1. First Progress Report: 10/08/13

2.  Homebrewer wants to build a mash tun  Either moving to all-grain brewing for the first time, increasing home brewery capacity, or simply trying to improve on their existing equipment  Lots of options: how to build the best mash tun?  Want to minimize extraction efficiency: avoid waste/save money OR  Want to increase flow uniformity: increase wort quality

3.  Learn underlying physical theories of fluid flow through grain bed/filter device  Flow through porous media: Darcy’s equation  Laminar flow through pipes: Navier-Stokes  Flow in the interface of grain bed/manifold: Dirichlet?  Review articles/books/etc. that address concepts relevant to this topic  Look for previous examples of this kind of modeling being performed

4.  Develop CAD model of mash tun and grain bed  Constrain the problem: some assumptions will be made as to the materials/tools available to the average home mash tun builder  Further, the grain bed properties will be constant??  Optimize model  Other design parameters will be varied  2 different designs will be developed to optimize either extraction efficiency or flow uniformity

5.  Development of the COMSOL model has been delayed due to confusion over whether the COMSOL software would be available for use at home, as it had been in previous semesters  This software is available for use at the RPI Groton site, and this alternative was addressed as a contingency plan in the project proposal. However, this has delayed the expected completion date for model optimization until Oct. 15, vice Oct. 10 as first addressed in the proposal  Model development will be completed shortly, with optimization quickly following

6.  Design prototype in order to validate COMSOL model  Build prototype  Perform testing  Analyze results and compare to COMSOL model predictions  Refine model as necessary to match real-world results  Iterate as required to achieve reliable model  While some of this work is dependent on the results of the model development and optimization, some general planning for the prototype can be done in advance

7.  Address underlying science  Explain intent of various procedural steps and relative success  Examine prototype design and testing plan development  Review results and compare to expected outcomes  Draw conclusions to be used by average homebrewer  First Progress Report completed as of 10/07/13, with all official RPI Thesis formatting and all relevant sections included. Some sections of the report have been started.