supaphly42
Well-Known Member
So, my last AG brew day was kind of a disaster. Couldn't get the boil going, OG was way under, all sorts of issues. Today went far smoother. It's nice out (started lightly raining at end of boil last time, haha), so that helped. I may have had the air intake damper partially closed last time (that was first time using outdoor burner, didn't know it had that on it), which may have affected my boil.
Anyway, today went well. A little more used to all my equipment. Also, built myself a wort chiller. My mash hit right at temp, which was nice. Here I am collecting it. I need to add an elbow so my hose doesn't kink from the heat like that. Measured my kettle beforehand this time so I collected the right amount! It came to a boil far quicker, and was much more vigorous. Did a 90 min boil. My dog protected the boil for me. Had a lot more boil-off this time, looks like a hit my target post-boil volume. It's cooling right now.
My chiller is a piece of coiled copper, connected to a $12 Harbor Freight aquarium/pond pump. I stuck it in the bath of ice water, continual circulation with far less waste than just running from faucet/hose and dumping it all out, plus the ice gets it colder and the water around it helps the cooling.
My recipe is a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone, from here.
Edit: My OG was pretty low (1.034 vs 1.052), but I'm thinking my sparge technique was bad. I'll be reading up on that before next brew day.
Anyway, today went well. A little more used to all my equipment. Also, built myself a wort chiller. My mash hit right at temp, which was nice. Here I am collecting it. I need to add an elbow so my hose doesn't kink from the heat like that. Measured my kettle beforehand this time so I collected the right amount! It came to a boil far quicker, and was much more vigorous. Did a 90 min boil. My dog protected the boil for me. Had a lot more boil-off this time, looks like a hit my target post-boil volume. It's cooling right now.
My chiller is a piece of coiled copper, connected to a $12 Harbor Freight aquarium/pond pump. I stuck it in the bath of ice water, continual circulation with far less waste than just running from faucet/hose and dumping it all out, plus the ice gets it colder and the water around it helps the cooling.
My recipe is a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone, from here.
Edit: My OG was pretty low (1.034 vs 1.052), but I'm thinking my sparge technique was bad. I'll be reading up on that before next brew day.