After taking two years to build my all electric, all triclover, single tier, I put it to the test today. The biggest concerns were with coming up with the correct strike temp to hit the mash temp. Well, I could not be happier. I only missed the mash temp by one degee. I remembered from doing some testing with just water, to run my rims temp about 2 degrees higher than the mash target. I was not nearly as good on the sparge however. I am using a 3000 watt foldback element in my rims tube. With my big triclover pumps, I was able to jack up the flow, they are 90 volt D.C. motors with variable speed. The big flow over the rims tube allowed me to reach mash out very quickly, even though I undershot my temp. My calculations on mash and sparge water additions were spot on, and after the boil, ended up with exactly 5 gallons. I use a 6.5 gal carboy for primary and my 5 gallon mark is the top of my fermometer tape. My duda diesel plate chiller absolutely rocked, I recirculate back to the boil kettle with a side inlet trying to create a whirlpool. The first pass was cooling the wort to 80 degrees, and after just 5 or 6 minutes the 5 gallons was down to 67 degrees. The morning did not go as good, I was reaching to put my hydrometer in some Starsan, and dropped it 6 inches onto my driveway promply breaking it. Since everything else went according to plan, I am assuming I am close to the O.G. What are your thoughts?
The mash in progress......
The Duda socket weld chiller with triclover fittings.....
The mash in progress......
The Duda socket weld chiller with triclover fittings.....
