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I've been brewing for about 6 years, and the last 4 of those all grain. In that time I've built a brewing system in various stages that even I can't figure out sometimes. This is IGOR, my H.E.A.R.M.S.TM, which stands for Heat Exchange Automated Recirculating Mash System. This will be the basic rundown of brewing with IGOR, but the full description is Here. |
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I start by pre-heating water in my boiling kettle, then pumping it into the HLT (Hot Liquor Tank), where it is kept hot and boosted by an electric element. |
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The copper coil inside is used to boost and maintain the mash temperature. |
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This is my Squeezymasher, which is under a perforated SS false bottom in the mashtun, and I also use the same device to strain the hops out of the boil. |
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After the strike water is at the right temp, I start doughing in. After the temp has stabilized, I start the pump and recirculate the wort, using IGOR's controls to perform the mash steps. I use a wort return manifold to avoid hot side aeration. |
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The wort flows by gravity into a lauter grant, which has a float switch in it, and then to the pump, which moves the wort through the associated piping. The wort will either pass through, or around the heat exchange coil, depending on whether it needs heat or not. |
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Sparging involves pushing a button to change the valve sequence, and then cracking the ball valve to let water flow into the mashtun from the HLT. Wort continues to flow into the grant from the mashtun, but is pumped into the boil kettle instead of back into the mashtun. |
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After the boil, a hopback filled with hops is attached to the ketttle outflow via a 1/2" plumbing union. This lends great hop aroma to the finished brew. |
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The wort then flows through a counterflow chiller and into the fermentor. |
