Spiny sparge arms - What are your thoughts?

[floydmeddler]

I'm planning a new brewery build and am looking into sparging options. I've never used a spiny sparge arm before but always loved the idea of having one simply because they look pro What are your views on them? Have read that they only really work with pressure. That might be a problem for me as i'd be relying on gravity.

Cheers!
Floyd

[guypettigrew]

It should work fine with a gravity feed. I used one for years before switching to one of these when I moved my 3V system to a single level and started using pumps.

Watching a spiny sparge arm working is hugely satisfying, though! Once you've got a couple of centimetres of sparge liquor on top of your grain you can adjust the flow rate through the arm so it matches the outflow and keeps the grain 'floating'.

Guy

[floydmeddler]

Cheers Guy. An wow! I love that AutoSparge. Super pricey, though! I reckon I could build something similar, though. Really nice idea. Although... not as satisfying as watching a spiny arm!

[guypettigrew]

Cheers Guy. An wow! I love that AutoSparge. Super pricey, though! I reckon I could build something similar, though. Really nice idea. Although... not as satisfying as watching a spiny arm!

There's absolutely no doubt you could build one.

Mind you, you'd have to source a fully adjustable stainless steel float valve, plus a bit of silicone tubing, plus a stainless steel something or other to keep the outlet tube floating on the top of the sparge liquor in the tun. No good if it sinks into the grain.

Could end up costing as much as the one from MM!

Guy

[f00b4r]

A valentine arm is another option.

[barneey]

There should be an old thread on JBK somewhere in the distant past of a windscreen motor set up spinning a sparge arm which was then gravity fed with liquor, combine that with a VA and & you can treat your MT as a lady, long and slow, rather than a modern day GF hard and fast

Search Wallybrew's distant past

Everyone seems in such a hurry now days to sparge, taste the grain in a GF after a quick sparge, still sugary ?

Enjoy ATB barnney

[WallyBrew]

There should be an old thread on JBK somewhere in the distant past of a windscreen motor set up spinning a sparge arm which was then gravity fed with liquor, combine that with a VA and & you can treat your MT as a lady, long and slow, rather than a modern day GF hard and fast

Search Wallybrew's distant past

Everyone seems in such a hurry now days to sparge, taste the grain in a GF after a quick sparge, still sugary ?

Enjoy ATB barnney

That's probably suffered from the photobucket curse but I do still have the pictures.

here's the exploded version...

Sparge arm manufacture 009-IMG_0287.jpg (180.24 KiB) Viewed 2524 times

[LeeH]

They work fine but keeping an inch of water above the grain bed by using a silicon pipe is just as effective and less problematic especially if you are RIMS/HERMS.

[floydmeddler]

Cheers dudes. Plenty to consider.

Great to see some names I recognise from back in the day when I spent more time on Jim's than I did with my missus!

[barneey]

Another idea for the VA, if you don't fancy making a metal version or simply want to try the idea out is to connect a piece of hose to the out let of the MT. get a Tee piece, this could even be a piece of copper tube or the like. Extend the hose up the outside of the MT and cut somewhere 6+" above the top of the MT, bungee secure this / truckers hitch so its a adjustable in height (if you are using a gravity fed HLT secure it to that. Tee off roughly where the height of you Mash normally is and fit another piece of hose to the tee to drain into your collection vessel. With the sliding truckers hitch adjust the height of the tee to your mash when you start running off /sparging = A very DIY VA set up. Just don't let any knots fail etc / hose to fall, otherwise it will be free flowing and depending where the hose lands might end up in loss of wort. The tee needs to be used to allow for ventilation / free flowing of the set up.

Those Blichmann things do work I have used then in the past, suffice to say its now back in it box. Its just a SS version of a tank float. They seem to have doubled in price over the period of 6 years so again a DIY version could be made quite cheaply & a DIY VA would give you great flow control. The only thing I disliked about them was making another hole in the MT. If using gravity it would be simpler just to just adjust on the tap outlet of the HLT.