First All Grain Batch

[D-brewmeister]

Whew, just got finished with brewing of my first all grain, appartment is all steamy and smells wonderful (in my opinion). Now I am relaxing with one more brew. Everything seems to have gone well, my mash seems to have been effective (an Iodine test of the runnings stayed nice and gold/orange, no purple at all) My new brew kettle did the job, and my new counterflow wort chiller chilled the wort like a champ. However, I had some serious hassles with keeping my sypon going from the brew pot throught the chiller into the carboy. Lost it twice, things got rather exciting, wasted some beer in the process. Am I going to have to invest in one of those sanitary pumps to make sure things keep moving? They cost about $200 from what I have seen, a bit pricy for my wallet right now.

Can't wait to try the batch, but I will have to sit on my hands for a few weeks, since I am doing an Alt and it will have to sit in a nice cold primary for about 2-3 weeks. I'm sure it wil be worth it, however!

 

[Janx]

I'd suggest putting a spigot on your kettle. We gravity flow into our chiller from a spigot and it works like a champ. Siphoning into a chiller can be a real drag, as you have seen. Plus, you can get hop bits in the chiller which is really bad news. (BTW, clean your chiller religiously...the one downside of counterflow if they are a dangerous vector of contamination. I rinse and bleach mine before and after each use. I iodine it immediately before using.)

If you decide to go to a pump, I don't think you need to spend quite $200 but it's been a while since I bought one. I'm thinking of adding a pump so I can recirculate mash and speed up the chilling flow. Years ago, I bought a magnetic drive pump suitable for pumping wort for about $70. My buddy got one for about $120 that was nicer a few years ago.

 

[D-brewmeister]

Years ago, I bought a magnetic drive pump suitable for pumping wort for about $70. My buddy got one for about $120 that was nicer a few years ago.

Where did you find these pumps? Any brand names, or specific technical specs I should look for?

 

[Janx]

We always got them from Grainger.

I'm not too savvy on the technical specs, but I think you want a magnetic drive pump, which means the liquid doesn't touch any moving parts and it's a food grade pump as a result. You also need something that'll take the heat. Some that say they can take it will eventually warp and break.

Like I said, I'm gonna be looking into one soon. I have a brewing buddy who knows lots about them and can probably tell me the right one to get. I'm gonna talk to him about it soon, and I'll post what I learn.