Igloo Mod, HLT / Mash Tun

[56 Firedome]

Looked at it again, Very Cool.
What pipe size is that? Mine is 1/2" CPVC.
My suggestion is drill through center of the lid & foam all the voids with low expanding foam. Use the food grade silicon to seal openings. I added an air vent to provide air flow during fill & drain. To make a strong penetration you might look into a Bulkhead Fitting. A 2 piece fitting, Male thread on one side & Female thread on the other. Pretty much the same as a SS thermometer o-let just PVC OR CPVC. I goggled PVC Bulkhead fitting & got 20 in multiple plastics. From 1/2" through 1-1/2" on Amazon.
The manifold I showed was originally a Sparge manifold so I had built it with the holes facing up. I was able to flip the center section so the holes faced down.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Wow Ward, that looks great. Do you plan to use it as a manifold for step temp rise?

Thanks but ...no......actually, never heard of that process. It's just a compact sparge arm or in this case, .nozzle. And yes, 1/2 inch.

 

[Ward Chillington]

The noodleing time paid off and we'll see if it works as conceived tomorrow...I made two of these; one for the supply for the HLT an the other for the sparge arm or in this case,,,,more like a sparge thumb!

 

[Ward Chillington]

Oh yeah...the rest of the piece.

 

[56 Firedome]

Wow Ward, Beautiful. That's exactly what I was planning to do. I was looking at the Coffee Maker this morning. What is that inside the clear tubing?

 

[Ward Chillington]

Wow Ward, Beautiful. That's exactly what I was planning to do. I was looking at the Coffee Maker this morning. What is that inside the clear tubing?

The site "glass" is a section of clear silicone tube stuck to a barb fitting. I then cut an old section of curtain rod to make it rigid and marked it with a Sharpie and secured the top with a PVC horseshoe bracket.

 

[Craigerrr]

The site "glass" is a section of clear silicone tube stuck to a barb fitting. I then cut an old section of curtain rod to make it rigid and marked it with a Sharpie and secured the top with a PVC horseshoe bracket.

McGyvered it!

 

[56 Firedome]

The site "glass" is a section of clear silicone tube stuck to a barb fitting. I then cut an old section of curtain rod to make it rigid and marked it with a Sharpie and secured the top with a PVC horseshoe bracket.

Have you tried a flow. Test yet?
I gave mine a spin this afternoon 1st filling & marking gallons. I drained from the Tun into pump suction & back to manifold. Looking for balance between out flow & return. I discovered 2 things, original configuration had several bottlenecks from gravity flow days, replaced several fittings which were 1/4" while everything else is 1/2".
2nd, when you open the Mash Tun drain valve, for Sparge, Step temperature increase or Vorloft, the Sight glass empties until you close the valve again. In short there is no Water Level shown while liquid is flowing. Shut the valve & the level returns to the Sight Glass.

 

[Ward Chillington]

2nd, when you open the Mash Tun drain valve, for Sparge, Step temperature increase or Vorloft, the Sight glass empties until you close the valve again. In short there is no Water Level shown while liquid is flowing. Shut the valve & the level returns to the Sight Glass.

Try putting a loose seal over the top of the glass, it creates a buffer. While it's not a 100% solution, it works for me. I took a scrap piece of plastic wrap and put it over the top of the "Sight Glass" tube, then slipped a slightly larger tube to hold it in place then poked a pin hole in it. Think a tiny version of a plastic bag over the top of a glass with a rubber band to hold it in place. I should post some pix.

 

[56 Firedome]

Try putting a loose seal over the top of the glass, it creates a buffer. While it's not a 100% solution, it works for me. I took a scrap piece of plastic wrap and put it over the top of the "Sight Glass" tube, then slipped a slightly larger tube to hold it in place then poked a pin hole in it. Think a tiny version of a plastic bag over the top of a glass with a rubber band to hold it in place. I should post some pix.

Thanks Ward. I was surprised when the water level dropped out of the bottom of the glass.
I was going to use a floating ball in the tube but I couldn't find a ball that would float & be small enough to fit inside the tube. So, I stole your stiffener. A 1/2" wide strip of aluminium I had used in an old project. My finished Sight Glass is a shameless copy of yours. I'll try the Cling Wrap buffer.
Thanks

 

[Ward Chillington]

Thanks Ward. I was surprised when the water level dropped out of the bottom of the glass.
I was going to use a floating ball in the tube but I couldn't find a ball that would float & be small enough to fit inside the tube. So, I stole your stiffener. A 1/2" wide strip of aluminium I had used in an old project. My finished Sight Glass is a shameless copy of yours. I'll try the Cling Wrap buffer.
Thanks

LOL...No theft what so ever..all my stuff is "open source"....I probably lifted it from someone else anyhow!

