Upping my Equipment questions...

[Mikelush78]

Well I have been brewing with a turkey fryer for a year now and wanted to up my game to be able to brew 10 gallon batches now. Got a keg this weekend and cut the top off it to use it as my kettle. No drain valve on it yet but that is soon to come with a false bottom.

My question to others that brew with a keg kettle, how do you chill your wort? The keg stays so hot for so long is the reason for my question. In my aluminum turkey fryer i could cool my wart from boil to 75 degrees in 20 - 30 min based on the time of year here in NY. Do you keep the wort in there and chill or do you put it in other containers and chill it?

I have a copper wart chiller i made but im guessing i need to make a bigger one or do some other way to chill my wort easier

Also I am going to buy a Blichmann Floor Burner with Blichmann Burner Leg Extensions - 24" good purchase?

I use a cooler for my mash tun, works well for me...

Anything im missing for upgrading? also any suggestions since i'm upgrading?
Thought I should ask you vets here before dive in with anything!

 

[Spartan1979]

I just chill my wort in the keggle. I use 50 feet of 1/2 inch copper for my chiller. You may want to upgrade yours depending on what you have for length/diameter.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

I use a keggle and a Sabco turkey fryer burner for 5-10g batches (up to 14g boil) without a problem.
A dual 1/4" x 50' copper coil immersion chiller gets a 5g batch down in 10-15 min depending on if I keep the wort moving to optimize cooling. The keg will hold more heat but not enough to require fancy cooling methods.

 

[dobes]

your chiller will work fine but may just take longer. you could also look into getting/making a pre-chiller to speed things up and getting your final temp down lower (especially for lagers).
Also in the cold months I have just covered my kettle up with plastic wrap and a make shift cap I made and let it sit out till the temp came down enough to pitch.
I use a plate chiller now and love it. But if a plate chiller is not an option the IC's work great and I never had no issue with them.

 

[Mikelush78]

Great feedback guys thanks! I think I will upgrade the IC to thicker to be 1/2" like Spartan has sounds like a good plan...

Mine is smaller diameter and also only 25' so that will helps for sure...
Thanks guys!

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Also I am going to buy a Blichmann Floor Burner with Blichmann Burner Leg Extensions - 24" good purchase?

It's the stainless steel standard of burner rigs. I'm a fan, own two. The burners are now integrated into my single tier rig, but when I was using them with the 24" legs I was a little nudgey about the narrow spread and decided to graft the 24" legs to the outside of the stock legs. Set up a jig on my drill press and drilled mating holes, bolted everything together with heavy stainless hardware, definitely was more comfortable.

Anything im missing for upgrading? also any suggestions since i'm upgrading? Thought I should ask you vets here before dive in with anything!

I've been brewing for 14 years and I'm always upgrading something around the brewery. You're never "done" - but if you are, it's time to build a new rig...

Cheers!

 

[Mikelush78]

Another question for you guys,

I have been brewing 5 - 6 gallon batches
I would pour the cooled wort through a strainer to get rid of the unwanted...
How do you guys do it with the Keggle?
Is a false bottom good for this or no?

So straining is my question now

 

[Genuine]

I brew in a keg as well and I'm currently using an IC. I like it but it takes a bit of moving it around to get the temps to drop 80 degree's or so, in 30-40 minutes. I've been contemplating going with a plate chiller or a counter flow so I could attach my pump and have it cooled in 10-15 minutes or less.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[samuryan]

Another question for you guys,

I have been brewing 5 - 6 gallon batches
I would pour the cooled wort through a strainer to get rid of the unwanted...
How do you guys do it with the Keggle?
Is a false bottom good for this or no?

So straining is my question now

whirlpool

 

[acidrain]

I boil in a keggle, and it wants to stay hot a really long time.
I started hosing down the outside and bottom of the keggle while it was recirculating and cooling. That worked well.
Recently I started transferring from the boil kettle to a dedicated whirlpool kettle. That works REALLY good.
My routine is:
Mash, transfer, boil normally adding 1/2 whirflock tablet per 5 gallons in the last 5 minutes. If it gets a hop stand, I do that too.
Transfer through a plate chiller (using a 300 micron pre-filter) to the whirlpool. The temp is about 80F in one pass.
Begin whirlpool/recirculation/further chilling. In about 10 minutes it's down to 70F (my current ground water temp).
Turn off the recirc, drain all the hoses and chiller, pour that wort into the whirlpool.
Put the lid on and let it sit for 20 minutes.
Drain off perfectly clear wort through the side pickup, which is about 1-1/2" off the bottom.
Tip the whirlpool kettle to get every drop (minus the trub).

 

[Darken99]

I use a second Keg with 50' copper coil and do a single pass gravity cool to 68D in 15 min. I also use this keg to hold my fly sparge water.

 

[CraigKing]

Are you guys buying lengths of copper online? Or locally? What is considered a good price per/ft for copper?

 

[rekoob]

You're never "done" - but if you are, it's time to build a new rig...

Well said Sir.