Hope this is the right section for this... I'm not sure if I'm steeping or partial mashing?
So as a newer brewer with 8 batches under my belt, I decided to go to a full boil. I've done a few kits and a few clones and now a few of my own recipes. Only problem was I couldn't brew it fast enough. I decided to get a 15 gallon stockpot and start with 12 gallons. I feel like this will be my last stepping stone and after several more batches, I'll probably start some all grain brews. Here is my procedure for doing a partial grain and DME Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone.
I did a dry run with room temp water and could bring 12 gallons up to 150 degrees in 30'ish minutes, bring to a strong boil with another 10 minutes and cool from a strong boil to 66-68 degrees in 30 minutes with my home made wort chiller.
Here is my new SS 15 gallon pot and 5/8" x 25' chiller. I made the coils small enough to use with my 4 gallon stock pot for partial boils in the winter and tall enough for the big 15 gallon pot.
The 50amp electric stove was a bust and couldn't get above 195 degrees so I went to the turkey cooker instead. Here is my setup with a piece of coil used as a wind shield.
Here is the water up to 150 degrees and my grain sock with a few pounds of grain. I kept the cooker going until it hit 155 degrees, then killed the flame. Once the temp went down to 150 degrees, I fired up the flame again until 155 and repeated. I did this for 40 minutes, then used the grain bag like a tea bag... dunking up and down for another 5 minutes. I don't know if it helped, but I had fun playing in the wort
Seemed to help the color darken up just a bit. I then pulled the grain out and brought the temp up to 190-195 and added 3# of the DME I was planning on using. Stirred well and brought to a strong boil as seen here.
Started my hop schedule and was surprised how little flame was needed to keep a strong boil once I was there.
With about 10 minutes left, I dunked my wort chiller in to sanitize until flame out in which I pulled out and placed in a smaller stock pot with a couple inches of sanitizing solution. Added the rest of my hops and DME, stirred well and placed back in.
Here is the cooler in action with a feed hose from the laundry tub faucet pushing 52 degree water through and then exiting into the drive. My cooler was $31 to make, the $20 25' coil of 5/8" copper and a $10 5/8" hose from Lowes, which was $10 cheaper than Menards? I cut the hose into two lengths which will work well for the kitchen or out my back door as shown. Might recirculate ice water with a pump next time, not sure if it will make any difference as the ice would melt resulting in warmer water.
I planned on using 2 6 gallon carboys and a starter of washed yeast with a 2 cup water and 1/2 cup DME starter close to 20 hours old. Once the wort was cooled, I split the starter in half for each carboy and used my bottling bucket to split the wort equal with around 1 gallon per carboy back and forth. Once done, It looked to have the same amount of liquid and solids on the bottom.
Since I'm pretty happy with myself washing, here is a pic of my trub free washed yeast. This is my forth washing and this jar was 3 quarts jars of wash poured into one after settling and then decanting after stored in the frig for a few days. I split this up into 4 smaller jars for starters.
Here is the finished product. 2 carboys with close to 5 gallons each ready to sit and wait it out in the basement.
Comments or opinions please.
So as a newer brewer with 8 batches under my belt, I decided to go to a full boil. I've done a few kits and a few clones and now a few of my own recipes. Only problem was I couldn't brew it fast enough. I decided to get a 15 gallon stockpot and start with 12 gallons. I feel like this will be my last stepping stone and after several more batches, I'll probably start some all grain brews. Here is my procedure for doing a partial grain and DME Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone.
I did a dry run with room temp water and could bring 12 gallons up to 150 degrees in 30'ish minutes, bring to a strong boil with another 10 minutes and cool from a strong boil to 66-68 degrees in 30 minutes with my home made wort chiller.
Here is my new SS 15 gallon pot and 5/8" x 25' chiller. I made the coils small enough to use with my 4 gallon stock pot for partial boils in the winter and tall enough for the big 15 gallon pot.
The 50amp electric stove was a bust and couldn't get above 195 degrees so I went to the turkey cooker instead. Here is my setup with a piece of coil used as a wind shield.
Here is the water up to 150 degrees and my grain sock with a few pounds of grain. I kept the cooker going until it hit 155 degrees, then killed the flame. Once the temp went down to 150 degrees, I fired up the flame again until 155 and repeated. I did this for 40 minutes, then used the grain bag like a tea bag... dunking up and down for another 5 minutes. I don't know if it helped, but I had fun playing in the wort
Seemed to help the color darken up just a bit. I then pulled the grain out and brought the temp up to 190-195 and added 3# of the DME I was planning on using. Stirred well and brought to a strong boil as seen here.
Started my hop schedule and was surprised how little flame was needed to keep a strong boil once I was there.
With about 10 minutes left, I dunked my wort chiller in to sanitize until flame out in which I pulled out and placed in a smaller stock pot with a couple inches of sanitizing solution. Added the rest of my hops and DME, stirred well and placed back in.
Here is the cooler in action with a feed hose from the laundry tub faucet pushing 52 degree water through and then exiting into the drive. My cooler was $31 to make, the $20 25' coil of 5/8" copper and a $10 5/8" hose from Lowes, which was $10 cheaper than Menards? I cut the hose into two lengths which will work well for the kitchen or out my back door as shown. Might recirculate ice water with a pump next time, not sure if it will make any difference as the ice would melt resulting in warmer water.
I planned on using 2 6 gallon carboys and a starter of washed yeast with a 2 cup water and 1/2 cup DME starter close to 20 hours old. Once the wort was cooled, I split the starter in half for each carboy and used my bottling bucket to split the wort equal with around 1 gallon per carboy back and forth. Once done, It looked to have the same amount of liquid and solids on the bottom.
Since I'm pretty happy with myself washing, here is a pic of my trub free washed yeast. This is my forth washing and this jar was 3 quarts jars of wash poured into one after settling and then decanting after stored in the frig for a few days. I split this up into 4 smaller jars for starters.
Here is the finished product. 2 carboys with close to 5 gallons each ready to sit and wait it out in the basement.
Comments or opinions please.
