My Cherry Popper.........

[clean brewer]

Hello all,

Well, on Monday 3rd November(MOVEMBER), this day will be my CHERRY POPPER" into AG brewing, im nearly ready to go, Mash tun is sorted, grain bill is sorted, brewing schedule is sorted, brew kettle is sorted.. Anyhow im good to go.. So, ill be surely posted the pics of my brew day, and a massive, massive THANKYOU to Mike(screwtop) for putting on a brewday(and beers) to see how it is all done(even on his herms) and for sorting out a couple things for me..... :icon_chickcheers:

More to follow, GO MOVEMBER......

 

[browndog]

Hope you have some insulation on the outside of your kettle Cleanbrewer or I think you will struggle to get a boil. Those coke can kettles loose heat at a tremedous rate.

good luck

Browndog

 

[Screwtop]

Have you boiled water in your kettle to test it CB?

Screwy

 

[kevo]

where can people see old mate's kettle??

Kev

 

[clean brewer]

Hope you have some insulation on the outside of your kettle Cleanbrewer or I think you will struggle to get a boil. Those coke can kettles loose heat at a tremedous rate.

good luck

Browndog

Have you boiled water in your kettle to test it CB?

Screwy

Just have to make a small modification to my stand that holds the pot and ill be able to test it this afternoon, did a little test this morning and all seems good, but as I said a little mod. and should be right..

Dont worry guys, im getting it sorted before I start tomoz, dont want any pre-brew issues, if all else fails ive got a nice 50ltr SS number ready to go with a hole drilled for a swap over..

 

[Bribie G]

Hope you have some insulation on the outside of your kettle Cleanbrewer or I think you will struggle to get a boil. Those coke can kettles loose heat at a tremedous rate.

good luck

Browndog

I'm going AG in a few weeks and had similar concerns about heat loss with an extended boil (I'm going 40L electric urn). What sort of insulation would you recommend and where would you source it ? I'd like something more professional looking than the ol' doonah :lol:

 

[browndog]

I bought a couple of those S/S 80L chinese pots to make an electric double batch rig. Just for a test, it put it in place of the kettle on my current rig and I filled out about 1/3rd full of cold water and fired up the nasa, the best I could get was a very low simmer if you could call it that. Because I am going electric, I don't have many issues with the insulation catching fire. I'm not sure what I'll use yet, there are some blokes over in WA using these pots, I'll have to get in touch with them and see what they are doing. As for your 40L urn, I do't think you will have any issues, these things are designed to boil right!

cheers

Browndog

 

[pjwhite5]

Good luck for tomorrow Clean Brewer you will be glad you started AG brewing, My first was a bit of a disaster but the beer still turned out really good, just about everything didn't go to plan.
now I have got 8 under my belt brewing, no.9 today

let us know how you go


Cede

 

[darrell.wallace]

I'm going AG in a few weeks and had similar concerns about heat loss with an extended boil (I'm going 40L electric urn). What sort of insulation would you recommend and where would you source it ? I'd like something more professional looking than the ol' doonah :lol:

I have insulated mine with some insulating foam i got from Clarke Rubber. It only cost me about 15-20 dollars and i have boiled without it and it took much longer and was by no means a strong rolling boil, so the foam does the job. it is easy to cut to size to fit your specific urn.

 

[clean brewer]

Well,

I can certainly see why you need to test out your gear before putting a first AG together(or any I guess).. :unsure:

A few issues I came across in the test!!

1. While the idea of using an 80ltr pot as a kettle sounds like a good idea, I found otherwise unless its set up properly(e.g needs insulating, need a bigger and/or powerful burner to heat it due to the mass surface area of the bottom, will boil if the lid is 2/3 covering the top of pot)... So changed kettles to a 50ltr keggle..
2. Dont use a car rim as a burner stand until you have got rid of the paint that it is painted with..(toxic)
3. Need a new Esky!!! Lost quite a bit of heat in my esky testing temp. stability, will have to put a cover on top of the grain after the water goes in to retain some heat in the mash and wrap the whole esky up in a sleeping bag.. Also found that my tap fitting etc was leaking quite a bit(dont want that to be wort), so will have to fix that up today..

I think that just about covers it, so a few things to fix up in the morning, brewday will hopefully still go ahead, just not as early as I hoped..

where can people see old mate's kettle??

Kev

Here: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=26798

 

[Goofinder]

• Need a new Esky!!! Lost quite a bit of heat in my esky testing temp. stability, will have to put a cover on top of the grain after the water goes in to retain some heat in the mash and wrap the whole esky up in a sleeping bag.

Grab a camping mat (or similar stuff, I got a piece of double thickness stuff from Clark Rubber) and make a piece that fits inside the esky. I've got a lot of empty space in mine (reasonably big esky, only 4-5kg grain) and the camping mat keeps the temperature a lot more stable.

