Noob full boil Qs

So, Santa brought this:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewi...larware-10-gal-brew-pot-w-1-2-ball-valve.html


I am going to add a thermometer. I got a wort chiller with the pot. With a full boil, I plan to use the spigot to transfer the cooled wort. Do I just need a hose barb fitting and about 5 feet of some appropriately sized hose?

Also, I primarily extract brew using pellet hops. Should I use hop bags? A boil screen? False bottom? All of the above. I have a funnel filter that is too fine and frequently clogs, so I know the pain of having a cooled wort and a clogged filter.

Anything else to consider? Have never used the wort chiller.

Old process:

1. Boil 3 gallons
2. Chill in ice bath
3. Pour into fermenter
4. Top off with water
5. Pitch yeast

New process(?):

1. Boil 5+ gallons
2. Cool with wort chiller
3. Transfer to fermenter via spigot and sanitized hose
4. Pitch yeast

Probably nothing to worry about here, but any major change to my process always makes me wonder what I am missing. Thanks.

Congratulations on your new gear, makes me wish I could go out and buy some more stuff.
As far as I know, it looks like your process will work just fine. And for the hops, I usually use a hop bag to keep the gunk from going everywhere, and you will probably want to especially since you are using the valve on your kettle.

You are going to want to use a stainless steel braid connected to a copper or stainless dip tube connected to a compression fitting that screws into the female on the bulkhead. If not, you are going to get a ton of hop material into the fermenter. Using a hop sock is a good idea too. Have you seen the design on HBT where you attach a paint strainer bag to a PVC sleeve, and attach cross bars to the PVC sleeve that rest on the rim of the kettle? If not, I can search for the thread to explain what I am talking about.

Doc Robinson said:

You are going to want to use a stainless steel braid connected to a copper or stainless dip tube connected to a compression fitting that screws into the female on the bulkhead. If not, you are going to get a ton of hop material into the fermenter. Using a hop sock is a good idea too. Have you seen the design on HBT where you attach a paint strainer bag to a PVC sleeve, and attach cross bars to the PVC sleeve that rest on the rim of the kettle? If not, I can search for the thread to explain what I am talking about.

Click to expand...

Doc - Do you have a pic of what your are talking about in the first part?

As for the paint strainer deal, this is the type of set-up you are talking about, right?

Sounds like a wicked awesome gift from Santa!

One thing that I don't immediately see is aeration. Personally, I pour through a funnel, and make a huge foamy mess before this to aerate the wort. With tubes and a drain spigot, it sounds like you might need to introduce an airstone or something into the fermenter.

BTW- its good to have another SLC member on here! You should check out the Utah Brewers group on here when you get a chance. Some fun local stuff comes up every now and then.

You may have to boil well over 5 gallons to reach your 5 gallon mark by the end of the boil. Some people need 6+. Check your evaporation rate from previous brew sessions or test it out with water to tell how much water you'll need in your pot pre-boil.

This is a great time to test your evaporation rate. With my last brew, I swear I started with 5.5 gallons and I ended up with 4 at the end. Maybe I started with just 5. I should have written it down.

Depending on how vigorously you boil, I will take a stab in the dark and say that you will likely boil off close to 1 gallon per hour with that pot. I try to get about 5.25 - 5.5 gallons into primary. This typically leaves me w/ 50 bottles of beer which accounts for losses to trub / bottling etc.
So, with that setup, on my burner, boiling for one hour, I would start w/ 6.5 gallons pre-boil and work from there.
Good luck w/ the new equipment!

How are you boiling? Electric stove, gas stove, propane burner? I tried doing a "full boil" on my electric stove and it sucked.

Thanks for all the replies guys, and the local tip nebben.

I was actually planning about 6gal for a 5gal batch. My main concern is transfer of the wort from big pot to fermenter and filtering out the substantial pellet hop debris without clogging the filter.

I boil on a nice gas stove that can handle the duty. As for aeration, I just shake my fermenter like mad for 2 minutes. Works up a nice little sweat.