Vacuuming up grains from the MT. Anyone do it? Doesn't it just make another mess? When I'm done sparging I'm at about 3.5 brix. I guess at that's not that much sugar. I used to just lift my cooler and dump. But I'm getting a 15 gal SS setup and I don't want to lift it full. I guess that I could scoop out the grains, I scooped them into a pale to crush. So anyone vacuum?
Spent grains are still pretty messy and will draw bugs. You might not like what it does to a vacuum, even a shop vac. I would plan to scoop into a bucket that you can dump easily.
A few guys I know are using the morebeer tippy or similar setups. The mash tun is on a hinge/swivel thing that allows you to tip & dump. http://morebeer.com/search/103471 Not sure how your setup looks but you could probably rig up something similar. With grain bills >30lbs all the time it would be worth it.
I have never used a vacuum for spent grain. I have considered it, but not after serious thought. I know that some people do it. My MT is a modified Sanke keg. It is f--ing heavy when full of spent grain, but I can manage to get it into the alley to dump. Perhaps if I had a MT big enough to crawl inside and a vaccum that output into a bin in the parking lot it would makes some sense. Otherwise its just an extra thing to clean.
