Has anyone tried this technique to fill the mashtun? I did this last week as I had 24lbs of grain to mash-in with, and found bottom filling the mash ridiculously easy… I have found very few references on this or other forum regarding underletting - mostly for freeing stuck mashes. Most of the references seem to be from the UK or Australia.
i put 24lbs of grain, dry, directly into the cooler and pumped all the sparge water in through the spigot/drain-manifold. I had to adjust the water temp prior to this to take into account the transfer and pumping, but hit my 154F right on. As the water rose, there was some general uplifting of the grain, and I began stirring once I saw the water begin to break the surface. Could not have been easier, with no lifting and simultaneous stirring.
Very cool! The cogs are turning. A flowmeter could possibly be used instead of careful measure of strike water. But having a sight glass on the HLT would be the answer.
I find the mashing in to be the biggest PITA and glitch maker in my brew process since usually having to deal with 18-20 pounds of grain alone and hitting my strike temp.
So, for those reasons - I just installed a sight glass and thermometer on my HLT - have yet to brew with them. Installing the sight glass on the Bk this weekend.
Other than running the strike water through the hoses and pumps, I had very little heat loss- Can even keep the mashtun/cooler lid mostly closed while filling.
[quote=“Rakes”]So, for those reasons - I just installed a sight glass and thermometer on my HLT - have yet to brew with them. Installing the sight glass on the Bk this weekend.
Other than running the strike water through the hoses and pumps, I had very little heat loss- Can even keep the mashtun/cooler lid mostly closed while filling.[/quote]
I’m not a fan of a sight gauge on a BK in fact I see no real reason to have one a thermometer yes you can tell when chilling with an IC chiller how cold it’s getting.
If you get the kettle close to full the boiling will push wort out of the gauge and it’s hard to tell when it’s boiling how much you have in there.
Good point - had debated it in the first place. Thought it would be nice as I had all the components and extra tubing. Haven’t cut the hole yet, so will probably hold off. As long as I measure probably on the input, and that’s what the HLT gauge is for the HLT, then I should be ok for the final product.
