Well, after taking an involuntary leave of absence from brewing (having a first born son... WORTH IT) this past Saturday, I had my first brew day.
First yay me moment: putting together a functioning keggle!
Second yay me moment: using a piece of PVC to mark the volume of liquid in said keggle, from the level of the ball valve, so I can get the correct amount of wort during the sparge.
Third yay me moment: Measuring the dead space in the keggle to just a hair over 1 gallon.
So the third yay me moment is actually my first whoops. I marked the PVC stick from the valve level, and not the actual volume... It's came to bite me in the ass, as my post boil of was 1.074, which surprised me a lot. I was shooting for 1.090 for a big malty IIPA. It was after the wort was chilled and I was about to overflow my 6 gallon fermenter that I realized that I had gather closer to 7.5 gallons....
You know, I thought the final runnings from my sparge MIT have looked a tad on the clear side...
These last two are key
First yay me moment: putting together a functioning keggle!
Second yay me moment: using a piece of PVC to mark the volume of liquid in said keggle, from the level of the ball valve, so I can get the correct amount of wort during the sparge.
Third yay me moment: Measuring the dead space in the keggle to just a hair over 1 gallon.
So the third yay me moment is actually my first whoops. I marked the PVC stick from the valve level, and not the actual volume... It's came to bite me in the ass, as my post boil of was 1.074, which surprised me a lot. I was shooting for 1.090 for a big malty IIPA. It was after the wort was chilled and I was about to overflow my 6 gallon fermenter that I realized that I had gather closer to 7.5 gallons....
You know, I thought the final runnings from my sparge MIT have looked a tad on the clear side...
These last two are key