i've been brewing all grain for about 4 batches now, brewing for about 2 years.
i've been wanting to improve my process a bit... possibly make it easier.
hopefully you can read through my process and let me know if i'm doing anything wrong, or could just do something different to make it easier.
for my equipment i have a bayou burner, a 5 gallon brew pot, a keggle, and a 10 gallon Home Depot cooler with manifold for my mash tun.
first i usually heat up my mash water in the 5 gallon brew pot, when it hits the proper temp, i dump it in my cooler, which is on the ground, then add the grains, make sure the temp is where it belongs and screw on the top and left it up where it sits on the top of a stool. i let it sit for the recommended time. i then vorlauf and then drain the wort into my keggle. i bring my mash tun onto the ground and then add my sparge water. screw on the top and then put it back on the stool where i let it sit for 10 minutes.
i Vourlof again, and then drain the liquid into my keggle. i put my keggle on to my burner and then start the boil. (add ingredients during boil). about 10 minutes before the end of the boil i drop my immersion chillier into the keggle. when the boil is over i turn on my water, and i stir the wort as it cools. (as a side note, i plan to turn my immersion chiller into a whirlpool chiller when i get the cash for a pump)
once its cool, i open the valve and drain the keggle into my bucket, airrating with a whisk. next i dump my starter into the bucket, slide in my airlock and set it in my fermentation chamber.
part of the reason for this post was a review of my process, which i hope that i can get some comments on. also, i would like to make this process easier, possibly by getting another keggle to use as a HLT. would like to add some pumps to make my adding of water easier. i'm just wondering what you guys do and how i could streamline my process.
thank you for reading my lengthy post and any opinions you could give.
Joe
i've been wanting to improve my process a bit... possibly make it easier.
hopefully you can read through my process and let me know if i'm doing anything wrong, or could just do something different to make it easier.
for my equipment i have a bayou burner, a 5 gallon brew pot, a keggle, and a 10 gallon Home Depot cooler with manifold for my mash tun.
first i usually heat up my mash water in the 5 gallon brew pot, when it hits the proper temp, i dump it in my cooler, which is on the ground, then add the grains, make sure the temp is where it belongs and screw on the top and left it up where it sits on the top of a stool. i let it sit for the recommended time. i then vorlauf and then drain the wort into my keggle. i bring my mash tun onto the ground and then add my sparge water. screw on the top and then put it back on the stool where i let it sit for 10 minutes.
i Vourlof again, and then drain the liquid into my keggle. i put my keggle on to my burner and then start the boil. (add ingredients during boil). about 10 minutes before the end of the boil i drop my immersion chillier into the keggle. when the boil is over i turn on my water, and i stir the wort as it cools. (as a side note, i plan to turn my immersion chiller into a whirlpool chiller when i get the cash for a pump)
once its cool, i open the valve and drain the keggle into my bucket, airrating with a whisk. next i dump my starter into the bucket, slide in my airlock and set it in my fermentation chamber.
part of the reason for this post was a review of my process, which i hope that i can get some comments on. also, i would like to make this process easier, possibly by getting another keggle to use as a HLT. would like to add some pumps to make my adding of water easier. i'm just wondering what you guys do and how i could streamline my process.
thank you for reading my lengthy post and any opinions you could give.
Joe