a couple of questions

[Tomcat]

Done a couple of brews now, both got a good chill after boil with protofloc tablet at 15 mins from end of boil and so had a lot of break in them - First question

how do you syphon into the FV without picking all this up - no matter how i tried it would not settle to the bottom of the pot so ended up in the FV and after when bottling - a lot had to be left in the bottom of the FV so as not to get it in the bottles

next step was to make a mash tun out of a cooler box - lots of reading here and it went well, thanks guys some really good 'How to' articles - next brew used the tun and all went well as far as I can tell - its fermenting now - so 2nd question

when I used BIAB you add the grain to the water - read in Mr Palmers book that in the tun you add the water to the grain ?? why and does it make any difference ?

Any feedback very welcome, I hope to put up some pictures of one of the brews just as soon as I get my photobucket account sorted - again !

decided to go back to BIAB for a few more brews as I just procured one of these - http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0777569551

later a couple more then onto a 3 vessel shiney brewery and the Full Monty :

 

[WelshPaul]

In regards to the break being transferred to the FV, I don't worry about it too much. I have a tap on my boiler about 1 inch from the bottom so most of it ends up there, but anything that does make it through eventually settles down into the trub after a few days. If you are syphoning, are you using racking cane? That can prevent a lot of dense material from being picked up.

As far adding water or grain first to a mashtun, I have never settled on one over the other. Just be sure to preheat your mashtun (putting a kettleful of boiling water in 5-10 minutes before adding the grain does the job) and keep notes on your grain and strike water temperatures in order to fine tune the temperature that you will need to hit 67°C. I tend to find that if the grains are at room temperature and the mashtun has been heated, water at 74-75°C will do the job for me.

 

[jonnymorris]

how do you syphon into the FV without picking all this up

I think it would be more common to have a tap on your boiler with a filter on the inside. The hops can also act as an additional filter.

add the water to the grain ?? why and does it make any difference ?

Something about shocking the grain if you add it to the strike water rather than adding the water to the grain. I doubt it makes any significant difference or, in other words, there are far more important things to worry about.

 

[Tomcat]

thanks guys, no tap on boiler at the moment, yes used a syphon cane - will just have to practice more :)

I did warm the mash tun and the grain before and held a good temp across the 90 mins so was quite pleased with the insulation - wont worry about the water first or grain first - bit like the old Tea question milk first or water first i guess - personal choice.