 

[Screwtop]

Hey CB, you might find that there will be less loss with mash in the Esky, the grainbed holds temp reasonably well during the mash. Jay has an US manufactured cooler Mash Tun which holds temp well, less than 1 per hour. Obviously better insulation than the standard made in china types we get here. Used to wrap my my old cooler in a sleeping bag when brewing during winter, but never needed to during summer.

Good luck with the day.

 

[bonj]

I'm losing around 5 degrees over a 1 hour mash with my keepcool esky tun. I suspect the majority of that is through the top. I will be making a floating insulating lid to sit on my mash.... similar to what Browndog uses.

What type of burner are you using cleanbrewer? I found that the feet on my 3 ring burner sat perfectly in the centre hole of my 5 lug VW rims, and the feet provided enough separation from the actual rim to avoid burning paint (and rubber in my case h34r. I suspect your burner may be a little more powerful than mine. I also used bricks/pavers on the rims to sit the kettle on, which reduced the heat escape from the sides, and stood the kettle in the good heat spot from the burner's flame.

 

[clean brewer]

Hey CB, you might find that there will be less loss with mash in the Esky, the grainbed holds temp reasonably well during the mash. Jay has an US manufactured cooler Mash Tun which holds temp well, less than 1 per hour. Obviously better insulation than the standard made in china types we get here. Used to wrap my my old cooler in a sleeping bag when brewing during winter, but never needed to during summer.

Good luck with the day.

I'm losing around 5 degrees over a 1 hour mash with my keepcool esky tun. I suspect the majority of that is through the top. I will be making a floating insulating lid to sit on my mash.... similar to what Browndog uses.

What type of burner are you using cleanbrewer? I found that the feet on my 3 ring burner sat perfectly in the centre hole of my 5 lug VW rims, and the feet provided enough separation from the actual rim to avoid burning paint (and rubber in my case h34r: ). I suspect your burner may be a little more powerful than mine. I also used bricks/pavers on the rims to sit the kettle on, which reduced the heat escape from the sides, and stood the kettle in the good heat spot from the burner's flame.

Just Using a 2 ring(borrowed), it has 4 rings of flames though, need something bigger, its fine for now...

Okay,

Finally mashed in at 10.50am after fixing the leak in my Mash Tun and discovering the 20ltr urn I was going to use for HLT leaked like a sieve, anyhow, I hit my temp for mash-in(loved the smell) and now my Mash Tun is wrapped up snuggly in a sleeping bag out in the driveway in the sun.. Its a beautiful day and everything is good for now...

 

[Screwtop]

Just heading out, so checked the thread, still no updates. C'mon CB give us the blow by blow, on the days events, will be back home tomorrow night so will have to wait till then to see how you went.

Screwy

 

[clean brewer]

http://picasaweb.google.com/01waterfrontchef/1stAllGrainBrew#

Well hello all, since I have had no luck in posting in the GALLERY, above is a link to my brew day...

All went well and smooth after fixing a couple dramas this morning...

1. Mash tun
2. Mash In(hit temps nicely)
3. Coffee time, waiting to hatch
4. All wrapped up.
5. 1st runnings
6. Draining
7. 2nd run
8. Off we go..
9. Hop additions ready to go
10. Grain Bed
11. 1st Hop addition = 1st Beer..
12. No Chill
13. Trub

All went very well, day is too easy, no issues, hit final volumes, was a little down on gravity points due to Grain Bill being a little short but will test again once I put it in fermenter..

If someone can tell me how to upload into Gallery that would be great, I thought id done it a few times but never worked..

Go ALL GRAIN.. :beerbang:

 

[bonj]

Looks like you had a great brewday! Congratulations on your first AG! Just wait until you taste it. :super:

Welcome to the dark side.

 

[Effect]

nice pics mate!

good to hear that everything went well...

What did you brew? - I liked the idea of colour coded containers for hops! (not a bad idea that)

 

[clean brewer]

Looks like you had a great brewday! Congratulations on your first AG! Just wait until you taste it. :super:

Welcome to the dark side.

Yes it was pretty good, even though it was by myself, I like the idea of a brew buddy though and an excuse to get on it(after 1st hop addition of course), thats the problem Bonj, its hard to wait........

nice pics mate!

good to hear that everything went well...

What did you brew? - I liked the idea of colour coded containers for hops! (not a bad idea that)

Thanks also, I brewed Drsmurtos Golden Ale with a touch of Carared, sorry, but there was no intention of the colour-coded containers, just how it happened....

Cheers though.. :icon_chickcheers:

 

[buttersd70]

Good stuff, mate. Luverly clear runnings going into your keggle. :super: