A question for dudes who fill BK with a pump

[kmlavoy]

I'm about to be doing some system upgrades, and one of the items will be a pump. I know that quite a few people fill the kettle through a valve at the lower end of the boil kettle, thereby using quick disconnects. My question is this: how are you checking the gravity of your runnings? Are you pulling the QD off, taking a small sample, then putting it back on? Or are you just forgoing the gravity readings altogether, and going for volume?

 

[drez77]

I fill mine with a pump but I batch sparge so I do not take any readings. I will just fill my BK and then prepare to sparge and then fill it the rest of the way. I do use a Refractometer to check the gravity once the BK is filled.

Mike

 

[beerthirty]

I've been fly sparging lately, so the wort is slowly pumped to the BK. I stir after taking volume measurement to make sure the wort isn't stratified then fill the hydro vial from the valve.
When batch sparging I would sample the end of the flow from each batch.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I don't go through the valve. I change out to a longer hose and fill from the top. The hose is long enough to reach the bottom of the kettle. When I am ready to check runnings I just lift the line enough to get a sample.

 

[Bobby_M]

I pump in through the lower bulkhead also but I batch sparge. However, it's easy enough to pull the disconnect for a second if I want to grab a sample.

 

[Gordie]

I fly sparge and fill from the top. I pull runnings samples from the tubing and stir and take samples of the batch from the valve. I tried filling through the valve but realized that its harder to monitor the flow from the lauter when fly sparging.

 

[conpewter]

Poor BK, what are you filling him with? I hope it is beer...

 

[beerthirty]

I will if he ever comes to AZ.