learning experience - 1st allgrain brew.

[Islandboy85]

Yeah, I just did my first allgrain brew. WOW, there is so much to improve on my equipment. The mash tun would not keep my mash temp well even with adding a lot of water per Greenbayracker's calculator. Grrr. I guess three beach towels isn't enough insulation. I need a second burner and a pump to make good use of that 15 in false bottom. Until I get a pump maybe this should be done indoors with that metallic bubble wrap insulation instead of my apartment balcony,
I also learned that recirculation and sparging without a pump and fly rig is also a pain. I used a big piec of tinfil to try to disperse the flow of recirculating wort and sparge water. It needs some work to say the least.
One of the biggest messes I wound up with was draining my kettle believe it or not. I had used pelleted hopps...oye what a mess. My dip tube has about a half an inch clearance to the bottom center of the kettle. I used a stainless scrubby as a filter as I"ve seen some people do here. Bad idea. I chilled, and whirlpooled then began draining. It clogged before I had one pint collected. I had to sanitize my hand and reach in to get off the scrubby and wound up with a lot of trub and hopps in my fermenter. Should I shorten the dip tube to be closer to he edge of the pot, bend it so it's off to the side, or cut it for more clearance to the bottom center of the keg?
If you could offer any advice to help improve my equipment I'd be grateful.
Can't wait to do this again. It's an experience.

 

[rockytoptim]

About the dip tube, you could get a bazooka screen which goes on your dip tube or use a paint strainer bag to put the hops in when you boil so you won't have to worry about the hops clogging your dip tub. I wouldn't worry too much about hops and trub going into the fermenter. I have made many a batch that I just dumped everything into the fermenter and pitched my yeast. They all came out good beers. Currently I use a bazooka screen in my boil kettle

Bazooka screen in my BK

 

[Islandboy85]

Oh yeah. I forgot about bagging the hopps. That;ll save a lot of time come cleanup.

 

[TXCrash]

If your budget allows, a false bottom works awesome with pellet hops. Here's the mess from 8 oz of centennial hops and 11 gallons worth of hot/cold break. Wort came out crystal clear and I had minimal volume loss to crap at the bottom.

 

[Islandboy85]

I didn't know if it would catch pelleted hops. I thought it would just catch regular whole hops. What size false bottom do you have? What size holes does it have?

 

[TXCrash]

The false bottom I have is a 15" folding false bottom. I have one false bottom from jaybird and one from climax homebrew. They are made from similar material but I'm far more satisfied with the build quality of the one from jaybird (see his thread for comparison pictures/ comments). The one pictured is the one from climax.

Monday was my first run with the false bottom in the boil kettle - did two ten gallon batches and the false bottom performed flawlessly at straining out the pellet hops.

 

[Walker]

About the dip tube, you could get a bazooka screen which goes on your dip tube

Bazooka screen in my BK

I have one of these and it clogs almost instantly with pellet hops every single time I brew.

 

[hippielink]

Do you have any problems with carmelization boiling with the false bottom?

 

[Catt22]

I use a pie plate type FB in my converted keg to block the hop debris. Here's a pic with some of the debris scraped away so you can see the depth:

The FB will become clogged and can significantly inhibit the flow. This can be an issue when pumping through a chiller and back to the kettle in a loop which I do for a psuedo Jamil whirpool technique. A lot depends on the quantity of hops used and whether they are pellet, whole or a combination of both. The first pic is with pellet hops only.

So, my solution is to circulate until the flow rate slows then I lift the edge of the FB with an attached rod (actually a piece of 1/4" copper tubing) to restore flow. I would say about 98% of the debris remains caked on the FB with only minor amounts making it into the fermenter.

Here's a couple of pics of the lift rod. It's attached to the edge of the FB with a small SS sheet metal screw and hooks over the rim of the kettle when in use:

I'm using a DIY CFC that has 1/2" ID pipe to carry the wort so there's no concern about plugging with the minor amount of debris that makes it through. This might not work with a plate chiller. My goal was a very high flow rate for rapid chilling and a good whirpool effect. It's working out very well for me.

I have had no caramelization issues when using a FB in my boil kettle. I brew a lot of light lagers and also some light ales where a problem with caramelization or scorching would be very obvious.

 

[TXCrash]

I haven't noted any issues with carmelization with the false bottom, but I've only used it one day and those beers are in the fermenter. I didn't note any off flavors in the wort from either batch. I'd also been unable to brew at home for a few months and made a few changes to my system since the last brew. All I know is that the false bottom is the change my system needed (it was clogging with hops, I'm not big on boiling nylon in my beer for an hour).

