Good afternoon,
I have done one or two all grain brews, and I am looking at simplifying the process somewhat, and I wanted your opinion/advice.
My current process is:
1. Start heating my water, up to about 70C. (Using my cajun cooker)
2. Place my SS mashing vessel (big pot) in my "insulator", and add my cracked barley to the vessel, then strike the grain with my warmed water. Cover the vessel with its lid, pack the top with towels and then seal my insulator.
3. I come back every 20 minutes or so and check on the temp. If its dropping, I scoop out a saucer pan full, re-heat, add it back to the mash, stir, and reseal.
4. After 3 hours I pour the mash through my lauter tun and give it a sparging, into another large, stainless steel pot.
5. I then start the boil and toss in a measure or two of bittering hops (I like a good "medium-bitter".)
6. After I've boiled off a good inch of liquid, I stick my wort chiller in and drop the temp to proper pitching temperature and then I filter the hop muck through my "hop stocking" <- horrid process, into my primary fermenter, pitch my wyeast, seal and let it sit.
Like anyone who brews, brew day is a fun day, but I would still like to stream-line it somewhat.
I've been looking at a Polaris brew pot. Its a 10 gallon pot with a ball valve and built in thermostat. It also comes with a false bottom. And I thought I would mash and sparge using the same vessel.
So, for those with a one of these brewing pots, would my new process be:
1. Place the brew pot with the false bottom, on my cajun cooker, fill it with water, raise the temperature to 70C, reduce the output of the cooker, add my cracked barley, stir, cover, monitor the temperature for 3 hours.
2. Open the valve and drain the brew pot into another vessel and sparge.
3. .... as per current sequence, hop, boil, chill, filter, pitch, seal.
Is that about the size of it? Are these brew pots real time savers? Any other suggestions to improve my process? I had though about using a hop bag next time...
Thanks for you help.
I have done one or two all grain brews, and I am looking at simplifying the process somewhat, and I wanted your opinion/advice.
My current process is:
1. Start heating my water, up to about 70C. (Using my cajun cooker)
2. Place my SS mashing vessel (big pot) in my "insulator", and add my cracked barley to the vessel, then strike the grain with my warmed water. Cover the vessel with its lid, pack the top with towels and then seal my insulator.
3. I come back every 20 minutes or so and check on the temp. If its dropping, I scoop out a saucer pan full, re-heat, add it back to the mash, stir, and reseal.
4. After 3 hours I pour the mash through my lauter tun and give it a sparging, into another large, stainless steel pot.
5. I then start the boil and toss in a measure or two of bittering hops (I like a good "medium-bitter".)
6. After I've boiled off a good inch of liquid, I stick my wort chiller in and drop the temp to proper pitching temperature and then I filter the hop muck through my "hop stocking" <- horrid process, into my primary fermenter, pitch my wyeast, seal and let it sit.
Like anyone who brews, brew day is a fun day, but I would still like to stream-line it somewhat.
I've been looking at a Polaris brew pot. Its a 10 gallon pot with a ball valve and built in thermostat. It also comes with a false bottom. And I thought I would mash and sparge using the same vessel.
So, for those with a one of these brewing pots, would my new process be:
1. Place the brew pot with the false bottom, on my cajun cooker, fill it with water, raise the temperature to 70C, reduce the output of the cooker, add my cracked barley, stir, cover, monitor the temperature for 3 hours.
2. Open the valve and drain the brew pot into another vessel and sparge.
3. .... as per current sequence, hop, boil, chill, filter, pitch, seal.
Is that about the size of it? Are these brew pots real time savers? Any other suggestions to improve my process? I had though about using a hop bag next time...
Thanks for you help.