Dust collector for 7bbl mash in

[woohokie]

We manually mash in with generally 450-550lbs of crushed malt into an open top Stout tanks 4' diameter tun, and are tired of the dust created every brew day for many and obvious reasons.


I've been kicking around using a dust collector northern tool with dust hoods connected via flexible ducting for mash in for roughly 15 min-20min. Questions are: am I on the right path? What size/CFM would you guys think might work if at all?

This idea seems like it would be easier than cutting into the building or roof to add some kind of ventilation/exhaust fan, but I want to make sure it's adequately powered to actually get the job done. I'm open to any and all ideas.

[Junkyard]

How about a contained grist case with a grist hydrator in piping directly to your mash tun with the lid on. A totally closed system doesn't get dust everywhere. Works great for us!

[Crosley]

I have this same issue with the same MT. For those who are using a grist hydrator or a MT without rakes, are you just filling it up with the lid closed and then stirring everything after?


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[jbell71464]

So we were in the exact same situation. We were hand dumping about the same amount of grain into a stout mash tun with the same dust issues. We then upgraded our mill and grist case and added an auger. What a difference. Its a lot of cash but worth it. You could just add a case and a very small auger to go up to the tun.

A grist hydrator also make a huge difference. We did have a little trouble in that most of the hydrators we found were 4 inch and the stout tun is 3 inch in the top. We had Bennett Forgeworks in Ridgeway, CO fabricate one for us. (He already had it designed) and it works great. He is also making grain mills as well and might be able to help you. Red is a regular poster her on probrewer and was great to work with.

So to the last question, yes we run the grain in through the hydrator and stir at the end. It has worked well for us.

[woohokie]

I both don't really have the space or setup to run an auger to a case and was hoping to handle this via a dust collector.. The auger and grist case would be best I'm sure, but for now I can't see that happening. Keep the suggestions and ideas coming though.

[Crosley]

Jbell- thanks for the info. Any chance you can show us a pic of your setup. I understand it on a larger system, but can't picture it on these little mash tuns.
Thanks


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[jbell71464]

Here are some pics of our setup. We added some larger tanks and needed to speed up our brewday for double batching. So we elevated the mash tun on concrete pillars and added the grain in auger from our RMS mill. We also added two inline Rinnai Hot water heaters for our sparge water. Now our HLT heats our second batch of strike water. We also added a Harbor Freight Chain Hoist to raise and lower the Mash tun lid.

[jbell71464]

Here is a pic of the entire mash tun setup

[jbell71464]

I both don't really have the space or setup to run an auger to a case and was hoping to handle this via a dust collector.. The auger and grist case would be best I'm sure, but for now I can't see that happening. Keep the suggestions and ideas coming though.

I think it will help some, but in order to get enough suction to make a big difference, I would guess you will have to suck up a lot of grain as well.

[mmussen]

A warning for any sort of suction to collect dust. Dust and plastic creates lots of static electricity. That becomes a major explosion hazard. Unless everything is wet you're going to have to make sure its all well grounded and explosionproof

[ManSkirtBrew]

I also have a Stout 7bbl system and hand-dump my grain. I use a little Delta AP400 dust collector and just clamp the hose to the side of the mash tun on the opposite side from where I dump. It's not perfect, but it makes a tremendous difference. Also works great at the grain mill.

[Junkyard]

Here's our setup, built and designed by us as you can probably tell. Works great, no dust. The grain is all handled in its own room, the pipe is routed through the wall down to the mash tun so it's all gravity fed into the tun.