From Kit to Anvil

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There's a chance it's finished. This would be the time to take a hydrometer reading. Paying attention to sanitation of course.

 

[Thazo79]

Ok. I haven’t checked the gravity yet.
What I did was time it, this morning. I stared at the airlock until I saw the airlock lift, then started the stopwatch and waited until the next lift.

I got one bubble through the airlock every 39 seconds.

I guess I wasn’t staring and waiting long enough. Such a stark difference from 12 hours after the pitch though.

 

[Saunassa]

Alright, I did it. I brewed my first beer.
There were a few bumps but nothing serious:

1. The rice hulls did not want to sink to the bottom and floated even when putting in the grain. I tried soaking the rice hulls before I put it into the pipe, but I am guessing that they need more time to become water-logged to sink to the bottom.
2. The recirculating pump still got bogged down a couple of times. It took me a while to dial it in with the valve at the bottom of the Foundry. About a tad less than 45* seemed to do it. Twas slower than I thought.
3. I bought the liquid Wyeast smack pack, but forgot to pull it out of the fridge until about when the boil started.
4. The chiller only got down to about 85*F and then stalled so I went ahead and transported the wort into the sanitized fermentor with the pump, after sanitizing the nozzle. I waited until it hit 70 before pitching the yeast. 7:45 pm
5: I seem to have lost more wort to evaporation than the Foundry accounts for. I should have had 5 gallon after sparring and boil, but I ended up with a little over 4 gallons. Not sure what happened there..
5. My house temp fluctuates so I have a brew fridge set-up and an external controller for it so that it stays between 64 and 70...but its upstairs. As I tried to transport the fermentor bucket from the kitchen to the upstairs brew fridge, the star san in the airlock started to get sucked inside. So I removed the air lock and transported it with an open bung. Ugh. I hope I didn't just ruin the batch. I haven't brewed beer before so I don't know how common and easy wild yeast infestation can occur. I sprayed everything down with a star san spray bottle.
6. Oh my gravity reading looked a little more than 1.042. (lifting pipe up and down twice, 170* sparge, and pressing a bit on the spent grain with an aluminum bowl) Hard to tell exactly as the beer was really aerated in the bucket and quite foamy, but I looked a little higher than 1.040 but who knows.

Here are the things I learned:
1: I might try to soak the rice hulls overnight next time, if I use them next time that is.
2: Take out the yeast earlier in the process
3. Gotta figure out a way to transport the fermentor easier. No room downstairs for another fridge. Maybe tape over the bung hole until I get upstairs? Then respray it the bung and airlock, place the air lock in?
4. Get a graduated cylinder, duh.

I have to say though, I am loving this device, and I can already tell that I am going to love this hobby!

Number 2 on your list about the pump bogging down, was this recirculating during the mash? If so you don't want to restrict the water into the pump, you use the ss 'pinch' style restrictor on the silicone tube between the pump and the ss tube into the lid. About a foot from the stainless pipe in this pic


I have a 10.5 and do 2.25 qts per pound for all my brews, then I just use a gallon or so warm water to sparge after lifting and hanging mash tube. Whatever is needed to hit boil volume.

 

[Saunassa]

 

[Thazo79]

I was wondering what that little device was for. It didn't list its function or placement on the assembly, so I just put it aside. Ive been just using the lever, but it makes more sense to use that after the pump. Will be doing that next time. Thank you SO much for your advice!

 

[Saunassa]

@Thazo79 just make sure your clamps are secure on the pump output side. I did not and a 'bit' may have squirted out.

 

[Thazo79]

@Thazo79 just make sure your clamps are secure on the pump output side. I did not and a 'bit' may have squirted out.

Ironically the issue I am having is more on the chiller coil. I clamp the hose down tight and yet it still leaks. But not enough to cause trouble to the brew, but it sure makes a mess on the flor outside the anvil. I had to put a towel under neathe to capture the drips. Also it doesn't chill it down mash low enough in the summer here in Texas. I'm going to have to modify it, either add another coil in a bucket of ice that the water cools down in before it enters the chiller coil in the Anvil 10.5. dunno. It will be easier to chill the wort in winter.

 

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I cranked one of these onto my recirc pipe, then added a 1/2"NPT ball valve for flow control, then a 1/2" NPT to 1/2" barb off the other side with a hose clamp. It's probably overkill, but just sharing the idea.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HBYJJBR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Saunassa]

I have a immersion chiller from NB which has fittings like that and uses a stiffer plastic tubing and does not leak. Right now I added in a second hose clamp on each tube and it helps but still not perfect. I am thinking a trip to hardware store to buy longer stiffer tubing to clamp on and a pair of those pipe fittings too is in order.

 

[DarrellQ]

I do full a volume/no sparge mash on my 10.5 and was surprised the first time I used it as to how spot on the suggestions in the manual were. I never questioned them since.

One tip to get better mash efficiency... the Foundry has an inherent efficiency flaw built into the dimensions of the unit. If using the recirculation pump the water in between the malt pipe and the outer kettle sides does not get pulled into the pump. So when you pull the malt pipe at the end of your mash it is the equivalent of pouring plain water into your mash tun... it will dilute your mash and lower the SG. If you lift the malt pipe once or twice (I do twice) you can increase your efficiency from something near the mid 70% range to the low 80%'s

This is exactly what I do. I lift the malt pipe at the 20 and 40 minute mark of the mash. This improved the efficiency and flavor of my beer significantly.