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thanks for that - I'll do that before my next brew to make sure it's clean.

thanks for the suggestions; I'll be sure to filter the water next time. Also, the copper chiller could be it. I was using a new chiller for the first batch. I did clean it, but maybe not well enough? I didn't boil it prior to using it.

Thanks; that's reassuring. I hope it subsides after a while. The BK is a stainless stockpot - the economy version from Austin homebrew supply - pretty thin walled, but perfectly useable. Maybe there was some surface oil residue or something? I washed it pretty thoughroughly the first time...

I've been quiet for a while waiting for my two first AG batches to take care of themselves. I have an IPA and a stout which are now bottled and racked to secondary, respectively. Both were left to sit in the primary for three weeks, and look pretty good going into the secondary. However, I...

I'm wondering if one of these would be any good? From the spec it looks like it should be nice and accurate... Digital Thermometer for K Type Thermocouples: 003920-016 VirtualVillage.com edit: it uses two thermocouples and gives you a difference between them, so you need some sort of...

The water isn't at 32F to start with, and it has to cool down, which will take quite a while. If you start with ice, the water that results from it melting will be at 32F to begin with.

That would certainly work, but melting some at room temperature seems to be ok too. If you start with some water with the ice, though, it will take a long time (if at all) before you hit equilibrium (which is the condition you need).

just my 2c, but in my experience it's pretty hard to get an ice/water mixture at 32F. The only method I know that works is to grind up some ice and wait for some of it to melt. Otherwise, your mixture will likely be several degrees too warm.

That's an interesting way of looking at it. I haven't been vorlaufing quite that much. I don't get anything close to 90% BH efficiency either... Couldn't you get the same effect just by stirring, though?

I guess that's what was meant. I've been vorlaufing after mashing and after each batch addition, and it doesn't seem to take very long at all to make the runoff completely clear. If you didn't do it, though, I don't think there'd be a whole lot of difference; the total amount of grain husks...

I had a leak appear on my chiller earlier today also, although it wasn't as serious as the tube actually coming off. It was still at a high temperature, though, so I'm not worrying about any contamination. I wouldn't worry too much. Difficult to tell, but I don't think that adding tap water...

I don't think there are many ways around this, unfortunately. Unless I'm missing something, you have to pick at least one from this list: * Put up with the extra work of doing double mashes * Spring for a bigger cooler * Make smaller beers * Make smaller batches something has to give...

Finished up my 2nd AG brew earlier today, using the recipe here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/recipe-advice-103376/ All went fairly smoothly, although I was above my target mash temperature by a couple of degrees. I was aiming for 152F, hit 154F. I guess it'll be a little heavier than I...

I don't have any experience of PEX in this application, but I know that it is used for domestic plumbing (there's a bunch of it in my house). Certainly it's ok for high temperatures, and it must be food grade rated since it's used to run drinking water. I can't imagine that there would be a...

Hmmm... interesting idea. After thinking about this for a while, I can't think of a simple means of doing it that would work, though. Just to give you an idea of the quality of my thinking (:p), this is the best I came up with: Leave a hydrometer in the bucket Glue a webcam to the inside...

Dumb question: how do you deal with hot break when making that sort of volume? I wouldn't have thought there was enough room in the pot to prevent it from boiling over.

Did you stir it for a few minutes after adding the water and before taking the initial temperature reading? If the cooler isn't pre-heated, the temperature will sag over the course of a few minutes as everything stabilizes. Note... this based on experience of exactly 1 AG brew... but it does...

Thanks! I'll try draining wide open next time; I have a brew planned for this weekend (hopefully...)

Only 1 AG brew in, but I didn't do it that way... I throttled the flow to a trickle when actually extracting wort during batch sparge (with the SS ball valve all the way open, using a plastic host clamp to throttle). I had everything fully open for vorlauf, though. Should I not do that? I...

Thanks for the reccomendations. I think I'm good to go now...