Chopps Brewdays

[chopps]

Galaxy and Simcoe is a great combo!

Was thinking of maybe a citra dry hop but I might just leave it 'simple'.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

The recipe I got from somewhere had Tiaheke hops as bittering and the aroma hop. Wrong thread.

 

[chopps]

Brew Day!

Done this one before, Vacant Gesture from Harrisons
I've made this one before and it is pure Mosaic loveliness - Vacant Gesture from Harrisons. Double dry hopped blonde ale. Aiming for 23 litres at 26 IBU, EBC 7 and OG 1.037. It's a good job it's only 3.8% abv as it's very drinkable. All set!

The grain bill is nice and simple - pale malt, wheat malt and cara 30.

The hops are Challenger and Mosaic

Bit of a splashy mash in, sorry you can't see the grains for the foam...

And the temperature nicely settled in, just a touch over where I wanted it, but close enough.

Need to adjust the offset in the controller, as it's reading 1 deg C out. The mash was actually 65.5C at this point.

Lift and drain. Not so bad today with just a few kilos but this is a pain in the bum with bigger brews.

Mash target of 1.032 reached in 60 minutes

And up to boiling. Heath Robinson extraction system. Don't laugh, it works :) Hops in, smells ace.

Time to chill.

Part 2 follows...

 

[chopps]

Very happy with this, the perspex makes it look hazy, but it was nice and clear.
Was aiming for 1.037. Very very close. Happy bunny.

Trying to get every last drop today. Planned for 23L, got an extra 3L

Slightly warmer than the controller said once in the FV, but at 22C I pitched yeast anyway.
It will be down to 19C in no time. Using WHC LAX yeast.
Should be OK. (Famous last words...?)

 

[Object]

Where did you get the cart mate? I've built an almost identical system to yours and I'm struggling for space. Only differences with mine are that I went for a 3kw element (living on the edge ) and I have a counterflow chiller. I'm using a 50l brewbuilder pot.

 

[chopps]

@Object I got it here, but it was £32.59 and now it's £105.
There are loads of different brands online, but they're all the same just a different box.
Check the dimensions - mine is W950xD500xH950

 

[Object]

Perfect mate, cheers. Just auto-tuned the controller today and tested my recirc. Using a pigtail in the lid just now but not that impressed. Going to move to the cone I think.

 

[chopps]

Is your 3KW element a 1.5 Tri Clamp?

 

[Object]

Yeah

This is the element I use

 

[chopps]

If you can share where you got it, we're all square :)
I can only find 3.5KW and 2.5KW in 1.5"TC.
I can get 3KW in 2"TC but that means drilling the pot again, and I don't fancy that idea.

edit: saw your link now. That's not a tri clamp fitting. Might have to do...
Cheers

 

[Object]

Im also using 2.5mm H07RN-F cable to prevent overheating

RUBBER CABLE 3 CORE 2.5MM H07RN-F HEAVY DUTY CAMPING POND OUTDOOR HO7 EXTENSION | eBay

 

[Object]

Ah my bad, yeah its 2 inches, sorry. I think you'd be fine with 3.5kw. Controller doesn't even get warm using 3kw.

 

[Object]

If you can share where you got it, we're all square :)
I can only find 3.5KW and 2.5KW in 1.5"TC.
I can get 3KW in 2"TC but that means drilling the pot again, and I don't fancy that idea.

edit: saw your link now. That's not a tri clamp fitting. Might have to do...
Cheers

You buy the screw on tri clamp fitting separately. Im not sure if this fitting would fit that element but my 2 inch one does.

Fitting

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Hi all,

I recently built a new set-up, so thought I'd start to document some brewdays here. I hope some things may be of interest to others.
I'll make the first post about the equipment that I'm brewing on, and then actual brewdays and photos in following posts.

My first all grain set up was an all-in-one Guten/Ace/Hopcat/Brewdevil etc clone that really got me brewing regularly as they're just so user friendly.
But what I really wanted was a Clawhammer Supply system, as I'd watched a lot of their videos and really liked the look, ease of maintenance and upgradability.
And it's what all the cool kids have :)

View attachment 41830
However... Their 10 US Gallon version is $899 (not so bad...) but as I would have to import if from the US, you can add 20% VAT, $199 shipping, 3% duty plus the usual UPS/Fedex Fee.
That $899 USD becomes £1200 GBP. It's a great system, but I don't think £1200 is good value.

So I sold my other system and made one instead.
Please say hello to my new friend, the 'Poorhammer' 56 Litre Brew in a Basket System.

View attachment 41831 View attachment 41832View attachment 41833 View attachment 41834

The system consists of :
56L (15 US Gallon) Stainless Steel vessel
Stainless recirculation lid nozzle
2500W Dernord Tri-Clamp element
MP-15RM stainless head pump
Inkbird IPB-15S PID controller and temp probe
35cm x 35cm 300 micron stainless steel mesh basket
Stainless hop spider 300 micron
Copper immersion chiller

I bought the vessel un-drilled and added a 1.5" Tri Clamp bulkhead for the element, along with 3 x 22mm holes for the ball valve, temperature thermowell and spray nozzle.
All of the wet connections are QD type, and the controller is exactly the same as the Clawhammer controller, who use the same Inkbird but with a custom fascia.

The controller is usually advertised as 120V AC and the outlets on it for the pump and element are 120V US type sockets, as well as the power cord, but the unit is in fact designed to run 120/240V.
You need to remove the US style RCD/GFCI plug and replace with a UK plug, taking care that you still have an RCD breaker having done this.
I opted to not butcher the unit by adding IEC/kettle outlets and bought some US cables to rewire the pump and element instead.
Using UK mains, the unit is rated at 12A so that limits the element power. I chose a 2.5KW element for that reason.

