Zapap MLT

[magno]

I will soon have two batches of mead tying up my fermenters for some time. I was going to buy another plastic bucket for temporary use as a primary in the mean time, and later convert it into the inside buucket of a zapap MLT. As I have not done any AG or really any PM brews, I have a couple questions first:

How much grains can be held in one of these contraptions, along witth he necessary water? What kind of gravities can I expect with this amount of grain?

I will still have to boil in two pots on that apartment stove, how should I add my hops? half in one pot, half in the other, or all in one pot, and none in the other?

Thanks,

- magno

 

[sonvolt]

As for the amount of grain, you will be able to get a lot of grain into a 5 gallon bucket . . . enough to make pretty much any beer that you would want. Your problem will be keeping the bucketed mash at the right temp for the full length of your mash. You will need an insulating blanket of some sort.

As for the split boil and hops question, you need to remember that hop utilization gets worse as the gravity increases. So, let's say you put your first wort runnings into one kettle and your second running into the other kettle, your first kettle's wort will be a higher gravity wort. You will get less hop utilization out of that batch than the lower gravity batch.

It I were doing this, I would get a kettle big enough for a full wort boil. If this was absolutely impossible, I would use the opportunity to make two smaller batches of beer. You could combine your wort so that you have equal gravities. Then, you could hop each half differently and ferment seperately with different yeasts. This process would really give you an opportunity to understand different yeast strains and hops, etc.

 

[magno]

I definitely plan on insulating the bucket. I was thinking about using some packing foam for this.

Since I am currently only doing partial boils using extract and steeping grains, I am already experiencing lower hop utilization. Maybe I would be better off adding hops only to the boil with the later runnings. This would at least give me better utilization right?

I would love to get a turkey fryer setup, but that is not in the cards right now. Until then I dont have a way of bringing 5+ gallons of water to a rolling boil, even if I could procure a pot.

The thought of making similar beers with different yeast and/ or hops is appealing, and has crossed my mind, but that would require an investment in a couple of three gallon carboys. That purchase will probably be made before a turkey fryer, but will still have to wait.

Unfortunately, for now I have to try to be as economical as possible (while continuing to brew). I think that I can stretch that to include the cost savings of going AG. I know it will not be the most effective way of doing it, but I think Im making baby steps...

- magno

 

[Beer Snob]

As far as the hops go here is what I have been doing. When the get enough wort in the first pot I put it on the larger burner so it can start boiling. Soon as it starts boiling I add the bittering hops. My last brew I fly sparged so by the time I had enough wort in the second pot the first one had been boiling for some time with the bittering hops in it. I had the second pot on for about 15 min before addeding aromatic hops for about 10 minutes. This is basicly how it was described on the site I was following, but he added all his hops to the first pot.

http://www3.telus.net/sockmonkeysandbeer/beer/HowIBrew/howIbrew.html