Ok, I recently recieved a homebrew sculpture from morebeer.com, and today was the first time brewing with this system. I was going to do an Irish Red Ale, but other things happened. First, I didn't plan too much in advance. I didn't make a starter for my yeast (WL Irish Ale yeast), so I bought a second vial of yeast (WL California Ale Yeast--only thing available locally) with the thought that since this was a 10 gallon batch, and I had to ferment in two different fermenters, I would utilize both yeasts, one in one fermenter, and the other in the second fermenter.
First off, I f'd up the HERMS system, and somehow, grossly undershot my OG. I was supposed to get a 1.064, but instead hit a 1.055. (less than 60 %). I did better with my old, ****ty equipment. So I filled one carboy, and then decided to boil the other a bit longer to hit my original OG---I let it boil tooooo long, and hit a 1.070 (instead of 1.064), so I ended up with only 3 gallons in the second fermenter.
I'm very frustrated. I hoped to have a day for nothing but brewing, but instead, I had to babysit my 3.5 year old son while my SWMBO went to the store, while I was doing critical mashing steps, and afterward, my wife MADE me come inside to eat while the boil was at a criitical point. The result: a f'd up brew day with two different fermenters having two different brews at two different gravities,, two different volumes, with two different yeasts.
I guess I'll chalk this one up to experience, and to the nuances of using a new brew system, and to the fact, that no matter how hard I try, I will never get a day completely devoted to brewing.
I do like my new system, however, and I hope to improve my efficiencies in the future with this system. I guess I am making this thread out of frustration and annoyance, although I would elicit any input on HERMS, pumps, mashing process when using HERMS, etc, as these were issues that came up during my brew day from hell.
Thanks!!
First off, I f'd up the HERMS system, and somehow, grossly undershot my OG. I was supposed to get a 1.064, but instead hit a 1.055. (less than 60 %). I did better with my old, ****ty equipment. So I filled one carboy, and then decided to boil the other a bit longer to hit my original OG---I let it boil tooooo long, and hit a 1.070 (instead of 1.064), so I ended up with only 3 gallons in the second fermenter.
I'm very frustrated. I hoped to have a day for nothing but brewing, but instead, I had to babysit my 3.5 year old son while my SWMBO went to the store, while I was doing critical mashing steps, and afterward, my wife MADE me come inside to eat while the boil was at a criitical point. The result: a f'd up brew day with two different fermenters having two different brews at two different gravities,, two different volumes, with two different yeasts.
I guess I'll chalk this one up to experience, and to the nuances of using a new brew system, and to the fact, that no matter how hard I try, I will never get a day completely devoted to brewing.
I do like my new system, however, and I hope to improve my efficiencies in the future with this system. I guess I am making this thread out of frustration and annoyance, although I would elicit any input on HERMS, pumps, mashing process when using HERMS, etc, as these were issues that came up during my brew day from hell.
Thanks!!