If anyone is interested, let me know by DM and I can send the full parts list.
Also for anyone thinking of doing this, unless you really like sitting in a cold shed drilling holes for a whole day buy the vessel pre-drilled or with ports welded on.

First brewday to follow...

DOn't know how I've managed to miss this thread in the past - fascinating!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Actually, this is the second brew on my new kit. The first brew was a test run and I didn't take photos or document much, I was too busy checking for leaks and fiddling with settings. So this is the first proper brew #2

Oatmeal Stout
OG 1.052 EBU 34 and 5.3% ABV
Batch Volume 30.21L
Pre Boil Volume 33.21L
Based on my kit and expected efficiency and losses (all guesstimates) my bill is this :

4.82kg Maris Otter
680g Rolled oats
600g Medium Crystal
300g Chocolate Malt
300g Roasted Barley

30.6g Styrian Goldings
25.3g East Kent Goldings
25g Fuggles
10g Bramling Cross

Not 100% sure where I got the starting recipe from as it's been in my Brewfather recipes for ages, but I did fiddle with the hops as I wanted to use up some bag-ends

Ingredients
View attachment 41836

Some water additions - Gypsum, Epsom salt, Calcium Chloride to bring my rather empty water up to where a stout should be.
View attachment 41837

First problem encountered - there is no water level gauge on this vessel. Must have forgotten that minor detail when I built it...
So a quick calculation and some GCSE maths, I worked out that each 1 cm of depth gives me 1.2318 litres of water.
Note to self - add a level gauge.

Doughing in went a breeze, plenty of room there. Note that I'm doing a full volume mash and no-sparge just because I can now and couldn't before. That's why it might look a bit thin. So for a 6.7kg mash in 38.58 litres it looks like this.
Wouldn't want to go much higher than this to avoid boilovers.
Second note to self - don't go over 43L for the boil.
View attachment 41838

After about 10 mins, took a quick peep and a sample for pH.
View attachment 41839

Close enough.
View attachment 41847
After 60 mins I was still a bit below my target, did an iodine check and all good. At 60 mins gravity was short of target at 1.043 vs the 1.047 that I thought I would get to. But this brew really I'm still getting to understand my efficiency. I extended another 15 minutes from the planned 60 and got to 1.045. Close enough. I can set my mash efficiency to 70% with what I learned today.

Then forgot to mash out. Never mind.

Lift and drain for 20 minutes while the wort comes up to boil temp.
Resisting the temptation not to sparge ...
View attachment 41840

Here's the shrapnel. Straight into the garden composter.
View attachment 41841

In another post I showed a cooker hood modification that I made, if you're wondering what the big hose is for.
I also took this opportunity to clean the cooker hob to my wife's high standards.
Boiled for 60 mins, hops all in at 45. I recirculated the wort into the hop basket periodically. No idea if that works to improve utilisation but I did it anyway :)
View attachment 41843

1/3rd of a protafloc in at 15 mins along with the disconnected chiller, then at 0 mins pulled and drained the hops and started to cool down. Took about 35 mins to get to low 20's C which allowed me time to reassemble the hob burners and start to clean some bits up.

View attachment 41844

Drained to the FV at 20c, shake aeration then yeast in. I filled the FV to 23L and had another 3L of good wort, so some adjustments to starting volumes need to be made. I hate tipping out.

View attachment 41845

So. As I write we are bubbling nicely.

Final Numbers :
Target OG 1.052 - Actual 1.050
Target Volume 23L - Actual 23L + 3L spare
Target mash efficiency 73% - Actual 69.9%

Learns :
You can't adequately measure water volume in litres in the vessel with a Stanley tape measure and GCSE maths.
Protafloc clogs the hop filter.
Crocs with holes in the tops are great for burning your feet with drips of 100 C wort.
For no-sparge, 7kg brain bill maximum to ensure comfortable kettle space.

Cheers

you've got the same pH strips as me :-)

 

[dcbrookes]

Have you tried using your big basket as a hop spider, rather than the usual size one you have? I don't like my hop spider as the utilisation rate seems a bit unpredictable, and I am wondering if a full size basket would work as well as just bunging the hops in?

 

[chopps]

No, not tried that. I just chuck hops in loose these days and have a bazooka behind the outlet tap. One less thing to clean!

 

[Object]

@Object I got it here, but it was £32.59 and now it's £105.
There are loads of different brands online, but they're all the same just a different box.
Check the dimensions - mine is W950xD500xH950

Sorry to bother you again. Can I ask how you mounted your pump to the cart?

Cheers

 

[chopps]

The pump is screwed to a wooden batten under the shelf.
There's a lip on the edge of the steel where it folds under and if you cut the batten to the right length you can tap it in.

 

[samale]

Very happy with this, the perspex makes it look hazy, but it was nice and clear.
Was aiming for 1.037. Very very close. Happy bunny.

View attachment 53059

Trying to get every last drop today. Planned for 23L, got an extra 3L
View attachment 53060

Slightly warmer than the controller said once in the FV, but at 22C I pitched yeast anyway.
It will be down to 19C in no time. Using WHC LAX yeast.
Should be OK. (Famous last words...?)

View attachment 53061

Is that the all rounder fermentor. I am thinking about getting a pressure fermentor so I can do closed transfer of my hoppy beers