'Stereo' brew test evening with pics

[morethanworts]

I moved two steps closer to my first AG brew of the millennium tonight, testing the evaporation rates in the two stockpots I'm going to use (tested with lid on and lid off) together, and then my 'stereo' wort chiller build. At the same time, I guess I'm checking that my kitchen gas rings can do the job.

First, 13 litres were measured into each 16 litre pot, raised to 66C (from our combi's output of just under that), time noted, and full gas until boiling. Took 20 mins (lids on) to get boiling from that point. One lid was then removed, the other left on, but with the gas turned to minimum, which still kept a rolling boil.

After 30 mins, the pot without the lid had lost around 700ml, while the other pot had lost (perhaps unsurprisingly) too little to be sure. So if I can get 13L of runnings and hops into each pot on brewdays, without boilovers when the hops go in, then I may hope to get roughly 11% loss in a 60 min boil to evaporation with the lids off. Time will tell how much this varies when it's not just water in there.

Then for the cooling test.

Thanks to Gray for the copper (which already had the coils in it) that he kindly gave me when I bought his old coolbox mash tun a couple of weeks ago :thumb: After a bit of amateur plumbing, I've got something which can cool water from boiling to 21C in 15 mins. I couldn't believe how well it worked. :party:

My stir plate is built, the conical flask is here, mash tun, the brewfridge has been used a few times already for kits now, immersion chiller is working... I must be getting close... :

 

[Fil]

Dunno about 2 steps closer looks like your ready to brew to me :) im intrigued by the two pot approach tho it looks promising, and might be a way to shorten a long brewday.. get a brew on what do you fancy for the inaugural brew ??

 

[jonnymorris]

...looks like your ready to brew to me.

+1.

Get a brew on.

 

[morethanworts]

Cheers both. Going to order some ingredients this week. I have a Belgian Tripel recipe from Asalpaws that's going in first, inspired by what I received in the summer bottle swap. I will keep the batch to around 19L, so i guess I will need to boil around 22L if the evaporation rate is similar to the water test last night.

I've got a bit more reading on yeast starters and harvesting to get clear in my head first: I want to get at least two brews out of a Wyeast pack. I've been getting backlog of kits though during the builds, so plenty of recent practice at the end bits.

Just one question. How should I get the cooled wort from the two pots into the FV, without disturbing any cold break? I don't have taps on them. Siphon? Jugs? Pour carefully - they're quite easy to handle?

 

[calumscott]

...looks like your ready to brew to me.

+1.

Get a brew on.

+1

Get a brew on!

PS. Did you know you can get hoselock Y pieces? You could split your input between the two coils rather than running the warmed coolant from one pot to the other and they should cool together. Run two tails for the outflow though so you can balance the two chillers easily. :thumb:

 

[jonnymorris]

You could split your input between the two coils...

Was thinking the same thing.

Re: getting your wort into your FV... Get a bigger pot with a tap. In the mean time, I'd be tempted to pour the wort from you boiler(s) into your FV via a seive.

 

[calumscott]

I siphoned my first one with a hop sock over the tube. Took a while but worked well.

 

[morethanworts]

Thanks. Siphoning seems the best way forward for now, then. :thumb: Perhaps I will order some more pipe off Vossy. I don't want to be waiting around with the tiny stuff I normally use, especially if it's got bits in it. Sock at FV end, or in the pot?

PS. Did you know you can get hoselock Y pieces? You could split your input between the two coils rather than running the warmed coolant from one pot to the other and they should cool together. Run two tails for the outflow though so you can balance the two chillers easily.

I actually ran that question on another thread a week or so ago, ie whether I should bother getting the extra fittings to connect the coils in parallel. The feeling from that was that it may not be worth it. I was also wondering whether the first pot (closest to the water supply) would cool down a lot quicker than the second. It would be no use to have one pot at 20C and having to wait for ages for the other one to get cold after it.

Seeing that I'd inherited one coil bigger than the other, it seemed to make sense to stick the smaller coil in the first pot, getting the water at its coldest, and giving the second pot a bigger coil albeit with warmer water going through it. In the end, the first pot was cooling ahead of the second by just 2 mins, so nothing to worry about. Even the second pot was down to 27C in 11 mins with both pots at 21C by 15 mins flat. If I discover I do need some extra power with the real wort, I know what to do though :thumb:

PS Am I better to grow the Wyeast first, and save half, rather than harvesting from primary, with such a high (~1.085) OG beer? Maybe the yeast would be too knackered.

 

[calumscott]

Thanks. Siphoning seems the best way forward for now, then. :thumb: Perhaps I will order some more pipe off Vossy. I don't want to be waiting around with the tiny stuff I normally use, especially if it's got bits in it. Sock at FV end, or in the pot?

Pot end, that way if it all gets a bit blocked you can give it a wiggle and get it running again.

PS. Did you know you can get hoselock Y pieces? You could split your input between the two coils rather than running the warmed coolant from one pot to the other and they should cool together. Run two tails for the outflow though so you can balance the two chillers easily.

I actually ran that question on another thread a week or so ago, ie whether I should bother getting the extra fittings to connect the coils in parallel. The feeling from that was that it may not be worth it. I was also wondering whether the first pot (closest to the water supply) would cool down a lot quicker than the second. It would be no use to have one pot at 20C and having to wait for ages for the other one to get cold after it.

Seeing that I'd inherited one coil bigger than the other, it seemed to make sense to stick the smaller coil in the first pot, getting the water at its coldest, and giving the second pot a bigger coil albeit with warmer water going through it. In the end, the first pot was cooling ahead of the second by just 2 mins, so nothing to worry about. Even the second pot was down to 27C in 11 mins with both pots at 21C by 15 mins flat. If I discover I do need some extra power with the real wort, I know what to do though :thumb:

PS Am I better to grow the Wyeast first, and save half, rather than harvesting from primary, with such a high (~1.085) OG beer? Maybe the yeast would be too knackered.

If you "top crop" from the initial ferment you'll get the most active and virile yeast, GA does it and gets so much you wouldn't even have to grow it on! I never seem to have the time to do that though. I'll be saving the crud from the current two brews which are getting bottled today and growing them up for the next ones.

 

[Papa G]

looks good. Good luck with your first brew with it. :clap:

 

[Fil]

Impressive chilling times, I struggle with a IC in a 23-25l final volume in a single pot to chill down in 25-30mins stirring constantly..

and the 2 pot approach give you a lot of flexibility with hopping too..

have a good 1st brew