Cooler mash tun question.

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by TooHopTooHandle, May 6, 2018.

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  1. TooHopTooHandle

    TooHopTooHandle Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2016 New York

    So I recently just bought a Coleman Xtreme 70quart cooler. I upgraded from a much smaller square one that had a copper manifold. I swapped everything over to the Coleman cooler. When I was about halfway through sparging my flow got really slow and I could see tons of air bubbles coming through the tubing. I use a MK II pump and never had this issue in the other cooler. It would pump out liquid no problem until I hit my dead space. I know the liquid wasn't low because it did this for the last 10 gallons of draining. Any one have any ideas? So I went and bought a 21inch piece of stainless steel braided hose (off a faucet line) and was thinking about switching to this instead of the manifold. Does anyone here use the SS braided hose in a square cooler? What is your mash efficiency with it? I average between 75-80% with my manifold and I was wondering if I would see much of a difference switching to this?
     
    #1 TooHopTooHandle, May 6, 2018
  2. Prep8611

    Prep8611 Savant (1,208) Aug 22, 2014 New Jersey

    I have a 100qt Coleman extreme and I use a bazooka tube. I average 65-70 percent efficiency no sparging. I haven’t had any problems with my draining that you speak of.
     
    #2 Prep8611, May 7, 2018
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  3. invertalon

    invertalon Pooh-Bah (2,249) Jan 27, 2009 Ohio
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Check your ball valve and ensure it's tightened well to your cooler. That is likely where the air is coming in, not the bazooka if its submerged in wort.

    Tighten up the fittings and see if that helps. I had similar issue with my new pump when running water tests (air in line). Found out I had to snug up the barbed fitting into my ball valve and it fixed my problem.
     
    #3 invertalon, May 7, 2018
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  4. TooHopTooHandle

    TooHopTooHandle Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2016 New York

    I havent tried the bazooka tube yet. I was using my copper manifold, but was debating on switching to the braided hose to see if that helps.
     
    #4 TooHopTooHandle, May 7, 2018
  5. TooHopTooHandle

    TooHopTooHandle Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2016 New York

    Why don't you sparge?
     
    #5 TooHopTooHandle, May 7, 2018
  6. Prep8611

    Prep8611 Savant (1,208) Aug 22, 2014 New Jersey

    Time and I don’t have to worry about my ph becoming too high while sparging. There have been people that swear it leads to a better beer and is good for low oxygen brewing and avoiding hot side aeration but I’ve never tested my beers. I won’t be going back to sparging ever, maybe if grain doubles in price.
     
    #6 Prep8611, May 7, 2018
  7. TooHopTooHandle

    TooHopTooHandle Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2016 New York

    I'll have to give that a try sometime. I think I am gonna check all my connections on my manifold/ball valve and try it one more time and if it doesn't work I'm gonna switch to the SS braided hose. I know the manifold works as I've done over 25 batches with it in the old cooler.
     
    #7 TooHopTooHandle, May 7, 2018
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  8. OldBrewer

    OldBrewer Maven (1,385) Jan 13, 2016 Canada (ON)

    I also switched to no sparging in the beer I brewed yesterday. In addition I underlet it (added grain first then flowed the mash water in through the valve from underneath rather than adding the mash water first and then adding the grain. No dough balls at all, easy to stir gently afterwards, and a lot less oxygen getting added. I lost a little efficiency so had to add a little extra grain. The extra grain amounted to about half a dollar. Not a bad investment for a better quality beer. Regarding the bubbles, I agree that it can likely be resolved by tightening the faucet fittings. and/or the fittings to your pump. It likely has nothing to do with the manifold.
     
    #8 OldBrewer, May 7, 2018
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  9. TooHopTooHandle

    TooHopTooHandle Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2016 New York

    I think I will try the no sparge method soon when I do my next kettle sour since its a simple grain bill/low abv beer to see where my efficiency drops to. How much % did you lose off your efficiency when you switched to no sparge. Not that I'm worried bout %, but just trying to get an idea of how much extra grain to supplement to hit intended OG
     
    #9 TooHopTooHandle, May 7, 2018
  10. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    IIRC, you have BrewCipher, which has a calculator (the Mash Efficiency Predictor tab) to estimate the expected change in efficiency for a given recipe in your setup.
     
    #10 VikeMan, May 7, 2018
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  11. TooHopTooHandle

    TooHopTooHandle Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2016 New York

    yes I do have brewcipher. Ill take a look at that. Thanks for the heads up :slight_smile:
     
    #11 TooHopTooHandle, May 7, 2018
  12. OldBrewer

    OldBrewer Maven (1,385) Jan 13, 2016 Canada (ON)

    I will be calculating that soon. I overestimated my evaporation rate, so ended up with a lower SG than I had hoped for. I estimated that I would lose about 4% in efficiency.
     
    #12 OldBrewer, May 7, 2018
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  13. OldBrewer

    OldBrewer Maven (1,385) Jan 13, 2016 Canada (ON)

    I just calculated it. In terms of my Brewhouse efficiency, it dropped about 5%.
     
    #13 OldBrewer, May 7, 2018
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  14. OldBrewer

    OldBrewer Maven (1,385) Jan 13, 2016 Canada (ON)

    Another advantage of the no-sparge method, which I haven't seen mentioned, is that I hardly had to do any vorlauf. It came out fairly clear right from the start, so I only vorlaufed about 4 quarts in total. I probably didn't even need to do that much.
     
    #14 OldBrewer, May 7, 2018
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  15. TooHopTooHandle

    TooHopTooHandle Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2016 New York

    Just wanted to update my situation. So I took everything apart on my mash tun and added new teflon tape to all the threads, snugged everything back up, and ran a water test. I am happy to say there are no leaks and the air bubble problem with the pump I was having is now gone. Thanks for the advice/tips everyone. Here's a couple pics of my new baby :slight_smile:[​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    #15 TooHopTooHandle, May 11, 2018
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  16. TooHopTooHandle

    TooHopTooHandle Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2016 New York

    I should also add it drained all water except about 12oz. That's a very efficient dead space. I'm sure it will act a little different with grain in there, but I'm happy with that
     
    #16 TooHopTooHandle, May 11, 2018
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