The pastors all enjoy beer and I have brewed with all of them.
The pan is unconventional but works really well. Just a big stainless boilpot with monster power.
For my boil I use a 35 gallon commercial Tilt Braiser. The unit is 104000 BTU so it will heat up quickly. Now the thing that gives me the large boil-off is the surface area. It is about 40" by 40" by 12". Relitively shallow but huge surface area. So even with a low boil I get a large amout...
Hey, the IBU effect from high boil-off is real. I have a boil off of 6.5 to 7 gallons per hour regardless of batch size and this is with a relatively low boil. If I crank it up, I bet I could boil off 8-9 gallons without dificculty. I made 10 gallons of pillsner urquell clone this year that...
It really is great since it allows me to do it indoors with a group. House kitchens get tight when brewing.
I ferment/bottle at home. There is always a lot going on there and it is easier to just take it home and make use of my basement.
I went with the "brew in the kitchen at my church route". They have a sweet kitchen. Next to the braiser is a six burner commercial stove that I set my Keggle (HLT) on. The "Abby Dopplebock" will go into secondaries tomorrow.
I am using a commercial Tilt Braising pan. 30 gallons. 104K BTU. Awesome.
http://www.groenbraisingpan.com/groen_braising_pan%20BPP%20series%20gas%20braising%20pan.htm
My only problem is that the boiloff is really high. I am boiling off about 4 gallons an hour.
For my Keg, 3.75" would not give me enough room for the shim/washer. I ended up with my holes at 4". Any lower would place me on the weld.
Do not trust 3.75. Measure it yourself and punch a dent out from the inside where the hole should be. You do not want it too low!
One other...
I do not think that it matters if the locknut is on the inside or the outside. I think that the main thing is that per this sealing concept, the o-ring is on the outside, it should be tightened by something that does not rotate against the o-ring.
Now for the shim size, I think that most use...
As far as I can read, Blichmann style seems to be the best way to seal weldless.
The O-ring is seated inside a washer/shim and is compressed between the SS wall of your pot and a locknut or thermometer nut or whatever.
I am planning to go this route but your post makes me about 2 things...
Well, my butternut ale is now in the boil stage 45 minutes to go.
One thing that I did a little bit different is do an extra 1.5 hour boil after the sparge. To eliminate the possibility of sparge issues I did my ale like a normal one. After sparging I added the squash to the liquid and...
A pumpkin lager could be done similar to an Oktoberfest or a bockish beer
I think most any beer can be done as a lager instead of an ale as long as you choose a yeast that accepts your brew's alcohol.
I did a dopplebock back in the spring that was fantastic. Both the dopplebock and my...
So it is getting close to fall so it is fall beer time... (yes this is my first line in my first post. I am proud having such a good start).
So my friends and I are going to split 4 batches of pumpkin beers. Hopefully, 2 will be porters, 2 will be ales. What do you think about making...
For the pot, go big. Or as big as your burner allows. I wish I was using a keg with the top removed for a cheap stainless pot. Unfortunately I do not think that my stove will allow it.
I often go into my boil with 8 gallons for a 5 gallon batch.