Cant Get The Last Gallon Out of Boil Kettle

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cdelap

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So as I have upgraded to my 3 keggle setup, I am having a ton of trouble with efficiency as well as how much product I get at the end. any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a 2- tier Herms system and am consistently getting around 70% efficiency but the bigger issue to me is that I am ending up with almost a gallon left in the kettle that the diptube is not picking up. I was tempted to dump it all through a strainer and then into my fermentor

Just wondering what else I can do to get more out of my beer

Thanks for any advice you all have
 
Yesterday after draining from my keggle to my fermenter I dumped into a 1 gallon container the remaining liquid and sediment and had about 1/3 gallon left over. My pickup tube though is in the center so I get more out with the downfall being it also plugs up my bazooka screen more. I probably will move my pickup tube to the side but then I may leave a tad more liquid behind.
 
cdelap said:
So as I have upgraded to my 3 keggle setup, I am having a ton of trouble with efficiency as well as how much product I get at the end. any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a 2- tier Herms system and am consistently getting around 70% efficiency but the bigger issue to me is that I am ending up with almost a gallon left in the kettle that the diptube is not picking up. I was tempted to dump it all through a strainer and then into my fermentor

Just wondering what else I can do to get more out of my beer

Thanks for any advice you all have
Click to expand...

I guess the question is: why isn't your diptube, if positioned correctly, not pulling all of the wort out of the keggle?

My diptube is arranged about 1/2" above the center spot of my keggle and would pull pretty much all of the liquid out if I let it.

The easy answer is to adjust the recipe for a gallon more and just leave it there.
 
broadbill said:
I guess the question is: why isn't your diptube, if positioned correctly, not pulling all of the wort out of the keggle?

My diptube is arranged about 1/2" above the center spot of my keggle and would pull pretty much all of the liquid out if I let it.

The easy answer is to adjust the recipe for a gallon more and just leave it there.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I just let gravity do its thing and pull out all that is needed.
 
some of it may be that as the kettle sets and liquid separates from the hops, I am ending up with the liquid I cant get into the fermentor. Yesterday I made a 11 gallon batch and managed to get 10.25 into the fermontor. one problem which I have fixed is that I was not calculating for the shrinkage within the kettle. My dip tub currently goes through a false bottom and rests roughly a quarter inch of the bottom of my kettle in the center.
 
cdelap said:
So as I have upgraded to my 3 keggle setup, I am having a ton of trouble with efficiency as well as how much product I get at the end. any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a 2- tier Herms system and am consistently getting around 70% efficiency but the bigger issue to me is that I am ending up with almost a gallon left in the kettle that the diptube is not picking up. I was tempted to dump it all through a strainer and then into my fermentor

Just wondering what else I can do to get more out of my beer

Thanks for any advice you all have
Click to expand...

When you drain out of the kettle into your fermentor do you have a hose connected to the ball valve? Or are you just waterfalling right out of the ball valve without a hose? My keggle diptube won't work without a hose attached FWIW.. Even with the hose attached it won't drain well unless I secure the hose to the hose barb on my ball valve with a hose clamp.
 
Stauffbier said:
When you drain out of the kettle into your fermentor do you have a hose connected to the ball valve? Or are you just waterfalling right out of the ball valve without a hose? My keggle diptube won't work without a hose attached FWIW.. Even with the hose attached it won't drain well unless I secure the hose to the hose barb on my ball valve with a hose clamp.
Click to expand...

I agree, this helps a lot and makes a big difference as you get near the bottom of the kettle.
 
I have all Cam-lock Fittings and am using a 809HS pump, I have no issue with the pump once it is done pumping I just disconnect it from the kettle and lift it above my fermentor and any wort left in it drains right into the fermentor, however I still cant get that last gallon I may get rid of my false bottom on the BK and just use a hop spider than I can lift out of the wort and let drain while im chilling the wort down
 
Stauffbier said:
When you drain out of the kettle into your fermentor do you have a hose connected to the ball valve? Or are you just waterfalling right out of the ball valve without a hose? My keggle diptube won't work without a hose attached FWIW.. Even with the hose attached it won't drain well unless I secure the hose to the hose barb on my ball valve with a hose clamp.
Click to expand...

This is because of the siphon. If you let air in, the siphon is lost. THus the need for the hose clamp. The hose on the output has to remain lower than the liquid it is sucking in order to completely drain (to the level of the pickup at least) the kettle. The bigger the drop, the faster the siphon.
 
I was tempted to dump it all through a strainer and then into my fermentor
Click to expand...

+1 That your diptube should pick up everything as long as it's lower than the wort, assuming it is airtight between the end of your diptube and the end of the tube in your fermenter.

HOWEVER, nothing wrong with dumping that last bit directly into your fermenter, or through a strainer to keep the hops and hot break out. Hops and hot break will both settle with the trub, so as long as you are careful not to syphon trub when racking to your bottling bucket or keg, it doesn't hurt anything to have it in the fermenter.
 
cdelap said:
I have all Cam-lock Fittings and am using a 809HS pump, I have no issue with the pump once it is done pumping I just disconnect it from the kettle and lift it above my fermentor and any wort left in it drains right into the fermentor, however I still cant get that last gallon I may get rid of my false bottom on the BK and just use a hop spider than I can lift out of the wort and let drain while im chilling the wort down
Click to expand...

I don't have a pump, so I have no idea of the physics behind them. With that said, I would think a pump would have no problem pulling all of the wort out. Maybe one of your fittings isn't tight enough, or something?! I'm just speculating...
 
I have came to the conclusion that the issue is two things I need to move the dip tube to the edge as well as stop using the false bottom and use a hop spider so that I can pull the hops up and drain them, I believe most of that gallon is dripping out of the hops once they are above the water level
 
Ihave my diptube about 1/2 inch off the bottom and use a 2 ft hose on my valve to siphon into the kettle. I get all the liquid except maybe a quart at the most. If you are using a pump you should be able to get all your liquid out UNLESS
1. the hops are plugging the tube
2.you have a loose connection somewhere and it sucks air, loosing suction.
3. you may be correct...the liquid comes out of the hops after you finished draining. You still should be able to pump it out.
 
It's a fairly thick slury, and not enough to get a good prime back on the pump, I'm going to do a couple more using bags or a hop spider and see if it helps, if not I'll just increase the boil amount to account for the loss
 
I was about to suggest a hop spider. I recently brewed an IIPA with a pound of pellet hops and had (relatively) very little trub in my boil kettle.
 
I think that is going to be my best bet, still may need an adjustment to my calculations but I am hopeful that this will help me extract more of that liquid gold
 

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