Brew Day on the New Rig

[chapa]

While it was actually a REALLY LONG brew night/morning, it was a pretty successful one. The brew process only took about 6 hours or so, but we didn't start the mash until 11:50pm. Most of the earlier part of the evening was spent calibrating the sight glasses for my newly converted keggles, and tinkering with the weldless ballvalve connections.

I got a different cooler/mlt because my previous one didn't hold heat for crap, and I needed a little more room for my big OG 10g batches - especially this one, an Arrogant Bastard clone. I shot for my usual 60% efficiency, going for about 1.071...and I hit 1.070 on my PRE-BOIL gravity!! So I ended up with about 1.080 SG @ 72% eff. I also didn't even hardly lose a degree of temperature thru the mash!! Needless to say I was very happy!!

Of course since I hit so high on the OG, I had to add more hops, so it was a good thing I bought a pound of fresh leaf Chinook hops from HopsDirect!! MAN was I in heaven with my face buried in a lb of fresh hops!! I ended up adding an additional .8oz @ 50min(once I read my Pre-Boil OG) and .5oz at KO.

The only bad part about the brewday was those weldless fittings (even on my MLT) were leaking. Not the sight glass/therm combos, but just the ball valve bulkheads. It wasn't TOO BAD, and I everything else went so well, that at the end of the night/morning I really didn't care, and was happy with my equipment upgrades.

I also purchased a whole house water filtration with an aluminum bracket to hang from the keg/HLT, and also hooked up a shut off valve to my hose connected to QD's for the water filter as well as a high pressure spray handle. I also got the 3pc SS weldless ball valves w SS pick-ups, QD's and Silicone hosing from BargainFittings. It was a pleasure using all of the new equipment, and made the brewday much more convenient, aside from the few quirks.

Arrogant Bastard Clones (2 on Right) All Centennial IPA - brewed last weekend (Left)

I had to take my brew buddy home when we were done, and as I said we didn't start the mash until midnight, so after a McDonalds breakfast I finally hit the bed @ 7am!!

I'm going to do some searching on the weldless bulkheads, to make sure I covered all of the bases, but the strange thing is, everything was LEAK-FREE when I tested it with a several gallons of water, but as soon as I filled them up, all 3 vessels leaked...even after I re-taped them. I'm using the red silicone o-rings, and tried not to tighten too much. It's really hard to make everything line up right, and thread to the proper depth, though. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. I didn't sand down the holes, but they were pretty smooth.

I definitely want to thank Bobby M, for the sight glass\thermometer combos and all of the GREAT videos and information, as well as the MANY other great people on this forum. There is such a plethora of resources and info, that really helps others put together well thought-out systems, saving money and headaches in the long run.

The next step is to purchase the single tier system and a pump from BrewersEquipment, but now that I have my mash temp/volume under control, I'm not really looking forward to insulating a keggle, even though I like the idea of just recirculating and having the 3rd burner...or all new burners for that matter, these turkey fryers not very efficient!!

 

[bertmurphy]

Out of curiosity, what brand/type of cooler were you getting the bad heat retention with?

 

[chapa]

Out of curiosity, what brand/type of cooler were you getting the bad heat retention with?

Here it is. 48qt Igloo Island Breeze. The walls were way thinner, and the lid did NOT actually pop down into the body of the cooler, it just kind of sat on top, and you could almost see through the crease in the front. (On the plus side...it never leaked a drop haha)

My Igloo Ice Cube was like $30 from Sams. It holds 60qts, and because its taller rather than wider, like most bigger coolers, I think it will be ideal for any batch.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

Nice setup and good pics of the setup/hops.

I've seen those coolers at Sam's; have to score on one when I go next. Mine hold temp good for about 2-3 hours (enough for the mash), but I have a 5 gallon that needs replacing. That would go well with my 10 gallon.

 

[chapa]

Thanks. I'm sure you'll be happy with it. The handles are nice too

 

[Teromous]

Congrats on the new system, it is very elaborate! I just want to stick my face in those hops and inhale!

 

[chapa]

Thanks Teromous! The hops were intoxicating!

 

[chapa]

Took about 14 hours to really take off, but its cranking now. This is 48 hours later. Smells great

 

[bertmurphy]

Here it is. 48qt Igloo Island Breeze. The walls were way thinner, and the lid did NOT actually pop down into the body of the cooler, it just kind of sat on top, and you could almost see through the crease in the front. (On the plus side...it never leaked a drop haha)

Thats the exact same cooler that I have. It was the cheapest one at target. I have to heat it up before mash in and put my 0 degree sleeping bag over it to hold temps. I could get a better one, but I feel like I put so much effort into making that copper manifold, heh.

 

[chapa]

Thats the exact same cooler that I have. It was the cheapest one at target. I have to heat it up before mash in and put my 0 degree sleeping bag over it to hold temps. I could get a better one, but I feel like I put so much effort into making that copper manifold, heh.

Glad you figured it out! I kept my manifold, but also the slots were placed on top(and couldn't flip because my drain was off-center)so I was losing a lot of wort to deadspace. I ended up using a stainless steel braid that actually works GREAT! I attached either side to a T-drain and it easily drains faster than my manifold did. I actually have to slow it down so it doesn't go TOO fast.

My other motivation was to have a big enough MLT to do high gravity 10g batches...especially considering my 60% eff from the old cooler! I put my new MLT to the test w that Arrogant Bastard clone, I had it set for 60% eff, shooting for around 1.073 and my mash tun had 10.5g of water + 30lbs of grain!! It was to the very top of the cooler, but it fit fine. Now that I'm at 70%+ I should have plenty of room for any batch!

 

[IrregularPulse]

All night brew day followed by McD's breakfast and 7am bed? That sounds awesome!

 

[chapa]

All night brew day followed by McD's breakfast and 7am bed? That sounds awesome!

It was a GREAT all-night brew day!! Got to sleep in nice & late too, that helped!! The leaking bulkheads were really the only disappointment, but other than that it was awesome!

I gotta say, I really enjoyed the great big bag of hops too...grabbing handfuls of fresh hops to measure them out for additions and to vacuum seal for storage was a much enjoyed addition to the night!! My hands and the entire patio smelled viciously of Chinook!! Now I want to start growing them, as I can only imagine the joy of having endless amounts of ACTUAL WHOLE wet hops.

The other thing I forgot to mention that was a new addition to the rig, was a hop bag, which was AWESOME, as it really reduced my trub into the fermenter. I could use a bigger opening though, or maybe I'll make a different bracket for it, because the cpvc that runs through the middle of the opening is kind of a pain to work around.

Here is the video that I used as a reference to make my hop bag, in case anyone is interested in making one.