El_Goapo
New Member
I was so excited about my first all-grain brew this morning. Last week I built my mash tun, converted a keg into a brew kettle (that was horrible), bought a turkey fryer, bought a fridge for controled fermentation, and picked up a new wort chiller. I researched my grain and hop bill for weeks, and even tested my water ph.
First off, 20 minutes in, my mash was only 138 degrees. I added 1.5 gallons of water trying to warm it up, but there was no change...ahh well...game on. After the sparge, I was at 6.5 gallons...good enough. After 30 minutes of my new burner going on and off, I find that there is a safety shut-off spring which only the intended turkey kettle would trigger...my keg brewkettle had a round bottom. I pored the wort into the sanitized turkey kettle...then of course I had a pretty bad boil over. After transfering the wort BACK into the keg brewkettle, I dismantled the safety device, and had to rig it with two firebricks and an old shovel...from end of mash to end of boil was 3 hours. I then connected my new chiller to my kitchen faucet, and set to work cleaning the mess I made from the boil. Apparently, the chiller connection was sub-par...I discovered this when I saw water dripping into my basement from the kitchen...(HUGE MESS). After I finaly had the beer in the fermentator, and the kitchen clean, I reach for and subsequently dropped my last New Castle...so I had a Keystone Light and felt sorry for myself. Guess I should have gone to church. (
First off, 20 minutes in, my mash was only 138 degrees. I added 1.5 gallons of water trying to warm it up, but there was no change...ahh well...game on. After the sparge, I was at 6.5 gallons...good enough. After 30 minutes of my new burner going on and off, I find that there is a safety shut-off spring which only the intended turkey kettle would trigger...my keg brewkettle had a round bottom. I pored the wort into the sanitized turkey kettle...then of course I had a pretty bad boil over. After transfering the wort BACK into the keg brewkettle, I dismantled the safety device, and had to rig it with two firebricks and an old shovel...from end of mash to end of boil was 3 hours. I then connected my new chiller to my kitchen faucet, and set to work cleaning the mess I made from the boil. Apparently, the chiller connection was sub-par...I discovered this when I saw water dripping into my basement from the kitchen...(HUGE MESS). After I finaly had the beer in the fermentator, and the kitchen clean, I reach for and subsequently dropped my last New Castle...so I had a Keystone Light and felt sorry for myself. Guess I should have gone to church. (