 

[Islandboy85]

I have the Climax 15 in FB for my mash tun. I was just thinking...(Bad idea) does a hop bag inhibbit the hopps at all as opposed to letting them float freely about the kettle?

 

[Catt22]

I have the Climax 15 in FB for my mash tun. I was just thinking...(Bad idea) does a hop bag inhibbit the hopps at all as opposed to letting them float freely about the kettle?

You will likely get opposing opinions on this question. I believe that both hop bags and the PVC paint strainer thingy negatively affect hop utilization. I just brewed two consecutive 12 gallon batches of a big IPA with a buddy and we used his paint strainer bag gizmo with about a pound of hops in each batch. This should be a definitive test for the paint strainer bag if there ever was one. Time will tell in a few weeks when I rack it to the kegs. Each batch will be receiving two ounces of bagged pellet dry hops in the primary after it finishes out. I am expecting this to be appropriately bittered with a full flavor and aroma hop character. If not, the evidence will be heavily against the use paint strainer bag. We did a very rapid chilling, so that should not be an issue. I have high hopes for this beer. I'll report back down the road with the results.

 

[Islandboy85]

Sweet. That will be great to hear your results.

 

[DustBow]

+1 just switched to hop bags and made a suspended hop sack too but haven't tasted any of the brews yet. be sure to let us know your opinion when you get to taste your IPA's

 

[Catt22]

+1 just switched to hop bags and made a suspended hop sack too but haven't tasted any of the brews yet. be sure to let us know your opinion when you get to taste your IPA's

I will be sure to do so. At least one of these IPA's is destined for our biggest club competition coming up in late August. I will post my evaluation way before the competition, but I will also follow up with the competition feedback. I brewed these with two objectives in mind. In addition to the upcoming competition, I have a side bet with one of my buddies that I can make a better IPA than he can. We have chosen some specific club members to judge only our two beers head to head at our camp out in September. I'll have to hold some back for that get together. I'm pretty sure I can tea bag him on this one. Hop bag him at least!

 

[Sawdustguy]

You will likely get opposing opinions on this question. I believe that both hop bags and the PVC paint strainer thingy negatively affect hop utilization. I just brewed two consecutive 12 gallon batches of a big IPA with a buddy and we used his paint strainer bag gizmo with about a pound of hops in each batch. This should be a definitive test for the paint strainer bag if there ever was one. Time will tell in a few weeks when I rack it to the kegs. Each batch will be receiving two ounces of bagged pellet dry hops in the primary after it finishes out. I am expecting this to be appropriately bittered with a full flavor and aroma hop character. If not, the evidence will be heavily against the use paint strainer bag. We did a very rapid chilling, so that should not be an issue. I have high hopes for this beer. I'll report back down the road with the results.

Well Catt, you are a man of your word. You said you would give it another try. I really hope it works out for you. I never detected a decrease in hop utilization. It will be interesting to see if you detect any. It's cool that you are using a third party judge because that should give you a fairly high confidence level either way. I hope your finished product tastes great.

 

[Sawdustguy]

All I know is that the false bottom is the change my system needed (it was clogging with hops, I'm not big on boiling nylon in my beer for an hour).

I don't use nylon paint strainer bags. I use 50 micron polyester water filter bags that are rated to 300 degrees. Literally no hop debris gets out of the bag but the hop oils easily permeate the bag. No off flavors at all and I can not detect a decrease in hop utilization.

 

[Catt22]

Well Catt, you are a man of your word. You said you would give it another try. I really hope it works out for you. I never detected a decrease in hop utilization. It will be interesting to see if you detect any. It's cool that you are using a third party judge because that should give you a fairly high confidence level either way. I hope your finished product tastes great.

Update on the two IPA batches brewed using the paint strainer bag contraption. Here's my evaluation using all pellet hops and nearly a pound in each 12 gallon batch:

1. I'm convinced that the paint strainer does reduce hop utilization considerably.
2. The more hops used, the worse the utilization.
3. Late addition hops suffered the most as they get the least exposure as the circulation through the bag is inhibited by the earlier additions (FW & Bittering).

The finished beer is pretty good, but considering the quantity of hops used, I would have expected more bittering. Much the same only more so for the late addition hops.

The bottom line for me is that the paint strainer works and it works best for early addition hops. The more hops you add to the bag, the more restricted the circulation becomes and this can be detrimental to the hop profile. Now then, I will brew another similar batch soon using only my FB as the hop strainer and see what differences I can detect in the end product.

 

[Islandboy85]

Well, my folks came to town this past week, so my dad and I sampled my first all grain AHB American Barley Wine.... YUMMY!!!