6: Begin full system recirculation sparge.  Open all valves and start pump.  I started with a slow flow rate to set the filter bed and then increased the rate until the recirculation rate from the pump matched that of the fully open valve on the MLT (gravity fed into the kettle).

 

Step 7: Turn on the heat in the kettle and let the temp rise up to mash out temp and continue recirculation until the gravity in the kettle equals the target OG.

 

Step 8: Turn off pump, close valve on kettle and let the MLT drain into the kettle.

 

Step 9: Add the final sparge water of 1L per kg of grain to the MLT.  This is based on the 'cold' water sparge theory where cold means not up to sparge temp.  I decided to use 1L per kg of grain in an attempt to replace the wort that is absorbed by the grain with water.  I used water straight from the hot tap which for me is around 60C.  Seemed like a good idea during the planning phase.  

 

Step 10: Drain into kettle untill desired preboil volume reached and boil as usual, etc, etc

 

That's it!  Let me know what you think and whether I can improve on anything.

 

Cheers.

 

[mattd2]

Looks good MrC!. What size pots are they and where did you get them? As I mentioned in the other thread I'm looking at going to a 2 vessel 1 pump system soon. My thoughts were similar to yours with recircing but didn't think of doing a final sparge (even straight cold water should be better than nothing right).

My other idea was to just pump all the pre heated sparge water from the kettle ontop of the grain before starting to take the runnings (vorlaufing back ontop of the sparge water until clear), this was because I wanted to keep my keggles at the same level.

It looks like you are restricting the pump a fair bit in the pictures, you mentioned you didn't have an issue with the light duty Craftbrewer silicone hose between the pump and valve balloning right?

[MrC]

MLT is a $20 warehouse pot with a braided SS hose for lautering. The kettle is approx 42L from Pete's Emporium for $80. The tubing is all light duty silicon tubing from Craftbrewer. No ballooning, no collapsing and no kinking.I did have some garden hose that I had cut longways to wrap around any kinky parts if needed but it wasn't required.

[MrC]

The MLT was maxed out with 5.5kg of grain. I'll be upgrading it very soon.

[mattd2]

Haha I thought the MLT looked familiar! I got one I have been using to make 12ish litre BIAB batches. I saw that another place than makes pots similar to these they have a sticker on them "Do not lift when full", I did once and the top split, still works but I will definately not be lifting it (or any others) again!

[Nathan Murrell]

That looks like a really simple setup. I'm looking at moving on from my by BIAB in a 50L pot and maybe going electric on it too so I can set it up in the garage. Did you do the plumbing yourself? Are they brass or SS? Would like to try do most of it myself to keep costs down.

[MrC]

I did all the plumbing myself. All weldless fittings. All stainless. The fittings are from Bunnings and Craftbrewer. The element is also from craftbrewer 2200W.

[Nathan Murrell]

Yeah been hunting around for fittings as we don't have a big Bunnings and Mitre10 have a hopeless selection of stuff for a brand new store. Looks like Craftbrewer may be the way to go then...especially for the element. Might have save up for a little ;)

[mattd2]

Could try the Hastings branch of Blackwoods Paykels - 700 Omahu Road, Hastings 4120. I think they are actually cheaper than Bunnings (but don't quote me on that). Have a look at there prices online www.blackwoodspaykels.co.nz, just remember that the prices are excluding GST.

For a brass 1/2" 2 piece ball valve it's $14.70 including GST, 316SS 2 pce = $25.16, 316SS 3 pce = $32.72. Anyone know what they cost at Bunnings? I'm sure the brass ones were about $20.

[Nathan Murrell]

Yeah drive past it quite regularly (while working) and mean to call in and have a look. Just figured it would be a bit pricey. Will have a look on my next days off cheers.

 

[Michael van Wijk]

I'm interested in getting one of those elements too. Did you get the power cord from them too or could a computer power lead plug into the back of the socket of the element? Cheers

[Chad Keven]

similar concept to what im doing  but my equipment is pretty much all different im mashing in a stainless insulated sink with perf bottom, gas fired keggle, spiral steel pvc hoses, a pvc pipe setup with valves mounted on the wall of my shed. pretty low tech. i think theres still alot of bits and pieces i could "bolt on" to make it more fluid, the next thing for me might be a RIMS tube setup.

but still 2 tier 2 vessel, and manual and i know what you mean with the sparge; the last brew i did i transfered wort to buckets while i heated sparge water to around 80c its working well for me i have turned out some tasty beers

[MrC]

I bought the cable when I bought the 2200W element from Craftbrewer.  They are standard 10A 250V~ cables so you should be able to use a standard PC cable.  I just tested it and the plugs fit fine.  It's not the gruntiest element in the world and only just keeps a rolling boil with the lid half on when boiling around 26L.

The Hauraki Home Brew 2000W hoop elements, however, don't work with standard PC cables.  The pins on the element are bigger and the plug shape is different.