denver brewhoo
10-27-2003, 07:33 PM
For both mashout and batch sparging, I draw hot water from my HLT, a 10 gallon Gott cooler, via 2 quart pitcher, and pour gently into my mash/lauter tun, another 10 gallon Gott. This a) takes time and b) results in a lot of heat loss in both the hot liquor and the mash tun. I recently bought a pump for recirculating in the MLT, which I accomplish by running a hose back into the top of the cooler with the lid unscrewed and sitting loosely on the top. I also use the pump to move wort into the brew kettle after each sparge, and from the brew kettle into my counterflow chiller and into the fermenter.
So, it's replaced the 2 quart at a time vorlauf and the heavy lifting I used to have to do to induce gravity to move my wort for me.
I'd like to use the pump to do away with my slow and inefficient hot liquor transfers from HLT to MLT, and I think the easiest way to do that might be to put a Zymico cooler converter on the HLT, but what about the input into the MLT? I'd have to put a hole in it somewhere, and I'm thinking the best place would be the lid. Has anybody done this? How do you minimize the heat loss, or is there any way to do that? More importantly, will I wreck the cooler lid in trying this?
Also, will need a sight guage if I want to eliminate opening the lid of either cooler, which is where I'm currently losing the most heat, not to mention the face full of steam....anybody got a source?
So, it's replaced the 2 quart at a time vorlauf and the heavy lifting I used to have to do to induce gravity to move my wort for me.
I'd like to use the pump to do away with my slow and inefficient hot liquor transfers from HLT to MLT, and I think the easiest way to do that might be to put a Zymico cooler converter on the HLT, but what about the input into the MLT? I'd have to put a hole in it somewhere, and I'm thinking the best place would be the lid. Has anybody done this? How do you minimize the heat loss, or is there any way to do that? More importantly, will I wreck the cooler lid in trying this?
Also, will need a sight guage if I want to eliminate opening the lid of either cooler, which is where I'm currently losing the most heat, not to mention the face full of steam....anybody got a source?