Finally got time to brew with the new rig. Everything went ok, a few glitches. The re circulation hose idea has to go, didnt work at all... have to rig something else up. 10 gal all grain German Hefe based on the recipe here..
The basket lifter also needs to be modified, the weight of the water plus grain was quite a bit even after i let it drain for some time.
The good news is the process went well, hit all my numbers, but not sure exactly how much i got in the end. My Fermanator doesnt have any markings. I wound up with about 12.5 in the kettle so hopefully i got ten in the tank. I did have a bit more leftover than I thought maybe couple gallons..
The one thing I was disappointed in was the cleaning time... it took much longer to clean than I was hoping for, about 5 hours total for a 10 gal batch...
Cooled down a bit too much i think at the end, still no activity for the yeast...pitched a 2 L starter at about 61... probaby should have been warmer...my water was 51 degrees going to the plate chiller.
The basket lifter also needs to be modified, the weight of the water plus grain was quite a bit even after i let it drain for some time.
The good news is the process went well, hit all my numbers, but not sure exactly how much i got in the end. My Fermanator doesnt have any markings. I wound up with about 12.5 in the kettle so hopefully i got ten in the tank. I did have a bit more leftover than I thought maybe couple gallons..
The one thing I was disappointed in was the cleaning time... it took much longer to clean than I was hoping for, about 5 hours total for a 10 gal batch...
Cooled down a bit too much i think at the end, still no activity for the yeast...pitched a 2 L starter at about 61... probaby should have been warmer...my water was 51 degrees going to the plate chiller.