The Dudes Brewday

[HisDudeness]

Ok so please excuse the hubris but I feel like I need a brewday thread so I dont need to keep opening new ones every time I brew, plus I am now using a new set up and thought it might be useful for anyone looking at moving on from stovetop or BIAB to see how a sort of mini 3 vessel set up works. At the same time if anyone wants to chip in and suggest improvements to my current method please do...

Anyway first brew is a wakatu based pale, nearly a single hop but bittered with some leftover topaz. I posted the recipe idea on another thread but here is the version I am currently brewing, upped the topaz a bit to account for them being a bit old.

 

[HisDudeness]

I got a BIAB set up from HBC a little while ago then built a mash tun and just recently decided to add a homemade boiler so I could use a basic mini 3 vessel set up. It does seem to speed the process along a bit and reduce the need for transferring and moving hot wort so I like it so far. Here is the set up being used:
The extra FV is holding water that has been treated and is going to be used for the batch sparge.

 

[HisDudeness]

Step 1 is measuring out total water and then treating with CRS as I have quite hard water and a half camden tab to dechlorinate, switch on the top bucket (HLT) and then weigh out the grain. I have started using luggage scales and a stock pot as its not possible to weigh out this much on the kitchen scales!

 

[HisDudeness]

Mashing in with 14L aiming for 65*, strike temp of 72* hits it pretty much bang on

 

[HisDudeness]

First wort hopping and a chance to see the innards of the DIY boiler, I decided to use a vertical bazooka tube with a SS mesh around the base. This is mainly intended to help with pellet hops, it works quite well but still struggles to filter out the last dregs. Should be fine with leaf hops though. I used 2 elements (1 1.5kw and 1 2.4kw) I switch on the 1.5kw when I start sparging to get the wort heating up then switch on the 2.4kw as well when I have drained the last of the sparge this means I can hit a rolling boil very quick. The 1.5kw needs switching off at this point though as it will start throwing liquid over the side with both running at full chat. The 1.5kw turned copper coloured after I used it the first time (not sure why, hope thats OK!!).

 

[Notlaw]

Looking good HD. Also looks like you're pulling a night shift tonight. Gonna be a late one.

 

[HisDudeness]

Draining the mash onto the hops after 1 hour, I measured mash PH at 10m in and was pleased to see that it was sat at 5.24 so treating the water is doing something at least.

 

[HisDudeness]

Looking good HD. Also looks like you're pulling a night shift tonight. Gonna be a late one.

Its all good the brew shed is also the bar :thumb: :mrgreen:

 

[HisDudeness]

Doing a double batch sparge with roughly 10L each time, nearly got to 75 on first batch and nearer 77 on the second. I find I need the water almost boiling in the HLT to hit these temps in the mash tun once I have drained and stirred in to the mash. I give each batch a good stir leave for 15m stir again then recirculate and drain to the boiler.

 

[cheapbrew]

Is this live now? you about to boil?

 

[HisDudeness]

Nearly at the end of sparge 2 and then the full batch coming up to boil.

 

[HisDudeness]

Is this live now? you about to boil?

Boil just done steeping FO hops now at 80*. :whistle:

 

[HisDudeness]

SH*T its cold tonight think I need another beer! :lol:

 

[Dutto]

SH*T its cold tonight think I need another beer! :lol:

The joys of late night brewing eh?

Missus in bed, neighbours asleep and sat in a shed/garage slowly getting pissed in aid of a good cause.

Life don't get any better do it?:thumb:

 

[HisDudeness]

The joys of late night brewing eh?

Missus in bed, neighbours asleep and sat in a shed/garage slowly getting pissed in aid of a good cause.

Life don't get any better do it?:thumb:

You couldn't have described my current situation any better, except maybe for the slowly part! :wink:

 

[HisDudeness]

Wort chiller worked quickly this evening! Rehydrating the US05 and nearly ready to pitch....

 

[HisDudeness]

Chucking the wort into FV from a height to get it nicely aerated, managed to hit target volume and exceeded OG by quite a margin. An unexpected jump in efficiency, I am going to put it down to some additional stirring mid mash which I dont normally do and otherwise process was exactly as normal when I almost always hit 70% efficiency. At 1.046 I am looking at 77%ish, might have to do a bit more stirring during the mash from now on.....

 

[Dutto]

Looking good! :thumb:

All you need to do now is to clean everything before you go to bed.

I've tried leaving things for the Tidy-up Fairies but the little beggars just won't work nights. In fact, sometimes I think that they don't even exist! :whistle: :whistle:

 

[HisDudeness]

Looking good! :thumb:

All you need to do now is to clean everything before you go to bed.

I've tried leaving things for the Tidy-up Fairies but the little beggars just won't work nights. In fact, sometimes I think that they don't even exist! :whistle: :whistle:

Yeah I ended up leaving the tidy up for today and still no sign of those cleaning fairies! Chickens are doing a good job of cleaning up the spent grain though

 

[Motorhomebrew]

Some fine egg producing chickens I bet