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Rubbery Ring of Corn on bottom of my mash tun


Georgeous

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On 2/6/2019 at 10:40 PM, Skaalvenn said:

Because a mixer in a cylindrical vessel shouldn't be straight down and in the middle. It should be offset and angled with the mixing blades pushing the liquid down, not up.

A vertical shaft in the middle of a cylinder will be prone to vortex, which can easily cause the shaft to wobble and potentially fail, and it will also not mix efficiently. Some manufacturers will put little blades on the sides of the tank to stop the vortex and to promote better mixing --but it's a solution to the problem of poor engineering.  A vertical system will also want to spin the liquid, and once it's spinning with the shaft the mixing blades won't cause as much turbulence since their speed relative to the liquid has gone down dramatically.

Mixing blades that are "pulling up" typically won't mix that well, and you'll probavly get a terrible amount of surface splashing (remember, there's a jet of fluid coming from the blades).

The direction the shaft spins isn't important as long as the entire system is made to spin that direction.

 

So, multiple reasons.

Well, i guess my mixer too is not in the optimal place or angle as it comes straight down. i guess all i can do since it is what i have is reverse the direction to push down ward and not upward. Thanks Skaalvenn

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52 minutes ago, Georgeous said:

Well, i guess my mixer too is not in the optimal place or angle as it comes straight down. i guess all i can do since it is what i have is reverse the direction to push down ward and not upward. Thanks Skaalvenn

Just so there is no confusion.  Everyone is correct that you want your paddles pushing mash downwards and they are correct about everything they said concerning agitators in liquid washes however these particular agitators in the videos will not work well for what you are doing with corn.  In fact they would be a nightmare for you.    They are great for liquid washes but not for 2 lbs per gallon corn mashes for several obvious reasons.  

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For thick grain in corn mashes it should be 10 to 30 rpms with the largest possible paddles with the agitator center set and the paddles pushing down.  Agitators like this for larger mash tuns should have a bushing at the bottom of the shaft so that you have a solid connection at both ends of the shaft.

For grain in mashes in the still pot, the agitator can be set at an angle with impellers and an agitation of 45 rpms or so depending on the size of the impellers.  The agitator can be center set on the still as well and if it is a mash tun still with large paddles, it should spin at between 10 and 30 RPMs.  For Lauter tuns, you want the agitator center set and you want the agitator spinning at between 8 and 25 RPMs or maybe a little faster depending on exactly how it is set up. 

For liquid washes speeds of 100 to 500 rpms or even more are fine and the agitator should never be center set or a whirlpool could be created that will damage the bearings and shaft.  The agitators in the above posted videos are great for liquid washes.

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On 1/25/2019 at 12:02 PM, Georgeous said:

Okay my bad when you're looking down the manhole the agitator blades spin counterclockwise the pitch of the blades is to where the bottom of the blades is forward in the direction of the spin

123_1.jpeg

 

it is going the wrong way.

just swap 2 of the 3 wires going to the 3 ph motor. that will change the direction.

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