Lemme know if you figure out a ball float....I was using a small piece of white food grade plastic that floats....meh...here's what the buffer looks like...

and here is how I am handling getting the right opening of the HLT to get in the ball park while sparging to match flows. It worked pretty good last batch on it's maiden voyage, we'll see how it does this weekend. I image different size grain bills will behave differently but this did OK for 11# of 2 row

and here's the other 2 mods I made. I put 12" thermowells in both of them, sealed off a lot of the openings with rubber washers and O rings from the plumbing supply section of the local Ace Hardware and finally added another PVC bracket to keep things in place better....Newton's law....for every hose you push on, you will pull off!

Actually...I think that rubber washer on the top is a Grolsch bottle!

 

[56 Firedome]

Ward how did you figure out the diaphram thing? I discovered a little dance where 1st you let a little start to drain & then close the valve. The tube fills & responds as levels inside Tun change but about 1 gal behind, 6 gal inside is 5 in site glass.
I was able to balance Tun out & manifold in but no grain in Tun.

Regarding my interest in recirculating in MT & Kettle. Process is called Vorloff. The Step Infusion thing would be handled at the same time.
I asked "How often do I Step Infusion in the beers I make?" I reviewed the 10 beers I currently make & found 4 of them had something like "Strike temp of 123 F, hold 15 min & raise temp to 156 over 15 min & hold for 45 min. Sparg with 168 F into Kettle."
Circulating through the Kettle with low heat to raise Mash temp seems logical & beneficial. I have noticed most/many of the new recipes I've seen only use 156 for an hour.

 

[56 Firedome]

Here'ssome pics of my setup running a flow test.

The ClingWrap was to thin but the bag the horseshoe clamp came in was thicker & worked fine.
Thanx

 

[Ward Chillington]

Act

Ward how did you figure out the diaphram thing? I discovered a little dance where 1st you let a little start to drain & then close the valve. The tube fills & responds as levels inside Tun change but about 1 gal behind, 6 gal inside is 5 in site glass.
I was able to balance Tun out & manifold in but no grain in Tun

I think I got that idea from @Trialben...l did the "little dance" at first too but then came across that idea somewhere on a forum or looking at commercial sight glasses.

Re step infusion, I have done that, @J A stout recipe uses it and it was pretty cool..no pun intended, how that works with getting your added hotter water to hit the desired temp in the tun...glad that BF has that calculator on the site here!

Re Vorloff and stepping...I have to think about that...when I establish my grain bed, it's with a Pyrex measuring cup that gets dumped back in tun and done! It may bump up your efficiency...but then I think you are leaving a little of your sweet wort back in the tun....Idunno?.

PS...I dig the "locally sourced materials"...a man after my own heart! Long live the DIY'er!

 

[56 Firedome]

Thanks for the props. I Sparg after the Vorloff is completed so I hope I'm catching that last drop of Sweet Wort. I'm anxious to do my next batch for a real life test run. As both my kegs are full & in the kegerator. I'll need a to start my next brew in a week or so. I don't consume as fast as I used to since COVID, friends & neighbors don't drop by & hang out for a beer like they used to.
All things will pass, the trick is to be there when it happens.

 

[56 Firedome]

Ward did you notice my high tech Brew Sculpture? It was supposed to be a prototype for a steel structure.
Milk crates stolen from grocery store loading docks in the 70s. Glad I hadn't proceeded with the 3 tiered gravity fed design I was drifting towards. Once I decided to use a pump to handle the Sparg I didn't need the 3rd tier.
Even further, I figure to heat the Sparg water with an emersion cooker to heat to 168 in place instead of lifting the hot tank to 6 ft. That way the Sparg tank is at the same elevation as the Kettle & pump moves the hot water to the manifold after the Vorloff.
Originally, it was 5 crates for the Sparge tank & 3 crates for the Mash Tun & Kettle on a stand. The revision would be 3 crates for the Tun & 2 for the Sparg tank. Pump is mounted low on the 1st crate. Fill the Sparg tank with treated water & plug in emersion cooker to heat to 168. When Vorloff is complete, switch hoses & pump from Sparg tank to manifold & drain by gravity from Mash Tun into Kettle.