First 3 vessel all grain. Follow along with me today!

[FatCat11cz]

So...my first disappointment of the day. The burners on the center of gravity are underpowered. I don't mind so much the hlt and mash burners being low powered, but the boil burner can only bring 8 gallons of wort to a high simmer. If I want a vigorous boil, I have to leave the lid on the kettle. I have cracked the lid open a bit to allow boil off and other gasses to escape, but I'll be waiting until I'm an old man before I get hot break...

 

[normonster]

Maybe you can swap it out for the guts of a blichmann. If the fit is good it'd be worth it. Mine will melt stainless...lol

 

[brrman]

Sucks about the boil burner. Change that sucker out.

 

[FatCat11cz]

This is a pic of the lid on the kettle.it gives an idea of what is required to get a rolling boil with this burner. I am going to order a bg-10 burner from amazon. It's only 16 bucks. It's high pressure, but with the 5 psi regulator on the center of gravity, it should be noticeable improvement.

I also show the tangential inlet. I have been unable to get a tight seal to prevent leaks, but the boiling wort seems to have sealed it for me.

 

[FatCat11cz]

Just added the bittering hops. Liberty is so nice.

 

[FatCat11cz]

I didn't bother to use my hop spider this time. I want to test how well the tangential whirlpool port works. Combined with the new threadless diptube, I should be able to draw pretty clean wort. Of course, ther is only 2 ounces of hops in this recipie.

I'll still use me strainer as it goes into the fermenter.

 

[normonster]

Do those kettles have triclad bottoms? The copper sure looks cool.

 

[FatCat11cz]

Yeah. They are really nice kettles. I will recommend them to anybody! They look great, performance is awesome, and the new weldless fittings are super nice. I bought it for 15% off from Midwest.

 

[FatCat11cz]

Okay. So the trick is to leave the lid on but cracked to get a good boil. I don't feel so bad now, but I'm still going to order the bg-10 burner to replace the CoG burner.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Here's a look at the grain bill today. Smells awesome !

Wait...did the hops come packaged like that or is that your own packaging? Its not even vacuum sealed?

 

[FatCat11cz]

My lhbs packages them for me. They keep them refrigerated and sealed with nitrogen. Always smell and taste great.

 

[FatCat11cz]

Preparing for the whirlpool. Gonna use the hot wort to help sanitize the pump.

 

[FatCat11cz]

Whirlpooling now for 10 minutes. Looking good. Did I mention how much I like quick disconnects?

 

[FatCat11cz]

Whirlpooling done. Refractometer reads. 1.057 3 points over. I ain't mad though. Waiting 10 minutes for whirlpool to stop. Preparing therminator.

 

[FatCat11cz]

Chilling now.

 

[FatCat11cz]

Looking good. Don't see a lot of hop debris. Nice clear color.

 

[FatCat11cz]

Chilling done.

 

[normonster]

Yeah. They are really nice kettles. I will recommend them to anybody! They look great, performance is awesome, and the new weldless fittings are super nice. I bought it for 15% off from Midwest.

Weldless....-1 for that. What about the bottoms? Triclad or single wall?

 

[FatCat11cz]

Not bad. I'll use the hop spider next time though.

 

[FatCat11cz]

Tri-clad. You should really check out the new fittings. They really are nice.

 

[normonster]

Tri-clad. You should really check out the new fittings. They really are nice.

I'm sure they are but I just hate taking stuff apart only to clean and reassemble. All good though man....they look grand indeed. Didn't know Ed made kettles.

Thanks for sharing brewday BTW. Next time lets get a live cam going....lol

 

[FatCat11cz]

Dinner time. Because of my noob-ness to 3 vessel brewing, I have a feeling that I will be able to cut down an 8 hour day hopefully by 1.5 to 2 hrs . If you have any suggestions, I am open to listen.

I will be posting my thoughts on extract, biab, and 3 vessel brewing as well as t he pros and cons of the new gear I just bought. Stay tuned.

 

[JosephN]

No I didn't preheat anything, but will next time. Also I noticed that the temp probe was barely covered in the mash. This I think could lead to inaccurate temp readings.

I am heating for boiling now. Burner gets me about a degree a minute. A little slow compared to my edalmetall burner. It's lunchtime anyway.

I'm always forgetting to eat when I brew. I'm lad my wife hangs around to remind me.