I am planning to add a March pump to my B3 1000 Gravity BrewSculpture to recirculate the mash and use the Jamil chiller method. For the mash recirculation, can I clamp the hose on the kettle so it pours on top of the mash, or do I need a fancy sparge ring like this?
Has anyone made a sparge ring to recirculate the mash? If the hose flows directly into the mash tun, will that disrupt the grain filter bed?
I am also wondering about B3's analog SMART option, where the mash is heated through a copper coil in the HLT. Can you use your immersion chiller for both purposes or is it better to have a dedicated coil for the mash? What are the pros/cons of this method versus direct firing of the mash while recirculating? I imagine there are various opinions on these questions, but I'd appreciate some help in sorting it all out. I am leaning towards buying the pump, hose and QDs now and adding more equipment later. Thanks!
Eric