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I've been playing around with a few Ideas on how to use my current equipment to brew two 5 gallon batches at the same time. This idea uses a SS pot with holes drilled in the bottom as a kind of removable mash tun. Kinda like a brew in a bag but I can pour off the pot and recirculate the wort to clear it up and I could sparge. Rigged up a crank system so I can slowly raise the mash tun up and hold in place as I sparge. Some sources I've read say I might be able to get away without sparging if I have enough water to start off with. We'll see.

If the first test goes well I'll build another crank system and SS mash tun and put my other fryer next to it. If I can get this style system working well I'm thinking of building three 55 gallon systems like it someday for a brewpub.

Any feedback would be great.

Trial run. So far so good but I think it will be a lot of work to recirculate. I think I will need a pump.

How are you currently doing the recirc? I don't see that in the above diagram, just the sparge arm out of the tankless heater (so maybe that's it?).

It looks a lot like the Braumeister, just much, much less expensive!
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Yeah the braumeister was kinda my inspiration but way too much money. I did plan on a pump in the top diagram just never put it in the diagram. Opps. Well so far I'm just using a one gallon jug to pour out the kettle spout and then just pour into mash. I have even thought of doing this in a conical fermenter with like a removable heat stick or maybe a permanent installed element. Just have to find a conical with a large opening. Wouldn't even have to sanitize.

Gotcha. So from the output of the kettle back over the raised grain bed, in the same position as the sparge arm.
I think the holes you currently have in the pot of much too small, hence the problems with the draining so slowly. Keep in mind that after the initial drain of the liquid while it's being raised, the grain bed will do a pretty decent job of stopping falling, and filtering the liquid. So make those holes bigger. What size, I'm not 100% sure. Hopefully someone here with some experience can give us a hand.
Looking good!

Yeah I was afraid I may have gone too small but it's better to go too small rather than too big and have the grains fall through. I can always go bigger but not smaller. It didn't go too bad tho but it wouldn't hurt to have a faster drain.

What size are the holes? I certainly wouldn't go over 0.125". You may just need more of them.

I've been thinking about a "BIAB" system similar to this for a long time, also inspired by the Braumeister. I would do full volume and recirculate with a pump. However, I keep going back to the simple full volume BIAB for it's ease and simplicity. Personally I would try a two vessel cross recirculating system before doing the malt tube kind of thing as there seem to be too many headaches involved.

You should keep working on your ideas.

-Rob

Might be better to cut out the bottom and solder in some mesh.

The holes I drilled were 3/32 of an inch. Damn imperial system. I think I might just drill out a pattern of bigger holes among the ones I have now. I don't want to weaken it too much.

I was thinking much much bigger holes and then just 'set in' a piece of stainless mesh. This would be essentially BIAB without the bag and recirculating the water (which could be done quite inexpensively with that cheap brewpump). If you don't have the turkey fryers, could you not simply control an electric element with a simple PID controller (also cheap).

Hmm, wheels are turning.. OBK 19 gallon pot.. another 'cheap' pot (or a fabricated 'basket' with mesh on the bottom). You could even lower the basket back down during the boil to be used as a hop blocker.

I have made a good portion of the holes bigger and ill give it a try this weekend to see how it goes. I am really seariously thinking of ordering one of those new brew pumps from onterio kegs, looks like just the thing. I think constantly recirculating the wert will probably eliminate the need to sparge or just give a quick sparge with my hot water hose.

I have a couple of 60gallon water heaters hooked up to Johnson A419 temp controls at my farm to keep the watering system from freezing up and they work perfect. I cant see why I couldn't do the same with a brewpot. I had actually thought of using the basket again for my hops, especially with whole leaf hops. Would make for much easier clean up.

Mash Basket is working great for hops as well. Having success with this system. Done about six brews on it now. Only draw back is I can't do any high gravity beers on it. Basket is only big enough for about 5.5%. I just keep my cooler mash tun around for those big beers.

Brewing a cascade pale ale