Bought a 19l stout kit from CML. Wow their customer service is second to none. After much reading but alas not enough I went with a 3 tiered BITB set up. I modified a cool box to use as the sparge box with soldered top spray arm and non soldered grain filter. I used push fit elbows and plastic 15mm pipe to enable cleaning.
So, what went wrong?
When I put the bag in the Boiler/Mash tun I was stirring the grains every 10mins and lifting and dunking the bag just like a tea bag, not sure is this is good or a no no?
After 60mins I attempted to lift the bag out and place it in the cool box ready for sparging. Looking back I should have had a hook in the garage roof so I could at least let it drain. Transferring this hot heavy bag is not without mess!
Is it recommended to squeeze the bag at this time?
When I dropped the bag in the box it immediately started to drain over my feet! Even when positioned over the boiler, while sparging the drain being straight leaked all over the bench rather than flowing into the boiler below. (I have since modified it with an outlet tap and a bent spout)
To adjust the sparge flow I simply used a flexible hose clamp on the supply hose as the hot liquor tank valve was a simple on/off.
When I had achieved my preboil volume I wasn’t sure again if I was allowed to squeeze the bag to extract the remaining goodness?
Next snag I encountered was that the second hand boiler I had bought for the job did not get hotter than 80 deg. (Now fixed by insulating the sensor probe away from the bottom, plan to add an inkbird or similar soon). Luckily the hot liquor tank I had been lent also doubled as a boiler albeit of a smaller size. I was then forced to transfer the wort between the two, you can imagine the mess.
Once I had the wort boiling and luckily not overflowing, I remembered I had not checked the preboil SG. During the sparge process the on/off tap had worked a treat, now after I had drained a sample off for a hydrometer reading the tap had a continual leak! Matters were compounded as the expected reading of circa 1060 was 1027. Assuming I had lost so much wort during the sparge I thought the only way to save the day was to add sugar. Guess what, all I kind find in the kitchen was less than 300 grams. As it was now 10.30pm and I had started this at 6pm I just threw it all in thinking I could buy some the following day.
As I have not made/acquired a cooling coil I drained the wort at the end of the boil into the FV, sealed the top with an airlock and left overnight to cool. (I have since read that it’s important to cool rapidly as the cold break has an effect on the proteins?) Next morning the FV was still very warm so was left until the evening to add the sugar. In the evening after work I read the now cool wort’s SG before adding sugar and to my complete surprise the SG was 1060!
Final question, I am aware you have to compensate for Hydrometers that are calibrated at 20C. As I was so far off with the reading taken during the boil, is there a point at witch they don’t work?
Surprisingly I did enjoy the process, just hope the end results are better than kits. Shame it may turn out to be 19 litres of “falling down juice”
Mike W.
So, what went wrong?
When I put the bag in the Boiler/Mash tun I was stirring the grains every 10mins and lifting and dunking the bag just like a tea bag, not sure is this is good or a no no?
After 60mins I attempted to lift the bag out and place it in the cool box ready for sparging. Looking back I should have had a hook in the garage roof so I could at least let it drain. Transferring this hot heavy bag is not without mess!
Is it recommended to squeeze the bag at this time?
When I dropped the bag in the box it immediately started to drain over my feet! Even when positioned over the boiler, while sparging the drain being straight leaked all over the bench rather than flowing into the boiler below. (I have since modified it with an outlet tap and a bent spout)
To adjust the sparge flow I simply used a flexible hose clamp on the supply hose as the hot liquor tank valve was a simple on/off.
When I had achieved my preboil volume I wasn’t sure again if I was allowed to squeeze the bag to extract the remaining goodness?
Next snag I encountered was that the second hand boiler I had bought for the job did not get hotter than 80 deg. (Now fixed by insulating the sensor probe away from the bottom, plan to add an inkbird or similar soon). Luckily the hot liquor tank I had been lent also doubled as a boiler albeit of a smaller size. I was then forced to transfer the wort between the two, you can imagine the mess.
Once I had the wort boiling and luckily not overflowing, I remembered I had not checked the preboil SG. During the sparge process the on/off tap had worked a treat, now after I had drained a sample off for a hydrometer reading the tap had a continual leak! Matters were compounded as the expected reading of circa 1060 was 1027. Assuming I had lost so much wort during the sparge I thought the only way to save the day was to add sugar. Guess what, all I kind find in the kitchen was less than 300 grams. As it was now 10.30pm and I had started this at 6pm I just threw it all in thinking I could buy some the following day.
As I have not made/acquired a cooling coil I drained the wort at the end of the boil into the FV, sealed the top with an airlock and left overnight to cool. (I have since read that it’s important to cool rapidly as the cold break has an effect on the proteins?) Next morning the FV was still very warm so was left until the evening to add the sugar. In the evening after work I read the now cool wort’s SG before adding sugar and to my complete surprise the SG was 1060!
Final question, I am aware you have to compensate for Hydrometers that are calibrated at 20C. As I was so far off with the reading taken during the boil, is there a point at witch they don’t work?
Surprisingly I did enjoy the process, just hope the end results are better than kits. Shame it may turn out to be 19 litres of “falling down juice”
Mike W.
Of course! It's not like the beer police will come a-knocking.
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