Okay, so I had my first brew day on the rig as-is. I have not yet incorporated the HERMS coil, pumps, etc. etc. I just treated it as one big turkey fryer.
The brewhouse eff per ProMash was 62%; that was using a double sparge (with half of the sparge water: sparge, vorlauf, etc...then repeat with other half) and no mash out. I have a perforated stainless false bottom.
The recipe I did was Ed's Stone Clone, 'cept I also used 2 oz. whole cascade hops towards the end, and also at whirlpool.
Those DAMN whole hops screwed me!
There was at LEAST a gallon left in the kettle, and no matter what I did, I couldn't siphon, filter, or strain it out while still maintaining sterility!
I ended up with probably 4 gallons of VERY hoppy brew. It'll probably turn out pretty darn good, but I'm pissed that I left all those good soldiers behind
I don't think I'll be using whole hops again, unless I can figure out a way to prevent this from happening again. Any suggestions