Tips for transferring from pot to carboy

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dukesbb37

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Hey guys, ive given up on the bucket and dumping straight from the pot to the carboys... For my first try i attempted to siphon it all and my racking cane kept getting clogged with crap. Even with the black tip thingy

Next i tried pouring it in my funnel... but i do full boils and 5 gallons of wort was too hard to pour with one hand (i had to hold the funnel with the other)

Anyone have a technique for either 1)siphoning without clogging. or 2) something to hold the funnel still ?
 
You can put cheese cloth on the end of your autosiphon and/or whirlpool then siphon. Search for the technique and it work well.
 
Whirlpool. Basically, just stir the heck out of the wort in a circular motion until the hop and break material settles into the center of the pot. You'll be able to siphon around the outside.
 
Drill a hole in your pot and put a weldless valve in your pot. Does not cost a lot and it will work.
 
Throw a grainbag in if you're doing 5 gallon batches. Easiest, cheapest way I've found so far.
 
Whirlpool. Basically, just stir the heck out of the wort in a circular motion until the hop and break material settles into the center of the pot. You'll be able to siphon around the outside.

This is exactly what I do. I rarely ever have a problem with a clog. Just stir in one direction and get the wort moving really good then cover it for 30 min. All that crap just settles into the center.
 
Install a valve, use a hop sock and whirlpool, this will help dramatically. I try not to remember my days of siphon use sans hop socks.
 
Hey guys, ive given up on the bucket and dumping straight from the pot to the carboys... For my first try i attempted to siphon it all and my racking cane kept getting clogged with crap. Even with the black tip thingy

Next i tried pouring it in my funnel... but i do full boils and 5 gallons of wort was too hard to pour with one hand (i had to hold the funnel with the other)

Anyone have a technique for either 1)siphoning without clogging. or 2) something to hold the funnel still ?

Why have you given up on the bucket? Many of us use the buckets and make very good beer and we find it easier to pour the wort in, easy to collect a hydrometer sample, and easy to clean. Buckets come with nice carrying handles and don't require emergency surgery if we happen to drop one or pout wort in that isn't cool.
 
Add a ball valve and make it a kettle. It makes brew-day so much easier (at least for me it has). Use quick-connects/disconnects on the ends of the valves, and what they lead to and it's even easier. I have those on all my brewing hardware from the keggle mash tun to the March pump, plate chiller and even HLT. I also have ball valves in the mash tuns I made from coolers (one is being used by my brew-buddy, looking to sell the larger one).

BTW, having a ball valve installed for the brew kettle (or boil kettle) also opens up using either a CFC or plate chiller to cool the wort. Not something you can do with a siphon.

BTW, RM-MN, I also gave up on buckets, and carboys, for my beers some time ago. I've migrated to sanke kegs. IMO, so far better than either glass or plastic fermenters that it's not even funny. Plus, the two built-in handles makes it very easy to carry/move them.
 
Drill a hole in your pot and put a weldless valve in your pot. Does not cost a lot and it will work.

What if i just got a regular valve from home depot and smeared some JB weld over the threads...

I figure if JB weld can hold up to car engine heat it can handle boiling wort right?
 
What if i just got a regular valve from home depot and smeared some JB weld over the threads...

I figure if JB weld can hold up to car engine heat it can handle boiling wort right?

Well there's debate about the food safe aspect of JB weld. The weldless bulkheads work very well and use high temperature O-rings to seal. If you don't have a step bit to drill the hole you can get fairly inexpensive ones on Amazon or eBay. Most weldless bulkheads use a 7/8" hole. You can use them on aluminum or SS kettles.
 
Yeah ive been reading the debate... it looks like it really might be fine... theres tons of people that have used JB weld in their brewing applications without ill effect. However, i think many more people have decided the 20 bucks you save isn't worth it haha.

Anyone ever try a soldering iron?
 
Well there's debate about the food safe aspect of JB weld. The weldless bulkheads work very well and use high temperature O-rings to seal. If you don't have a step bit to drill the hole you can get fairly inexpensive ones on Amazon or eBay. Most weldless bulkheads use a 7/8" hole. You can use them on aluminum or SS kettles.

