Small Thoughts for Small Minds

At some point Chris had asked about converting an all-grain recipe for rye pale ale to extract. Since rye (and a couple of the other grains in the recipe) needs to be mashed (versus steeping like crystal malts or roasted barley), I gave him directions for doing a mini-mash.

I also offered to help him assemble a mini mash tun should he decide to go that route.

He decided to take me up on that offer…

On Saturday, he brought over a three gallon Gott cooler, some CPVC pipe and fittings, and his four year old daughter, Lauren*, to play with Dyson.

*At one point, I overheard Dyson tell Lauren, "I don’t need any four year olds around. I just need to be alone." Okay, Greta…

While I was cutting the CPVC pipe with my Dremel, the cutting wheel broke (which happens a lot with these cutting wheels - they’re very thin and spinning awfully fast - if you cock the Dremel just a bit, it catches and shatters). A small piece hit my face just half an inch from my eye. Suddenly eye protection seemed like a good idea. I couldn’t find any safety glasses, so I asked Kel where her swim goggles were. She wasn’t sure, but told me where to find Keira’s swim googles…

A lovely fashion statement, huh?

To convert the cooler, I ran a hex nipple (with an SS washer) through the spigot hole. On the inside, I put a high-temp rubber washer and another SS washer on the nipple’s threads and tightened it all down with a copper NPT/tube fitting.

I dug through my various piles of all things stainless for a ball valve…

Chris had envisioned an octagonal manifold, and bought eight 45 degree elbows with that in mind.

I decided that an octagon wouldn’t work for two reasons, both of which are "space":

1. A three gallon Gott is pretty small. If you put together an octagon with CPVC fittings and pipe, it will have very little exposed pipe in which to cut slots. And the manifold needs them there slots to work…
2. Connecting from the manifold to the bulkhead would also be difficult in the space allowed.

As such, it seemed like three parallel slotted pipes would be best.

I would’ve used a CPVC fitting to transition from the NPT nipple to the CPVC tube but the CPVC fitting’s threads started a bit further back than the copper fittings, and subsequently didn’t properly "bite"…

(I only had one cap in my "drawer o’ random parts"…)

The manifold doesn’t sit on the bottom, but it is only up about a 1/4", so it should be fine. I only put slots on one side. I’ve got them facing up for the picture, but I suggested to Chris that he face them down…

For sparging, I drilled a 13/16" hole through the lid and threaded in a 2" SS nipple. Chris will need to pick up a CPVC fitting (like the copper one above). This will give him a transition between the nipple and a flexible racking tube to carry the hot water for sparging. I only had one and it is on the inside (see the following picture). (Well, I had two, but the second one was a bit grungy after a lot of years of use…)

I cut all the pieces to make an "H" sparge manifold, but Chris needs to buy three "T"s before he can put it all together.

And, the final touch, a hose barb and hose.

Once Chris picks up the remaining fittings, he’s ready for mini-mashes! And after that, how long before he yearns to go all-grain? Hmm?

Yes, he’s firmly on the path of insanity - bigger vessels, more stainless, better temperature control, pumps, solenoid valves, quick disconnects! Bwa ha ha ha ha!!!!!

Umm… was that out loud?

Edit: This post includes a picture of the sparge manifold. Plus an interesting fashion statement by Chris…