[weazletoe]

 I'm thinking I might like to set my electric brewery up as a RIMS system. I'd like to be able to use my 58qt rectangular mash tun (black and red for optimal efficiency). Is there and reason I couldn't make a copper manifold that would sit near the bottom of the tun to to circulate hot water through? I've not seen any builds or threads on this, but in my mind it stands to reason that it would work.

[Stevie]

I looked into this a while back and most of the others I've seen all had their compromises or issues. Channeling was one of the primary problems. Round coolers and kettles are just better at recirculation.

[weazletoe]

I haven't thought about the channeling issue. I'll have to give that some thought.

[mabrungard]

There is no reason you can't use a rectangular cooler for a tun. The main thing is to try and create a intake screen that covers as much of the bottom of the tun, as possible. You can use just a single intake pipe running the length of the tun, but that will mean there are 'dead zones' in the tun. But most brewers just live with any inefficiency or other issues that might create. Adding more intake pipes to cover more of the bottom, does mean that the dead zones are smaller and efficiency might go up a little bit. I have a couple of intake pipes in my rectangular tun.

It's your choice.

[weazletoe]

I've been using a rectangular tun since I began brewing. I'm just now thinking of aging RIMS to the rectangular set up.