Blackened
Well-Known Member
Well that left a lot to be desired....
A few notes here on today's batch. Feel free to tear apart any of my possible solutions to some of the problems I had :unsure:
Oh and ghetto, in the sense that it's all mismatched, bits n pieces that have been collected over the years.
Decided not to give the RIMS a stress test for it's maiden batch, so I used it to heat the strike water and only then added the grist.
Grist was nothing special, 5kg ale malt and 500gm crystal. Milled by G&G.
Problems:
All in all, a day of learning.... even with the problems I'm pretty chuffed that I have an all-grain batch in the fermenter once again. B)
A mate dropped in for a look too. He's not a brewer at all, his old man did it once waaay back. Dump n' stir. Crap results. Gave it up. I haven't converted him just yet..... he's waiting to taste the end result.
Cheers!
A few notes here on today's batch. Feel free to tear apart any of my possible solutions to some of the problems I had :unsure:
Oh and ghetto, in the sense that it's all mismatched, bits n pieces that have been collected over the years.
Decided not to give the RIMS a stress test for it's maiden batch, so I used it to heat the strike water and only then added the grist.
Grist was nothing special, 5kg ale malt and 500gm crystal. Milled by G&G.
Problems:
- 3L/kg not enough. I need to take into account the volume "lost" to tubing and HX etc. Also maybe displace some of that volume, aquarium pebbles under the false bottom? To hold it up but allow flow? Can't really displace much volume anywhere else except maybe a small portion of the RIMS tube, but that would be difficult and only gain me a coffee cup worth maybe.
- Pump is a bit OTT. Needed to close the tap to keep flows slow enough. I'm intending to automate the flow rate at some point so I guess I should think about some sort of pump speed control (240v) or servo valve.
- Temperature control was ok, but the controller code could be improved to reduce over/under shoot (using home-grown micro-controller)
- 60mins of recirc during mash was going fine, then the pump started sucking air. Need to get a BIAB bag to contain the grist rather than the cheese cloth I used. The cloth got clogged up eventually and air was getting sucked in between the cloth and the side of the tun. I should also switch off the RIMS once target temperature is achieved. No need to tempt fate. The mash tun is an insulated cooler so doesn't loose much heat at all.
This next was just stupid of me, I never put any volume markings on the kettle, and with all the messing around with the stuck sparge, I settled for what I believed to be 26-27L pre-boil (75mm from the top). Turns out I got 18L into the fermenter DOH! I'm thinking of using my HLT as a kettle (bigger volume but square so can't whirlpool) and use the smaller kettle as HLT.
- Plate chiller mounted on hinges below the kettle worked well to easily remove trapped air and get a good quick chill
- The smell!!! Malt boiling, hops added, aroma hops added.... :super: Hell yes! Take that neighbours.
- New perspex cover on mash tun kept the heat in but let me see what was going on.
- Despite all the problems, the taste is ok. Sg was a little under but not massively so.
All in all, a day of learning.... even with the problems I'm pretty chuffed that I have an all-grain batch in the fermenter once again. B)
A mate dropped in for a look too. He's not a brewer at all, his old man did it once waaay back. Dump n' stir. Crap results. Gave it up. I haven't converted him just yet..... he's waiting to taste the end result.
Cheers!
