Auto Sparge in Cooler

[TheMadHopper]

Does anyone have a Blichmann Auto Sparge installed in a 10 gal Gott cooler? I would like to get some measurements on where to install it. Blichmann tells you what size holes to drill, but doesn't say where you should locate them. I'd like to locate in a spot that would allow brewing of 5 and 10 gal batches, if possible. If not, just 5 gal.

[bcmaui]

I just got one and installed it near the top as shown in the photo.

I am only doing 5 gallon batches in my 10 gallon Gott. I would think I will need a larger mash tun for 10 gallon batches, but have not tried yet - if so - i'll just move the float between different mash vessels when I get there (or get a second float).

That raises a question I've never asked - as I understand it you only want an inch or two of water above your grain bed, in the cooler, right?

[TheMadHopper]

Yes, an inch is fine. This is only to keep oxygen from the grain. If you listened to the last Session, it raised the question whether this was even needed.

You can brew 10 gal batches up to about 1.060-1.065 in a 10 gal Gott. I'm surprised that you can do 5 gal batches with the autosparge that high. When I do 5 gal batches, my tun is only about half full and I didn't think the auto sparge would adjust that far.

[bcmaui]

The arm can be adjusted quite a bit down, but I have not used it as of yet.

I always figure I can drill a second hole a little further down if need be, but it will be harder to move the hole up.

I based my hole location on what was shown in the photo.

[bcmaui]

Got this hooked up and tested with room temp water today.

From where I installed it the autosparge will work well between the 4 gallon and 10 gallon mark inside the 10 gallon Gott cooler.

First I drilled a 1/4" pilot hole all the way through the cooler to guide my hole saws:



Here's the two holes drilled and the foam cleared out:



1" socket wrench to tighten nut (I just made it hand tight):



Here's the parts Blichman gives you and the little screwdriver I used to scrape out the foam:




After I drilled the pilot hole, I used a 7/8" hole saw on the inside plastic, a 1 1/2" hole saw on the outside plastic (that is the size of my 1" socket) and used a small screwdriver to cut and remove the foam in between. You need a 1" socket wrench to tighten the brass Blichman nut against the inner wall of the cooler. I also used my little screwdriver to place the teflon tape around the recessed fitting.

You also need something to connect tubing to the Blichman - here's some B3 SS parts - a 1/2" coupler and a 1/2" hose barb connected with teflon tape since I am using 1/2 high temp tubing:



Need to still add hose clamps to my high temp tubing, but just experimenting with counter height and testing my new carbon filtered water setup that will dump directly into the elevated HLT



The lowest is appears it will work is about the 4 gallon mark inside the Gott 10 gallon cooler - no grain included in this test. The hole comes in at the 8 gallon mark, so if you want to keep the water below the hole in the cooler, you should not go higher than that. If you don't mind having the entire assembly under water, I imagine you can set it close to the 10 gallon mark.

[bcmaui]

OK - I'm in the middle of my 6th batch with this Blichman tool and have worked out some things that work for me.

First of all I have a gravity system. 15 Gal HLT, 10 Gal Gott Cooler with the Blichman autosparge and a stainless flase bottom and an 8 gallon brew kettle. I am making 5 gallon batches with between 8 and 14 pounds of grist in a typical batch. Single infusion.

I clean everything after each batch and let it air dry between putting things away brew sessions - typically every other week.

When I put everything back together I leave the ball float off the arm and the foam rubber floater off the white nylon hose the autosparge.

The sparge arm is adjusted so it closes the valve when it is straight up - this won't work when the lid is on, but it keeps the arm out of the way as you add your grist and is handy to start and stop the flow of hot water as you are mashing in.

I put in some water to fill the dead space below the false bottom before putting in any grain. Then I add water and about a 1/4 of the grist each time. I can stand above the mash tun and pour in my grist, mix it with heated water and use the arm to add water as I need it - slow or fast.

After all is mixed up and I take my mash temp, I shut off the ball valve at the HLT above. Then I screw on the stainless ball float valve and adjust it so it is shut off about 2 inches or so above my grain bed, I pull out the nylon water hose, slip on the black plastic floater thing and lay it on top of the grain bed.

Now I can seal the mash tun up and wait as is converts. It stays warm and covered except for when I vorlauf. It keeps the critters from flying into the sweet smelling wort as well.

I know it may be different and evolve as I get set up to recirculate and heat my mash, but this is really a simple way to go all grain. My beer was a little thin on the first couple of batches as I undershot my mash temps, but now my beer is better than it ever was with extract. Thanks to my local brewery, I can purchase grain locally as well and I have cut my costs in half not paying airfreight to ship in extract. Best of all this is the tastiest beer I have ever made.

[Travisty]

I just used the autosparge for the first time a couple weeks ago. I use a 50 qt rectangular cooler for a mash tun and, while the installation was a bit wierd since the only good place for it to go meant I had to remove one of the handles of the cooler, it works really well. Because of the rectangular shape the cooler is relatively shallow compared to a round cooler, so the autosparge appears to be able to work for both 5 and ten gallon batches quite easily. Very low gravity 5 gallon bathes may need to be mashed a bit thin to get the water level high enough, but not by much I don't think. I did have the level of my mash above the autosparge on this batch and it works fine still, but since I'm a newbie at setting the float up, I almost overflowed the mash tun and had to let enough mash run out to uncover the pivot of the autosparge so I could readjust it down. I was brewing a wit using a separate adjunct mash which is why I didn't notice this issue until later in the brewday when the adjunct mash was being added to the main mash. The only real problem I foresee with this is that I'll need to have the float set before I dough in a very large mash which will make stirring and killing dough balls a bit more complicated. No biggie though and the fact that I can know just set my run off rate out of the mash tun and walk away for a bit without worrying if the mash is overflowing or running dry is very nice!

[bcmaui]

During friday's brew session I almost overflowed on the sparge - the float was not able to have the piston did not retract all the way and water continued to flow in and the float was completely underwater. Possibly some sugar from the previous high gravity beer was in the piston. I pushed the piston in slightly and the water stopped. One thing to add to my brew procedures - be certain the piston completed closed before closing the lid on the mash tun during the sparge.