Fellow Brewers,
Started brewing 18 years ago. Wife, kids and busy lifestyle put things on hold for awhile. Back in the game again and ready to upgrade some gear. I'm focused on 5 gal batches but may want to scale up later although its not a priority......yet. I favor high gravity beers in general so I'll need at least a 10 gal BK for prep. Leaning towards a 15 gal right now.
What I'm struggling with is cooling the wort and minimizing hop and break material transfer into the fermenter. I live in SoCal so ground water can get warm and water costs are high. A standard immersion chiller translates into a lot of wasted water and a long time to get to pitching temps. A plate chiller gets the nod here assuming I'm really diligent about cleaning it (with PBW) immediately afterwards.
I'd like to recirculate the wort back into the BK to whirlpool before transferring to the fermenter.
I'm considering one of the following configurations and was soliciting some feedback and opinions. Cheers!
Existing gear:
1. 10 gal circular cooler mash tun conversion with Bazooka style strainer.
2. Camp Chef SH140L burner.
Proposed:
1. 15 Gal Spike Brewing Kettle with 2 ports. 10 gal may be adequate but the cost differential is small and 15 gal might be more versatile in the long run.
I was considering a Megapot tri-clad pot as well but favor the dimensions of the spike kettle better and prefer welded fittings over weld-less.
Option 1:
1. DIY hop spider (to control hop debris before going into plate chiller).
2. Drain wort into Blichmann Therminator or Duda Diesel B3-12A 30 plate chiller. Is Blichmann really worth the premium?
3. Recirculate cooled wort back into BK to whirlpool with Little Giant TE-3-MD-HC or March 815 pump.
Option 2:
1. Drain wort into Brewer's Hardware Filter (http://www.brewershardware.com/FILTER1.html)
2. Go through plate chiller
3. Pump wort back into BK to whirlpool before transferring to fermenter.
Option 3:
1. Use recirculating immersion chiller and pump back into BK before transfer to fermenter. (http://morebeer.com/view_product/11905/102204/Wort_Chiller_-_SuperChiller_with_Recirculation)
Started brewing 18 years ago. Wife, kids and busy lifestyle put things on hold for awhile. Back in the game again and ready to upgrade some gear. I'm focused on 5 gal batches but may want to scale up later although its not a priority......yet. I favor high gravity beers in general so I'll need at least a 10 gal BK for prep. Leaning towards a 15 gal right now.
What I'm struggling with is cooling the wort and minimizing hop and break material transfer into the fermenter. I live in SoCal so ground water can get warm and water costs are high. A standard immersion chiller translates into a lot of wasted water and a long time to get to pitching temps. A plate chiller gets the nod here assuming I'm really diligent about cleaning it (with PBW) immediately afterwards.
I'd like to recirculate the wort back into the BK to whirlpool before transferring to the fermenter.
I'm considering one of the following configurations and was soliciting some feedback and opinions. Cheers!
Existing gear:
1. 10 gal circular cooler mash tun conversion with Bazooka style strainer.
2. Camp Chef SH140L burner.
Proposed:
1. 15 Gal Spike Brewing Kettle with 2 ports. 10 gal may be adequate but the cost differential is small and 15 gal might be more versatile in the long run.
I was considering a Megapot tri-clad pot as well but favor the dimensions of the spike kettle better and prefer welded fittings over weld-less.
Option 1:
1. DIY hop spider (to control hop debris before going into plate chiller).
2. Drain wort into Blichmann Therminator or Duda Diesel B3-12A 30 plate chiller. Is Blichmann really worth the premium?
3. Recirculate cooled wort back into BK to whirlpool with Little Giant TE-3-MD-HC or March 815 pump.
Option 2:
1. Drain wort into Brewer's Hardware Filter (http://www.brewershardware.com/FILTER1.html)
2. Go through plate chiller
3. Pump wort back into BK to whirlpool before transferring to fermenter.
Option 3:
1. Use recirculating immersion chiller and pump back into BK before transfer to fermenter. (http://morebeer.com/view_product/11905/102204/Wort_Chiller_-_SuperChiller_with_Recirculation)
