53 replies to this topic

[Brian72]

I was worried about it though when I started today because I really didnt get too fancy with it. It just makes a single loop inside my tun about 10 inches long by about 3 inches wide out of 1/2 inch cpvc. It worked like a charm though, sparge didnt stick at all, wort just flowed out of it effortlessly. Hit all my gravities spot on, collected more than enough for a full boil, in fact I got about 5.5 gallons in my fermentor and still had a little in the kettle when I was done.

[tag]

Why did you change?

[Brian72]

Why did you change?

The braid was constantly getting clogged and cunked up. It was a pain.

[Dave]

I, too, went from manifold to braid ..Fly sparged today for the first time with it and even though I increased my crappy efficiency a bit ( an ongoing problem) I could tell it was leaving pockets of unrinsed grains in a few spots..Prolly going back to the manifold or just batch sparge with it

[Brian72]

I've always batch sparged and the manifold just made it even better. All my beers come out good. I dont know anything about figuring efficiency but as long as I hit all my target numbers I figure I'm doing something right.

[3rd party JKor]

manifolds rool, braids drool!!!

[Kremer]

* high fives Brian

[TonyBrown]

The braid was constantly getting clogged and cunked up. It was a pain.

i did this as well about three weeks back (I went from a braid to a bazooka screen)... cut about 30-45 mins out of my brew day... my run offs only take a few minutes now instead of nearly an hour... money well spent...

[Brian72]

i did this as well about three weeks back (I went from a braid to a bazooka screen)... cut about 30-45 mins out of my brew day... my run offs only take a few minutes now instead of nearly an hour... money well spent...

I know, right? My manifold only cost me a couple bucks because I already had most of the stuff in my tool area. Before with the braid I'd have to stir that crpa out of it to get anything, but this baby flows like a river. I'll have to take pics and post it. Its actually a very simple build and well worth it.

[TonyBrown]

I know, right? My manifold only cost me a couple bucks because I already had most of the stuff in my tool area. Before with the braid I'd have to stir that crpa out of it to get anything, but this baby flows like a river. I'll have to take pics and post it. Its actually a very simple build and well worth it.

thursday night I brewed after work and didn't even get in a hurry and was done before bedtime... unreal... from grain weighing, crushing, heating strike/sparge water, boil, and clean up and I was done before 10p and I didn't get started until almost 530p... it was awesome... usually my after work brew days last til nearly midnight...

[jammer]

The only time i had a problem with my braid was because it had collapsed and kinked up on itself from me stirring and mashing my grainbed. Now every few batches i dismantle and run the end of a wooden spoon up on there and stretch it all back out. Works like a charm again.

[Dave]

My problem with the braid and fly sparging is the braid doesn't conform ( is that the word I'm looking for? ) to the shape of my MT so it draws the run-off through the grainbed kind of unevenly...

[siouxbrewer]

My problem with the braid and fly sparging is the braid doesn't conform ( is that the word I'm looking for? ) to the shape of my MT so it draws the run-off through the grainbed kind of unevenly...

This was my problem when I was tinkering with different ss screen setups. Fly sparging simply will not work. John Palmer's article on MT geometry is sound and the advice to start out with a copper manifold would have saved me time, frustration, and money. Plus, you can batch, fly or in-between sparge without having to change out any pieces of hardware.

[Dave]

This was my problem when I was tinkering with different ss screen setups. Fly sparging simply will not work. John Palmer's article on MT geometry is sound and the advice to start out with a copper manifold would have saved me time, frustration, and money. Plus, you can batch, fly or in-between sparge without having to change out any pieces of hardware.

Yeah...I think I'll build a manifold that fits the geometry of my MT...My last one was round for my round Igloo and worked perfect.Also thinking of making one to drip spargewater on top of my grainbed .... CPVC maybe?I'd like to be able to just crack open the valves on the HLT and MT and do a nice slow run-off while not having to monitor it too closely......

[djinkc]

This was my problem when I was tinkering with different ss screen setups. Fly sparging simply will not work. John Palmer's article on MT geometry is sound and the advice to start out with a copper manifold would have saved me time, frustration, and money. Plus, you can batch, fly or in-between sparge without having to change out any pieces of hardware.

Yeah, Flatch sparging....... Palmer's design advice and switching to a Cu manifold have really made my brewdays much better. I continually ran into problems with a braid......

[MyaCullen]

thursday night I brewed after work and didn't even get in a hurry and was done before bedtime... unreal... from grain weighing, crushing, heating strike/sparge water, boil, and clean up and I was done before 10p and I didn't get started until almost 530p... it was awesome... usually my after work brew days last til nearly midnight...

that's a smooth brewday wonder if it has anything to do with your brain just stayin in normal efficient work mode, and not saturday morning , whatever mode?

[HoppingFrog Brewing]

I started with a manifold , Then I thought I would be cool and made a braid used it 1 time , through it out. The manifold I had used for 15 years still works and has never pluged and I roll the hell out of my grain and often use 5 lbs of oats in a 10 gal batch. My stout has 28% 6 row malt to increas enzimes as 2 row had bad conversion results. This stout has multaple awards. The last stout i made had 8lbs chocolate malt8 lbs 6 row malt3 bs oats40IBU5.6%ALCTurned out spectacular. Think bazar think big.

[beach]

Yeah...I think I'll build a manifold that fits the geometry of my MT...My last one was round for my round Igloo and worked perfect.Also thinking of making one to drip spargewater on top of my grainbed .... CPVC maybe?I'd like to be able to just crack open the valves on the HLT and MT and do a nice slow run-off while not having to monitor it too closely......

That's exactly what I just did Bitter D. Used it for the 1st time yesterday and it was flippin' great. I just matched the output of the HLT to the output of the MLT, drank a hb & weighed out my hops. I took my time building my manifolds but it was well worth it. I always pitch a couple of handfulls of rice hulls into every mash, cheap insurance IMO. If I could find my braid I'd toss it.