The new setup worked out fairly flawlessly to a point - more later.
Quite a bit of temp loss in the hoses and the fittings - Water at 80C in the boiler dropped to about 70 in the MLT! A couple of quick kettles of water were required to get the temp up. Next time may run some hot water in to heat it up or just allow for more of a differential.
Mash settled in at 63c and held within a couple degrees for the 120 min it was there.
Sparge went flawlessly - quick recirc with the pump then slow drain into the boiler with slow top up from HLT above. Added the Roasted Barley about half way through the sparge - had steeped in cold water over night per Tom's suggestion.During the sparge sterilsed the chiller by pumping the 80-90c water up to the HLT via it. Had previously done a poor man's CIP routine with dishwasher powder in hot water followed by a rinse.
Boiled fine - a little too fine towards the end - lost a few litres over the top!
Then the runoff to the fermenter! Whirlpooled, waited a bit a turned the pump on. All went well for a few minutes then it slowed to a trickled. Stop, whirlpool, wait, try again. Ended up turning the pump off and letting gravity do the work. Persisted with "runoff" for a couple of hours then at the recommendation of the assistant brewer gave up o the last 10 litres (still got 40-45).
Subsequent look at the bottom of the boiler confirmed that the braid on the pickup tube which was supposed to filter was solid with pellet residue. Will need to lose the braid and try something more open - suggestions?
