EMIAB 2 Vessel System.

Just finished up this easy to build and use electric mash in a bag system. Just doing a boiloff test now and will be getting its first run tomorrow. I'm old enough that lifting those 5 gallon jugs of water hurts the next day, so designed this to take that into consideration. See below for full description and use:View attachment 5581

Dumping the water into the 10 gallon MLT at this level and pumping it up to the boiler is much easier on the old back. Heat it to strike temperature in the Digiboil and gravity feed to underlet back into the MLT with the brewing bag of grist in place . A brief stir and the mash is on.

Once the mash is completed, pump back up into the Digiboil. With ball valves both on the MLT and Digiboil I lose about a thimble full of liquid when disconnecting both hoses and lifting the pump to drain into the MLT. When I drain and pull the bag, I just dump the remaining wort into the Boiler, ending up with just the grain absorption as a loss.
Once the wort is boiled and chilled I stick a short length of tubing on the boiler spigot and gravity drain into the fermenter. I use a hand truck to wheel the fermenter into the other room and lift it about a foot to into the dedicated fridge. If I use this setup outside, I have a ramp up to the back porch which makes it easy.

The great thing about this system is that the pump and plumbing can be easily switched back to my boil kettle if I want to do a batch or 2 with propane.
I bought a Robobrew at a good price and it's been fine, but the "grain tube" doesn't really work for me. Like you I have always done a very wet mash and trying to lift that tube is a royal PITA. Plus I was doing a big beer and the bottom screen just popped out when I lifted it making for a bigger PITA. So I have started using it like your setup. I had the mash tuns so why not use them! It's a very nice setup that solves most of the issues with this kind of system. The other advantage for me is that we compost the spent grain and hauling the mash tun is easier than bagging and hauling the tube. Also I got the pump so I wouldn't have to lift large heavy containers... You can and I see a lot of folks who do, hook up a pulley system but I like the separate mash tun better. BTW boil kettles make really nice fermentors if you are not using them for boiling at the time. Just cover the top with plastic wrap, multiple overlapping sheets if you don't have any wide enough and use the "O" ring from a 5 gal. bucket lid to secure the plastic. It will inflate like a balloon as fermentation goes and you can see the action.
 
You can't pump boiling water for two reasons: First, unless pressurized, the boiling point is fixed. Removing the liquid from the heat stops it from boiling immediately. Second moving the water with the pump cools it. What you're talking about is cavitation, moving the liqui too fast creates tiny bubbles that collapse, causing the damage to the pump. Cause is different but effect is the same.
Pumping does in fact pressurize the liquid by a few psi thus lowering the boiling point. Boiled water is mostly degassed so normal cavitation should be pretty minimized since it is caused by the relative vacuum behind a propeller pulling air out of solution.
But either way we are mostly talking about the same thing. I personally have not had a problem with non boiling wort. The two issues though are the same no matter how they are caused. The pump builds up air/ gas in the housing and can't pump since it is not a positive displacement pump and can't prime, and if that air/gas gets past the pump and in to a high spot in the hosing it creates a "blockage". The solutions are to have enough positive pressure at the inlet to help push the air/gas through the pump housing and to have an all uphill path for that air/gas to escape. Though my return to the pot goes over the lip it's copper and a smaller ID than the hose and seems to not be a problem.
 
Pumping does in fact pressurize the liquid by a few psi thus lowering the boiling point. Boiled water is mostly degassed so normal cavitation should be pretty minimized since it is caused by the relative vacuum behind a propeller pulling air out of solution.
But either way we are mostly talking about the same thing. I personally have not had a problem with non boiling wort. The two issues though are the same no matter how they are caused. The pump builds up air/ gas in the housing and can't pump since it is not a positive displacement pump and can't prime, and if that air/gas gets past the pump and in to a high spot in the hosing it creates a "blockage". The solutions are to have enough positive pressure at the inlet to help push the air/gas through the pump housing and to have an all uphill path for that air/gas to escape. Though my return to the pot goes over the lip it's copper and a smaller ID than the hose and seems to not be a problem.
Yep. Since i always whirlpool down to 180 degrees F, I don't have a problem with hot wort cavitation.
 
I've been thinking about doing exactly what you are doing. Just wanted to follow up and see if you are still using this method and if there are any updates.

Do you do 5 gallon batches? Does this thing generate a sufficient boil?
 
I've been thinking about doing exactly what you are doing. Just wanted to follow up and see if you are still using this method and if there are any updates.

Do you do 5 gallon batches? Does this thing generate a sufficient boil?

When the mashing kit came out I bought it and ditched the MLT and pump. I'm loving the simplicity and, even with the less vigorous boil, my beer quality hasn't suffered at all. Here's a link with a pic of my boil:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/forum/threads/show-us-your-boil.10550/page-15

I'm most impressed with how well it holds mash temperatures. With just a tea towel draped over the top, the element (500 watt) only comes on once during a 75 minute mash. It took a while to learn to ignore the temperature display during the mash and trust the thermometer I insert through the hole in the lid.

The only mod I've done is to wrap the bottom plate in the malt pipe with a piece of material from an old brew bag, which allows me to mill the grains as fine as when doing BIAB. I will be getting a brew bag made for it soon.

I'm doing 5.25 gallon batches and my pre boil volume is 7 gallons. I doubt that whirpooling would do any good, even without the false bottom, due to the small diameter. I let the wort settle out for 15 minutes after chilling and then slowly run off into the fermenter. I end up with maybe a cup of sediment in the fermenter. It contains nutrients for the yeast, so the only real negative would be the added volume if your fermenter isn't big enough.
 
You inspired me to gather a similar monster! I wanted to ask you about the pump. I have a Taco 006-B4, it'll fit or better use your option. I don't care if my pump breaks down, I've had it for a long time.
 
You inspired me to gather a similar monster! I wanted to ask you about the pump. I have a Taco 006-B4, it'll fit or better use your option. I don't care if my pump breaks down, I've had it for a long time.

You're going to want to use a magnetic drive pump so you can throttle it down with a ball valve on the outlet. The pump you linked to is direct drive.
 
You inspired me to gather a similar monster! I wanted to ask you about the pump. I have a Taco 006-B4, it'll fit or better use your option. I don't care if my pump breaks down, I've had it for a long time.
That's an old pump and the bronze version was dropped years ago because of lead (take that for whatever it's worth to you). The newer versions for use in domestic water systems now come with a stainless volute. That said, @BOB357 is correct in saying it's the wrong pump for the job. I know Taco pumps very well. I work on and use them on a daily basis. It's way to much pump for what you are doing. Over amping and head pressure are working against you here also. You could use a valve on the outlet side to increase the head pressure on that pump and it would help with the overamperage, but it's the wrong application for the job.
 
Last edited:

Back
Top