86 replies to this topic

[zymot]

Why did you choose Aurdino over RaspberryPi? Of the two, RaspberryPi seems to have the more advanced features and capabilities.

[3rd party JKor]

I've been going through the series by Jeremy Blum. Pretty basic but the fundamentals are there. I have to imagine there are quite a few tutorials up there, but those were the first ones i found.

[3rd party JKor]

Why did you choose Aurdino over RaspberryPi? Of the two, RaspberryPi seems to have the more advanced features and capabilities.

I just wanted to get something off the ground and the arduino is easier to deal with. It can do all the control necessary for the system. Next time around i might go with a linux based system, but just to get that off the ground is a much bigger task.

[3rd party JKor]

What do you guy think of a continuously stirred mash?  I've always wanted to try it.  I got a couple a really beefy Leeson gear motors a while back.  I was planning on using one to drive my grain mill and maybe the second as a mash stirrer.  It's way overkill for a 2 gal system, probably even for a 15 gal system.  I've seen 90 in-lb torque rating quoted in one article for a 5 gallon homebrew mash stirrer.  These motors are ~1100 in-lb. I could also just get a cheap ice cream maker motor on ebay which will likely be enough for 2 gallons and it runs straight off 120VAC, no AC-DC conversion.

[HVB]

Is it overkill, you bet.  But if you have the stuff and it will not cost much to implement why not do it.  If it does not work well or you do not see an improvement in the beer just don't use it.  Of course I like to do things the hard way so maybe I am not the best one to give advice.

[positiveContact]

here - I'll be the opposite of drez - stirring the mash?  no way.  not for small batches.  if you had a freakin' giant mash tun like a pro brewery absolutely.

[HVB]

here - I'll be the opposite of drez - stirring the mash?  no way.  not for small batches.  if you had a freakin' giant mash tun like a pro brewery absolutely.

Let the man have some fun and stir his mash! 

[positiveContact]

Let the man have some fun and stir his mash! 

 

we shouldn't do this in front of him.  we'll talk about this later!

[HVB]

we shouldn't do this in front of him.  we'll talk about this later!

Good point!  I will bring the beer.

[positiveContact]

Good point!  I will bring the beer.

 

woooo doggy!

[3rd party JKor]

The engineer in my always worries about temp consistency within the mash even with recirculation.  I always worry that there is channeling going on and different areas of the grain bed are seeing different temperatures.  I've somewhat validated this by testing different areas of the mash with a thermocouple probe.  I haven't done an exhaustive study, but even with inlet and outlet temps >150F I've read spots in the mash that were in the 140s.  Presumably stirring would get rid of all that variation.  it would also allow for higher wort return temps without worrying about overheating the top of the grain bed.

[HVB]

The engineer in my always worries about temp consistency within the mash even with recirculation.  I always worry that there is channeling going on and different areas of the grain bed are seeing different temperatures.  I've somewhat validated this by testing different areas of the mash with a thermocouple probe.  I haven't done an exhaustive study, but even with inlet and outlet temps >150F I've read spots in the mash that were in the 140s.  Presumably stirring would get rid of all that variation.  it would also allow for higher wort return temps without worrying about overheating the top of the grain bed.

I recirculate constantly and I have still noticed differences in my temp across the mash.  It has me thinking of a few way to return the wort back to the MLT to try and avoid that.

[3rd party JKor]

Same here.  i've always recirculated constantly and still had variations.

[HVB]

Same here.  i've always recirculated constantly and still had variations.

In the end the beer is still good but, like you, the engineer in me cringes at the temperature delta.

[positiveContact]

In the end the beer is still good but, like you, the engineer in me cringes at the temperature delta.

 

<-- is an engineer.  doesn't care

[zymot]

The engineer in my always worries about temp consistency within the mash even with recirculation.  I always worry that there is channeling going on and different areas of the grain bed are seeing different temperatures.  I've somewhat validated this by testing different areas of the mash with a thermocouple probe.  I haven't done an exhaustive study, but even with inlet and outlet temps >150F I've read spots in the mash that were in the 140s.  Presumably stirring would get rid of all that variation.  it would also allow for higher wort return temps without worrying about overheating the top of the grain bed.

 

 

I have wondered about this as well.

 

You pump heated wort out of the RIMS on top of the mash. This wort is hotter than the wort that is coming out of the MT & into the RIMS. The hot wort travels from the top down. Typically, you measure the temp of the wort as it come out of the MT, then you stop. 1 second before you stop the RIMS circulation you pumped water hotter than your target. I expect I will continue to pump wort, but bypass the RIMS, HERMS in my case.

[3rd party JKor]

Btw, mine is going to be direct fired RIMS. The MLT will sit directly on an electric range burner. I will recirc to keep from scorching/overheating the bottom of the mash. I'm not sure if stirring the mash alone will be enough to prevent this or not. I would think the mash liquor under the false bottom would be locally stagnant. I don't know. Obviously i can try both methods and see. I suppose the other option is going with a relatively unobtrusive bazooka tube and let the mash paddle sweep the bottom of the vessel. If the mash is continuously mixed channeling isn't a concern thus no need for a FB. Hmmmm...i kinda like that idea.

[3rd party JKor]

The credit card is getting warm here! The UPS guy is going to be making regular stops at my place for a bit!

[positiveContact]

thinking about the system it actually isn't crazy to stir it.  I'm used to my lowly cooler mash tun where there is no direct heat.  my temp variances aren't more than a couple of degrees from one spot to another.

[3rd party JKor]

Btw, mine is going to be direct fired RIMS. The MLT will sit directly on an electric range burner. I will recirc to keep from scorching/overheating the bottom of the mash. I'm not sure if stirring the mash alone will be enough to prevent this or not. I would think the mash liquor under the false bottom would be locally stagnant. I don't know. Obviously i can try both methods and see.I suppose the other option is going with a relatively unobtrusive bazooka tube and let the mash paddle sweep the bottom of the vessel. If the mash is continuously mixed channeling isn't a concern thus no need for a FB. Hmmmm...i kinda like that idea.

 

 

I forgot the bazooka tube might screw up the fly sparge.  I'm 100% set on fly sparging, I can't batch sparge on this system anyway, since it's 2 vessels.