First time using a pump and therminator

[Leukass]

I under estimated the amount of loss to the pump, lines, and therminator....
I started with almost 6 gallons and the using the pump and the chiller only ended up with about 4-1/2 gallons in the better bottle. I didn't realize I would lost that much.

How to you guys handle this if you want to get to a full 5 gallons for your keg? Are you brewing like 8 gallons?
Hopefully beersmith can upscale them.


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[PKLehmer]

I fill my mash tun with clean water and move my hose over to it after the BK is empty, then push that water through the system until the wort going into the fermenter runs clear, that way I get every drop of wort out of the system.

 

[tally350z]

Can you describe your setup? 1.5 gallons is alot of wort lose. I only loose about 1/4 gallon between my lines, pump and chiller.

 

[PKLehmer]

Follow up to tallys comment, how do you measure volume? If using a sight glass are you sure it's taking into account anything in the BK? Is it calibrated correctly?

 

[Leukass]

measure volume by the markings on the back of the bayou classic pot, and the markings on the big mouth bubbler plastic.

There was some wort in the bottom of the pot i could't get to go thru the ball-vavle after it go down so far in the pot. From there went into the pump, out of the pump and into the chiller and then into the bubbler. Maybe about 12' of silicon tubing (maybe i should cut the tubing shorter)

I did run sanitizer thru my pump and chiller so i had to run the pump outside the bubbler until i got all the sanitizer out of the line and chiller. So that wasted some wort until i was sure it was clear of sanitizer.

 

[Conan]

You may want to verify the markings on your vessels. They aren't calibrated from the factory and can be decently inaccurate. One of my stainless pots is around a quart off. It sounds like a large amount of your losses can be attributed to waste (clearing the lines of sanitizer) and loss the the kettle- not completely draining it. It's surprising how quickly a cup here or there can lead to being a gallon shy into the fermentor. Kyle

 

[Leukass]

So how do you clear the lines if sanitizer and or wort?


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[PKLehmer]

I sterilize my chiller and pump by recirculating boiling wort rather then sanitizer starting about 15 minutes prior to flame out. I start off with no cold water flowing through the chiller, and with the pump outlet set real low so it's just a trickle. As the chiller warms up to the higher temp, I open the throttle more until it's pretty much wide open by flame out. Then I start the cold water flowing, still recirculating the wort until I hit about 140° then I start pumping into the fermenter. Once the BK is empty, I start pumping some water through the system until the wort in the pump and chiller starts to run clear and I call it a day. My losses in the system are very minimal this way.

 

[passedpawn]

1.5g does not hide in some tubing, the pump, and the therminator. Check your assumptions.

When done chilling, you can spend a minute and drain everything so there is no loss. But I think your numbers are off. I'm guessing the volume of the tubing, pump and therminator are not more than 20 oz.

 

[Conan]

Also, how dialed in is your boil off? Mine changes by the season, and more specifically but the temperature/ humidity. In the humidity of summer I'm 13.5%- during the 10°F winter dryness I'm somewhere above 14%. It doesn't sound like much but on my system it's the difference between hitting 5.25 into the fermenter and falling short at 4.75 or less. Kyle