Can you get weldless bulkheads from hardware stores like Home Depot and Lowes? I'd like to do this to all of my kettles...
 
I put a weldless bulkhead with ball valve on my aluminum pot, drilled with a cheap spade bit. One Of the best investments I've made, it works great. I have a small length of tubing on it with a pin hole that aerates as it transfers. Beautifully simple and effective.
 
What if i just got a regular valve from home depot and smeared some JB weld over the threads...

I figure if JB weld can hold up to car engine heat it can handle boiling wort right?

I wouldn't do it. For one thing, do you KNOW if JB weld is food safe at boiling temperatures (the metal will be much hotter on the outside of the kettle)?? Plus, with a threaded fitting, you can take it apart to clean/replace easily. With the JB, it's probably not going to come apart too easily.

I've used brass, one piece, valves before since they were cheaper. But I've since moved to all stainless steel 3-piece valves. You can get those for about $20 each (or less if you hunt around a bit, or wait for specials). Depending on what you're going to put on the inside of the kettle, you could just go with a NPT nipple and lock nut to secure it (plus a couple of silicone washers/o-rings). Put some teflon tape on the threads and you should be leak-free.

Depending on where you go to purchase the hardware, you could get a valve installed for under $30 (all the hardware, plus shipping). That's with just the ball valve, nipple, lock nut, and o-rings and such. If you want to have something else inside the kettle, connected to the ball valve, then that will be extra. I used the above mentioned configuration in my two aluminum kettles with solid results.

Personally, I'd use a hole cutter made to go through metal. A hole saw is rather cheap in the 7/8" size you'll need. Or you could get a step bit that has that size in it's range (usually a bit more expensive though).

I seriously doubt you'll find any/many that used something like JB weld to hold the valve in place.
 
I would go with this setup...

Keg weldless bulkhead kit
Go with the 3 piece stainless ball valve, you won't regret it. $33.99 It's all you'll need to install the ball valve in any pot (depending on the wall thickness, you might need to use a longer NPT nipple, contact them if so) and make it a kettle. With the bulkhead inside, you can attach other items to the setup, such as a dip tube, mesh screen, or whatever else you want.

You could go a bit cheaper with this one, for $28.99.. I wouldn't cheap-out on this part though. Consider it a one time purchase, for the life of the kettle. That is, IF you go stainless. I didn't on my initial kettles, and then replaced the brass one on one of them with a 3 piece stainless valve. So I ended up spending more in the long run, by going cheaper in the short run.

IMO, you can't go wrong with the 3 piece stainless valve. Plus, I have yet to hear of anyone regretting getting that valve at any point. At the most, you hear about people wishing they had done it sooner, or not gone with a one piece valve first, before changing over to the 3 piece.
 
What's the best way to leave the crud in the boil kettle if you put a valve in it? I'm thinking about putting one in my 8 gallon pot for now till I get my 2 sanke legs cut...what do you use to leave the break and hop materials behind?

I want to start washing my yeast but don't want 4 inches of traub...
 
I use a hop spider for my hops, which helps to cut way down on trub. I also use a plate chiller (recirculating first, then right through to fermenter), but don't get a ton of material left in the kettle. I also have/use a Blichmann 10 gallon kettle, where the dip tube leaves a bit behind.

You could make the $10 strainer ball (from a stainless tea ball) like is posted on the boards (is pretty recent). That should help you to leave a good amount behind.

To clean my SS kettle, I use PBW and BKF to clean it. Does an excellent job of cleaning it out that way.

If you harvest the yeast, you can separate the trub from the yeast pretty easily. Just might take another transfer, or two, to get to mostly yeast in the jars. I did harvest yeast a while back, but since I'm working again, I can afford to use fresh yeast.

I wouldn't worry about hot/cold break material if it was me. I almost never see any trace of that left in the fermenter in my batches (and not much is left in the kettle). I would just find a way to keep the hop matter out of the fermenter for batches you plan to harvest the yeast from. Although since I use the spider, I'm keeping a large percentage of the hop matter out of the fermenter in my batches.
 
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