MaltedBayerl
Well-Known Member
I concocted an Apfelbier recipe and brewed it yesterday. Recipe below.
I used my voile bag for mashing in my 10 gal brew kettle. Last time I brewed, I realized that I really needed a way to lift and hold the bag up to drain. Being able to lift 25lbs and being able to suspend 25 lbs for several minutes are two very different things.
Since I brew in the kitchen and rent the apartment, I didn't want to put an eye bolt in the ceiling. I wanted something simple and hidden from view. I found a stud in the wall, just above the upper cabinets and drilled a hole. I screwed in an eye bolt and hooked up a ratchet strap to it. You can't even see the eye bolt unless you stand on a chair. It worked fine but I had too much strap wound onto the spool, so it wouldn't go as high as I wanted, which I didn't realize until draining the bag. I twisted the bag around to tighten it up and squeeze it. I put my stir spoon in between the bag and the top lip of the pot that it leaned against to keep wort from spilling over the side. The vent hood above my stove makes the ratchet strap stick out further than I would like, so I also had to pull the pot out a few inches to center the bag better. Overall, it went very well.
This is only my fifth or sixth batch using a bag. Even though I was only looking for a boil volume of 4.5 gallons and could have easily done a full volume mash, I wanted to practice how I sparge when doing a 5.5 gallon batch. It was 12 lbs of grain too, which is more than my last 5.5 gallon batch used. Trying to pour sparge water through the bag didn't work very well. I think a dunk sparge with a stir would be more efficient/less frustrating. I will have to get out a cooler or buy another big pot. I calculated about 78% efficiency though, so I think I'm doing fine.* (Double crushed at LHBS).
TLDR: Ratchet strap hooked to an eye bolt worked OK to lift my bag.
Recipe if you're interested:
MaltedBayerl's Apfelbier
10lb US 2-row
1 lb Munich
1lb Victory
Mash 70min@ ~155°F
First wort hop: 1/2 oz Willamette 3.9% AA.
Boil volume: 4.5 gal
Boil time: 60 min
Cool: to 65°F
~3.25 Gallons in fermenter.
Add:
3 gallons Apple Juice (Aldi has cheap juice $1.29/half gallon)
Wyeast Forbidden Fruit 3463 (I used a thick slurry that i harvested a week before and had in the fridge. ~150ml.)
No idea how it will come out. The wort tasted good.
I used my voile bag for mashing in my 10 gal brew kettle. Last time I brewed, I realized that I really needed a way to lift and hold the bag up to drain. Being able to lift 25lbs and being able to suspend 25 lbs for several minutes are two very different things.
Since I brew in the kitchen and rent the apartment, I didn't want to put an eye bolt in the ceiling. I wanted something simple and hidden from view. I found a stud in the wall, just above the upper cabinets and drilled a hole. I screwed in an eye bolt and hooked up a ratchet strap to it. You can't even see the eye bolt unless you stand on a chair. It worked fine but I had too much strap wound onto the spool, so it wouldn't go as high as I wanted, which I didn't realize until draining the bag. I twisted the bag around to tighten it up and squeeze it. I put my stir spoon in between the bag and the top lip of the pot that it leaned against to keep wort from spilling over the side. The vent hood above my stove makes the ratchet strap stick out further than I would like, so I also had to pull the pot out a few inches to center the bag better. Overall, it went very well.
This is only my fifth or sixth batch using a bag. Even though I was only looking for a boil volume of 4.5 gallons and could have easily done a full volume mash, I wanted to practice how I sparge when doing a 5.5 gallon batch. It was 12 lbs of grain too, which is more than my last 5.5 gallon batch used. Trying to pour sparge water through the bag didn't work very well. I think a dunk sparge with a stir would be more efficient/less frustrating. I will have to get out a cooler or buy another big pot. I calculated about 78% efficiency though, so I think I'm doing fine.* (Double crushed at LHBS).
TLDR: Ratchet strap hooked to an eye bolt worked OK to lift my bag.
Recipe if you're interested:
MaltedBayerl's Apfelbier
10lb US 2-row
1 lb Munich
1lb Victory
Mash 70min@ ~155°F
First wort hop: 1/2 oz Willamette 3.9% AA.
Boil volume: 4.5 gal
Boil time: 60 min
Cool: to 65°F
~3.25 Gallons in fermenter.
Add:
3 gallons Apple Juice (Aldi has cheap juice $1.29/half gallon)
Wyeast Forbidden Fruit 3463 (I used a thick slurry that i harvested a week before and had in the fridge. ~150ml.)
No idea how it will come out. The wort tasted good.
