Re: Pumps

Interesting question about recirculation. I have a pump also but have never found a great need to recirculate. My mashtun is a stock pot with direct fire. I use my pump for counterflow cooling flow and for initial mash in to lift from the hot liquor kettle into the mash tun. If I was going to recirculate with a rims or herms or some sort of external heating system, I would be careful to avoid oxygen uptake. Possibly a distribution manifold slightly below the surface of the mash? I would consider metal or plastic in a ring or rectangular shape with a series of holes pointing inward. I bought one of those nifty pumps. When do people start the recirculation? Right from dough-in or when you are stepping up the temp to sparge. When you run the wort back into the grain bed, do you run it straight from the hose or is there some best way to let the wort in without drilling a hole into the grain bed. John