Hello,
I have returned with a topic I require some assistance on. There may be some folks here who can help!
I am returning to Home brewing under the strangest of ways. I do a historical reenactment and I am looking to start to brew in a 8 gallon, cast iron cauldron. I will be teaching basic fundamentals of all grain brewing in teh form of demos/classes. It will be a BIAB mash/Boil in teh cast iron cauldron, ferment inside a full sized firkin for 2-3 days then transferred to a pin. Where it will finish out and carb up at teh same time. The only style of beers that will be made this way will be wheat beers as they are the only beer that can be done in under 7 days with minimal equipment. I am not looking to do full decotions or decotion style brewing it has to be a class not a career!
Before I get the barrage of "Don't brew in cast iron" replies. I want to drop some knowledge...
Before metal alloys like aluminum and SS brewers used copper and before that cast iron; some over open fires just like I plan to do . These vessels were NOT seasoned normally with fats and oils and were only used to brew and boil water.
From what I gather they had hard water or made hard water to boil it down to intentionally cause the lime/lime scale to form deposits on teh unseasoned cast iron which seasons it. Lime is pretty tough to remove it takes a very highly acidic thing to remove it like hydrocoloric acid, with a ph of 1.1. Wort will never be that acidic unless something goes horribly wrong but would this leech lime into the wort?
The Japaneese have used CI kettles to boil water in to make tea which they now know changes the ionic properties of the water which alters the aroma and mouthfeel of the tea! Some may use a special lacquer for this to season teh kettle. I am really not looking to go this route as it would be costly and difficult to do.
The issue of the iron leeching into the liquor and wort seems to be dealt with with izinglass from some old brewing papers I found. I am looking to use Biofine P109 which contains IZ. It seems the IZ will cause the excessive iron to also drop out?
So what am I looking for? More info and more input! Am I wildly off base? Am I destined to fail? Is there another way to season the unseasoned CI Cauldron? Literally any info beyond "Don't use CI to brew" will be greatly appreciated!
I have returned with a topic I require some assistance on. There may be some folks here who can help!
I am returning to Home brewing under the strangest of ways. I do a historical reenactment and I am looking to start to brew in a 8 gallon, cast iron cauldron. I will be teaching basic fundamentals of all grain brewing in teh form of demos/classes. It will be a BIAB mash/Boil in teh cast iron cauldron, ferment inside a full sized firkin for 2-3 days then transferred to a pin. Where it will finish out and carb up at teh same time. The only style of beers that will be made this way will be wheat beers as they are the only beer that can be done in under 7 days with minimal equipment. I am not looking to do full decotions or decotion style brewing it has to be a class not a career!
Before I get the barrage of "Don't brew in cast iron" replies. I want to drop some knowledge...
Before metal alloys like aluminum and SS brewers used copper and before that cast iron; some over open fires just like I plan to do . These vessels were NOT seasoned normally with fats and oils and were only used to brew and boil water.
From what I gather they had hard water or made hard water to boil it down to intentionally cause the lime/lime scale to form deposits on teh unseasoned cast iron which seasons it. Lime is pretty tough to remove it takes a very highly acidic thing to remove it like hydrocoloric acid, with a ph of 1.1. Wort will never be that acidic unless something goes horribly wrong but would this leech lime into the wort?
The Japaneese have used CI kettles to boil water in to make tea which they now know changes the ionic properties of the water which alters the aroma and mouthfeel of the tea! Some may use a special lacquer for this to season teh kettle. I am really not looking to go this route as it would be costly and difficult to do.
The issue of the iron leeching into the liquor and wort seems to be dealt with with izinglass from some old brewing papers I found. I am looking to use Biofine P109 which contains IZ. It seems the IZ will cause the excessive iron to also drop out?
So what am I looking for? More info and more input! Am I wildly off base? Am I destined to fail? Is there another way to season the unseasoned CI Cauldron? Literally any info beyond "Don't use CI to brew" will be greatly appreciated!
