I know that adding sugar increases the boiling point of water, but by how much? Searched the web and can't find an answer. Reason for asking is that a food grade Nylon 66 component I'm considering using in a BK is rated up to 110°C. Initially I thought that would give an adequate safety margin, but now wondering how hot sweet wort might get. I tend not to go bigger than SG 1.100. If it helps, assume the BK is …
I currently brew beer in my kitchen, but the mess, smells and dirty looks from my wife have taken some of the joy out of my brew day. I started looking into an electric brewing solution that would allow me to move to my garden shed and I need a little advice. I'm more than happy to drill holes in pots etc. but messing around with mains electricity is a little out of my comfort zone, so I'm looking for …
This technique http://imgur.com/a/dCvS5, shows how is easy to do permanent markings in stainless steel pot. But what about aluminium ? Does anyone know if it is possible (and safe) to use it in aluminium pots ?
I just did a 3 Gallon boil with about 100g of hops. It felt like I left a lot of wort in the brew pot when transferring to the fermenter. It was a struggle to keep the flow in the siphon due to all of the hops at the bottom of the pot. The gravity reading was a lot below target in the fermenter. How much of the wort should I be aiming to leave in the brew pot? What …
I have 2 10 litre cookpots; one of which I've been using for brewing. I've been working with an 8 litre boil and a 12.5 litre batch size. I want to purchase a 23 litre extract kit. The kit includes 2 x 1.5 litre liquid malt extract cans, along with steeping grains and hops. If I do an 8 litre boil I know I will have darkening of the work and lower hop utilisation. I don't really care too much …
Went to the brew shop and the owner helped me build a recipe for a brew in a bag. He said to steep the grains in 2.5 gallons, then heat up 4.5 gallons and add it to the 2.5 gallons for the boil. I only have a 4 gallon kettle. Can I just steep in the 2.5 gallons, then add more tap water to fill it up to 4 gallons, and then heat it up for the boil? Then add …
Some relatives recently gave me a 6-gallon aluminum pot that they no longer wanted. The pot was used to make homemade lotion. I've been needing a bigger brew pot, but money has been tight. I'm excited to get one for free! I've washed the pot many time and also boiled water in it with various combinations of cheap dish soap, vinegar, and a pinch of salt. (This was how I was advised to clean it.) I'm not concerned about metallic …
I'm about to make my first brew (from an extract kit), it's a 25litre batch (6.5us gal). Following John Palmer's advice I will be doing a partial boil. But the biggest pot I have available is 6litres (8qt). Can I do the boil in this pot, and top-up or should I forget the boil and just follow the kit instructions (add ingredients to 25l of hot water). What are my options? Edit: (after reading this question) if using pre-hopped extract, …
My boil kettle is about 56x85cm, so relatively tall and narrow. I get a good rolling boil but no matter how much hops I throw in in the last 5 minutes I can never seem to get any aroma whatsoever. I'm using a very large fine-meshed filter bag to through the hops into. Could the poor hop utilisation be due to the kettle shape and size, or more likely the hop back (bittering is fine)? Or otherwise, any other ideas? …
I'm completely captivated by www.theelectricbrewery.com, love their directions, and have ordered the parts, so I'll have my experience soon, but what is your experience with selecting hot water heater elements for boiling/heating? Edit: For anyone looking at this considering a move to electric, use the directions in www.theelectricbrewery.com as much as you can afford to. They ended up spending upwards of $5k on their whole setup, but their directions are really good, and you can make do with some of …
I am brewing with a 25l HLT, 30l Mash tun and 52l boiler. I am boiling 20l to 25l water in the HLT and losing some water during the Mash and Sparge. By the end of the sparge I am getting about 15l in the boiler. However I am losing lots during the wort boil, with my latest brew I ended up with less than 9 liters. Any ideas of ways I can stop the loss of so much liquid? …
i'm new to the brewing game and am currently waiting for a few whole grain brews to come of age. One thing i'd like to do is purchase a larger mash boiler and dedicate a bit of space in the shed for my 'micro-brewery'. What makes a good boiler? Where should I start? Any suggestions would be gratefully received! Rik
I'm planning an upgrade to my 5 gallon setup to do 10 gallon batches. In BeerSmith, I've created an equipment profile to estimate my pre-boil volume. Assuming 1 gallon evaporation per hour (I know this is high, but I'm being conservative), and 1 gallon lost to trub, BeerSmith tells me I will have a pre-boil volume of 13.46 gallons. I live in Canada, so my buying options are limited. This kettle is a good deal, but has a capacity of …
Family wants me to fry a turkey in my 14 gallon brew kettle. I'm all for fried turkey but worried about lasting effects on my kettle. Anyone have experience with something like this? Also open to suggestions on frying a turkey.
I am shopping for a brew kettle so I can upgrade to full volume boils. Many pots have ball valves. I can think of two reasons to use a ball valve Drain through it to avoid picking up the kettle to pour wort into the fermentor Transfer wort through a counterflow chiller I don't plan on doing either of these things any time soon, so it seems like I'm better off avoiding the extra complexity and possible leaks. Should I …
I am just getting ready to do my first batch. I have all I need except a descent pot. I found a 12quart used stainless pot on Kijiji and was hoping it would be sufficient for half-boils of 5gal batches. 12 Quart is just a little over 3 gals, and I presume a half boil is 2.5gals. If I keep a close eye on the pot to prevent over-boils, would it do? What are your thoughts?
I have what I think is a GoldenGate style keg. It's got a bunghole, a tapped hole on top and another near the base. I want to mount a electric hot water heater element in the base hole. The base hole is 1.5" in diameter and the thread is 2" and ~.07" between threads. Optimally, I'd get a reducer bushing, but I can't even find a thread size that matches these dimensions. Suggestions?
I've had the same 10G aluminum BK since I started AG brewing, about 4 years and 70 batches. I recently left my copper IC in it for a few months and think I may have corroded the aluminum, so it may be replacement time. I am considering stainless steel, but want to know any advantages it brings for just about double the price of aluminum. I should mention that I brew in a bag in this vessel (my bag was …
I'm thinking about buying some a HUGE Blue food grade steel drums, which is either painted or enameled.If I correctly modify them, will these be okay for FV, Mashing Tubs, Boil Kettle, Strike Boiler? My concern is they are 205 liters / 45 Gallons