tekknoschtev
Well-Known Member
Yesterday, my brother and a mutual friend of ours got together for the first of what we hope to be monthly brewing sessions from here on out. I've never done more than two brews in a single day, nor have I ever done an all grain batch (BIAB), so there were definitely some learning curves here. Oh, did I mention I was by far the most experienced with only 4 batches under my belt so far? Whoops.
1. When the weather guy says its 27 outside, and that it feels like 16, you huddle extra close to the fire pit. This would have been fine, if the brew pot and burner were anywhere near said fire pit. It was very cold.
2. My thermometer sucks. I'm glad I 'calibrated' it the night before, because water boiled at 227°F and my living room was at a pretty warm 98°F. I'm pretty sure that the amount that it was off was not linear, but I made my best approximation. I will be purchasing a new digital thermometer in the near future, because trying to maintain mash temperatures using a thermometer of unknown quality was a bit nerve wracking.
3. Moving 8 gallons of 154 degree water from the stove top to the burner outside with a pot that has no handles was... interesting. I'm using a converted liquid nitrogen canister (confirmed that it was aluminum) but I hadn't had an opportunity to put handles on it yet. My brother and I bear hugged it onto a towel and then used the towel to carry it out.
4. If your immersion chiller blows one of its hoses off, water gets everywhere. Combine that with the aforementioned 27 degree high for the day, and well water freezes pretty fast. This was particularly interesting after our second brew as we were dragging my BIAB pot out because I couldn't get the burner to start. Turns out that water had frozen in the openings of the burner. Pouring hot water on top of the burner unfroze the water and we were good to go.
5. Also with regard to the outside temperature - its necessary to evacuate the hoses used for the immersion chiller between batches. The water had started to freeze in the lines and made it difficult to get things going. But, once they did, the hot water coming out of the exit on the chiller certainly thawed things out.
6. Cold breaks are weird beasts! I've never seen a cold break in person before (whether or not that's a good thing is another story) but for my brew, I saw the line of cold break material form and then drop out of suspension in my carboy VERY clearly. I snagged some photos that I'll have to put up some time, but suffice it to say - there was no question about it.
7. Having a three brew day means we need to start earlier and have less non-interested brewers around. A couple of my brother's friends swung by to "hang out and observe" but that turned into "observe and distract" so while my brother's brew had lots of attention, mine had little other than my personal attention.
And finally, 8. Start earlier so I'm not trying to finish in the dark and cold. With the evaporation from my pot, it was very difficult to determine exactly when it got to the boil to throw my hops in and start.
And, as pessimistic as that all sounds, in the end, it was a great day hanging out with some good friends that will result in us having 15 gallons of beer to put on tap. In a few weeks, we'll be reconvening to either bottle or keg our respective beers, and see where things go from there. And then, we get to start all over again
1. When the weather guy says its 27 outside, and that it feels like 16, you huddle extra close to the fire pit. This would have been fine, if the brew pot and burner were anywhere near said fire pit. It was very cold.
2. My thermometer sucks. I'm glad I 'calibrated' it the night before, because water boiled at 227°F and my living room was at a pretty warm 98°F. I'm pretty sure that the amount that it was off was not linear, but I made my best approximation. I will be purchasing a new digital thermometer in the near future, because trying to maintain mash temperatures using a thermometer of unknown quality was a bit nerve wracking.
3. Moving 8 gallons of 154 degree water from the stove top to the burner outside with a pot that has no handles was... interesting. I'm using a converted liquid nitrogen canister (confirmed that it was aluminum) but I hadn't had an opportunity to put handles on it yet. My brother and I bear hugged it onto a towel and then used the towel to carry it out.
4. If your immersion chiller blows one of its hoses off, water gets everywhere. Combine that with the aforementioned 27 degree high for the day, and well water freezes pretty fast. This was particularly interesting after our second brew as we were dragging my BIAB pot out because I couldn't get the burner to start. Turns out that water had frozen in the openings of the burner. Pouring hot water on top of the burner unfroze the water and we were good to go.
5. Also with regard to the outside temperature - its necessary to evacuate the hoses used for the immersion chiller between batches. The water had started to freeze in the lines and made it difficult to get things going. But, once they did, the hot water coming out of the exit on the chiller certainly thawed things out.
6. Cold breaks are weird beasts! I've never seen a cold break in person before (whether or not that's a good thing is another story) but for my brew, I saw the line of cold break material form and then drop out of suspension in my carboy VERY clearly. I snagged some photos that I'll have to put up some time, but suffice it to say - there was no question about it.
7. Having a three brew day means we need to start earlier and have less non-interested brewers around. A couple of my brother's friends swung by to "hang out and observe" but that turned into "observe and distract" so while my brother's brew had lots of attention, mine had little other than my personal attention.
And finally, 8. Start earlier so I'm not trying to finish in the dark and cold. With the evaporation from my pot, it was very difficult to determine exactly when it got to the boil to throw my hops in and start.
And, as pessimistic as that all sounds, in the end, it was a great day hanging out with some good friends that will result in us having 15 gallons of beer to put on tap. In a few weeks, we'll be reconvening to either bottle or keg our respective beers, and see where things go from there. And then, we get to start all over again
