Thunder_Chicken
Well-Known Member
I'm brewing using my stovetop and pots and pans in my kitchen, and I don't have plans to upgrade too much. The SWMBO has signed off on my having a 5-gallon primary (actually a 6 gallon ale pail) in the kitchen for temperature control, but my real problem is actually filling it.
With both of the big kettles that I have I can do partial mashes, with grains in one pot and reconstituted DME or LME in the other. Best I can do on my stovetop is about 3 gallons of wort per day. I can cool my mash down quickly in an ice bath in the sink, and I do the same with the reconstituted DME (which I just quickly boil to sanitize). But even after this it is all too warm to pitch yeast into until the next day. I let everything cool to room temp while covered, then dump it all in the fermenter and pitch.
What I was thinking of doing was doing this process on sequential days, in order to fill up my fermenter. Do my partial mash 3 gallon boil, cool it overnight, put it in the primary and pitch yeast, and then boil an additional 3 gallons, cool that to room temperature, and then adding that to the already-pitched primary 24 hours later.
Can anyone poke any holes in this idea? Obviously I need to make sure everything is at or very near room temperature before it goes into the fermenter to avoid shocking the yeast. Will this screw up the yeast development? My guess is if I do this within a day or so the yeast will not really care, and mixing oxygen in probably still won't be a worry.
With both of the big kettles that I have I can do partial mashes, with grains in one pot and reconstituted DME or LME in the other. Best I can do on my stovetop is about 3 gallons of wort per day. I can cool my mash down quickly in an ice bath in the sink, and I do the same with the reconstituted DME (which I just quickly boil to sanitize). But even after this it is all too warm to pitch yeast into until the next day. I let everything cool to room temp while covered, then dump it all in the fermenter and pitch.
What I was thinking of doing was doing this process on sequential days, in order to fill up my fermenter. Do my partial mash 3 gallon boil, cool it overnight, put it in the primary and pitch yeast, and then boil an additional 3 gallons, cool that to room temperature, and then adding that to the already-pitched primary 24 hours later.
Can anyone poke any holes in this idea? Obviously I need to make sure everything is at or very near room temperature before it goes into the fermenter to avoid shocking the yeast. Will this screw up the yeast development? My guess is if I do this within a day or so the yeast will not really care, and mixing oxygen in probably still won't be a worry.