I've been brewing for just a couple months. I just finished my second beer and I have two more extract kits in the wings and then I think I am going to start cobbling together my own recipes. First two beers were fairly successful, but I am starting to try to plan ways to upgrade my "operations" to improve efficiency and quality. This is what I have currently:
60qt brew pot (just a regular stainless pot I got off of Amazon)
5G Bucket (Primary)
5G Better Bottle (Secondary)
Bottling bucket
Immersion wort chiller
I currently do about a 4G boil, which takes several hours because my gas stove struggles to get that much water up to boiling. Then I chill in an ice bath with the wort chiller, takes about 15-20 minutes. To transfer the wort I am just doing the "vigorous dump" Palmer describes. I pitch the yeast, have vigorous fermentation within about 12 hours. I leave it in the primary for about 1-2 weeks (closer to 2 usually) and then transfer to the secondary for another few weeks. Then add priming sugar through bottling and bottle condition for another week or two.
My questions:
- I am interested in keeping a fairly compact setup because I live in a loft in the city and space is at a premium. Keeping that in mind, where do you think my best upgrades are at? i.e. where could I get the biggest return for my investment, either in efficiency or quality? I was thinking about getting one of those banjo propane stoves and doing the boil on the balcony. Also, what about some version of an inline chiller? If I did that, would I need to add more equipment to oxygenate the wort before pitching?
- I know I am exposing the beer to potential contamination and oxygenation when I move from primary to secondary fermenter (I just pop the lid and syphon into the better bottle), is there a better way to go about this that keeps the system closed (or more closed)?
- Is there a better way to get the wort from the kettle to the primary other than just dumping that might help with clarity (or other attributes)? Should I think about installing a valve in the kettle?
- Is there a reason to get the bottles into the fridge immediately when I think they're ready? Will this help the yeast go dormant and hold the flavor profile or do I not need to worry too much about getting them in the fridge immediately?
Thanks in advance for your help. I'm loving this so far and I can't wait to refine this process and start cranking out even better quality beers more efficiently and consistently.
60qt brew pot (just a regular stainless pot I got off of Amazon)
5G Bucket (Primary)
5G Better Bottle (Secondary)
Bottling bucket
Immersion wort chiller
I currently do about a 4G boil, which takes several hours because my gas stove struggles to get that much water up to boiling. Then I chill in an ice bath with the wort chiller, takes about 15-20 minutes. To transfer the wort I am just doing the "vigorous dump" Palmer describes. I pitch the yeast, have vigorous fermentation within about 12 hours. I leave it in the primary for about 1-2 weeks (closer to 2 usually) and then transfer to the secondary for another few weeks. Then add priming sugar through bottling and bottle condition for another week or two.
My questions:
- I am interested in keeping a fairly compact setup because I live in a loft in the city and space is at a premium. Keeping that in mind, where do you think my best upgrades are at? i.e. where could I get the biggest return for my investment, either in efficiency or quality? I was thinking about getting one of those banjo propane stoves and doing the boil on the balcony. Also, what about some version of an inline chiller? If I did that, would I need to add more equipment to oxygenate the wort before pitching?
- I know I am exposing the beer to potential contamination and oxygenation when I move from primary to secondary fermenter (I just pop the lid and syphon into the better bottle), is there a better way to go about this that keeps the system closed (or more closed)?
- Is there a better way to get the wort from the kettle to the primary other than just dumping that might help with clarity (or other attributes)? Should I think about installing a valve in the kettle?
- Is there a reason to get the bottles into the fridge immediately when I think they're ready? Will this help the yeast go dormant and hold the flavor profile or do I not need to worry too much about getting them in the fridge immediately?
Thanks in advance for your help. I'm loving this so far and I can't wait to refine this process and start cranking out even better quality beers more efficiently and consistently.