bringitonhome
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So I'm getting ready to brew my first batch; an extract kit. I picked up a 20qt aluminum stock pot. For the dual purpose of forming an oxide layer, as well as testing just how much volume I can boil, I did a 'test run' last night. I filled 3 gallons of tap water into my primary bucket (just to measure) and noticed that my water had a blue/green tint to it, which leads me to believe that I have high levels of copper. I dumped this into the kettle and cranked up my gas stove. I had a candy thermometer clipped on to the side so I could monitor what's going on. Well, it took quite a while to get this thing going, after about 40 minutes it reached 190F, so I repositioned it over 2 burners. Not sure if this actually helped, or if I was just cooking on 2 half burners. Eventually, after another 20 minutes or so, it crept up to just about 210F, It never got to what I consider "boiling". I mean, the water was moving around, but not churning, bubbling, etc. Also - my smoke alarm kept going off throughout the whole thing, which I thought was very strange - I was just boiling water! I expected a cloudy dull oxide layer to form on the pot, but instead, the pot turned dark black - almost looked like soot in there. So my questions are:
1. Is the level of 'boiling' I achieved sufficient for brewing a LME? If not, how much less water can I use and still get a good batch?
2. anyone have any ideas what might have been going on w/ my smoke alarm, or why the pot turned completely black? Does this have anything to do with the copper in the water? I planned on using spring water when I actually brew, but will the already formed black layer have any affect on the beer?
Thx!
So I'm getting ready to brew my first batch; an extract kit. I picked up a 20qt aluminum stock pot. For the dual purpose of forming an oxide layer, as well as testing just how much volume I can boil, I did a 'test run' last night. I filled 3 gallons of tap water into my primary bucket (just to measure) and noticed that my water had a blue/green tint to it, which leads me to believe that I have high levels of copper. I dumped this into the kettle and cranked up my gas stove. I had a candy thermometer clipped on to the side so I could monitor what's going on. Well, it took quite a while to get this thing going, after about 40 minutes it reached 190F, so I repositioned it over 2 burners. Not sure if this actually helped, or if I was just cooking on 2 half burners. Eventually, after another 20 minutes or so, it crept up to just about 210F, It never got to what I consider "boiling". I mean, the water was moving around, but not churning, bubbling, etc. Also - my smoke alarm kept going off throughout the whole thing, which I thought was very strange - I was just boiling water! I expected a cloudy dull oxide layer to form on the pot, but instead, the pot turned dark black - almost looked like soot in there. So my questions are:
1. Is the level of 'boiling' I achieved sufficient for brewing a LME? If not, how much less water can I use and still get a good batch?
2. anyone have any ideas what might have been going on w/ my smoke alarm, or why the pot turned completely black? Does this have anything to do with the copper in the water? I planned on using spring water when I actually brew, but will the already formed black layer have any affect on the beer?
Thx!