First brew back after 9month sabbatical

[troopa]

I over did it just before my 3rd son was born and did 2 doubles and a single in the one day.. since then i CBF brewing + life got in the way.
Any way, time to jump straight back in with a double

9.5kg JW pilsner
600g Light crystal
600g caramalt

40g of galaxy at 60min

Funny i just re-reread that and realised it was supposed to be amber malt instead of the crystal. Oh well its going to be a little heavy on the bready side

I brew BIAB in a 60L electric pot
43L mash in
8L added to boil
3L (6 total) added to each fermenter

Aiming for about 65% mash eff

I used to dunk sparge in second pot to do doubles but too damn lazy these days and would rather take the hit on efficiency and increase the grain bill to compensate

Its good to be back into it but trying to find BIAB bags, clean pot, lost my ruler, realise im outta gas in my big bottle and now my arms sore from mashing in a double and still have to lift the bag out when im done. Im starting remember why I took so long to get back into it

 

[Dan Pratt]

40g of galaxy at 60min

Not to be on the negative side but....40g of Galaxy at 60mins.....really?

Can you bitter with something else and use that for flavor or even better just fro aroma/dry hopping.

P.s glad your back on the slope.

 

[troopa]

Low on hops right now
Usually I would use magnum but thats all gone

 

[troopa]

10 mins into the boil and the KK element jsut started to smoke from the rear

 

[pk.sax]

Commiserations. Yo'veu got a burner hopefully? Or go get one from BCF. Or an over the side element.

 

[troopa]

nope nothing spare.

 

[pk.sax]

Could always cube it (10 minute boil...) and fix the heating issue and reboil.

 

[troopa]

Not a shabby idea.

Any one using one of these from cheeckypeak or have a better solution?

http://www.cheekypeakbrewery.com.au/index.php/sprit-making/stills?route=product/product&product_id=453&search=element

 

[willo69a]

I got my element and controller with fittings from still dragon. They are very helpful. I think they are in Tamworth
Cheers willo

 

[Yob]

Sadly don't see punkin on here much these days

 

[Kingy]

5star distilling have awesome element setups. Extremely happy and feel safe using them. Wish I'd got them from the start.

 

[troopa]

I looked at dragons elements a while ago and completely forgot about them this time around.
I ended up buying the 2000w element of cheeckypeak this week and will report back how it compares to the Kegking element in both single and double bactches.
One thing i am hoping that i can achieve in going back to to a copper coil element is being able to brew wheat beer reciepes as i always found the that i was burning crap onto the kegking elements including a basic golden ale recipe

 

[troopa]

Well i have the new element in the pot doing a leak and ramp test with 35L of water. Water temp was at 15deg going in and it ramped to 26deg after a stir at 10mins so a tad better then 1deg a min

With the length of the element being shorter then the keg king but wider there is a some dead spots in the pot that need stirring to even out but that was the same with the kegking element.
So far im happy enough to go straight to a double batch tomorrow and see how it fairs with 10kg of grain ramping for mashout. I can see some limitation with it but for a quick plug and play and no wiring required i can see this as a better option to the kegking product and a better build quality for a similar price.

 

[pk.sax]

I'd have to remember that if I were going electric 2.5v (possible eh...).

 

[troopa]

Not that this is related to all grain anymore but..
Double batch Brew day today with the new cheeckpeak 2000w element.

42L of water. Higher OG because i no chill into 17L cube and top up to 21L to ferment (And it helps with volumes in my 60L pot).

22mins to go from 65deg to 75deg mash out.

55mins from 75deg to boil.

All up just over a 2min / deg ramp time which i found to be very comparable to the kegking element and with a very safe temp on the rear of the element/plug not getting hot.
You could maybe push this to a reduced triple batch in a 90L pot but you will be pushing your brew day times out significantly.(Edit.. At 40mins into the boil i wouldnt push a triple. It is enough to get evap rates in a double but I doubt it would get close in a 63L volume boil)

For those like me with 3 young kids that dont want to use gas for saftey reasons i still think this a great plug and play option. It took a total of 5mins to push the element through and tighten the socket up and your away brewing.
The element could even fit in a 19L BigW pot to get new starters that BIAB out of the wifes kitchen (I use a stainless mesh stand inside the pot to raise the bag off the element)

Not affiliated with Cheeckypeak at all im just happy to find a different solution to the kegking style element