[IBU] Building 10 Gallon System - Questions

[Cleghorn, Andy]

I would like to hear what you come up with as I have not found a good
solution.  I really need to since I have not been able to find any deals
on leaf hops.  I have a plate chiller and have been using a pie pan
false bottom in the boiler.  If I have at least 2oz of leaf hops, I can
use as many pellets as I need.  I do recirculate mainly to sanitize the
chiller and to set a bed of leaf hops over the screen to help filter.  I
recirc for about 5 minutes or so without any cold water and then about
another 10 minutes with the water on to catch some of the cold break in
the kettle.  It isn't necessary to do that to get the temp down, I can
run from boiling right to the carboy and be chilled far enough.  If the
ground water is really warm I put an immersion chiller in a bucket of
ice water and pre chill my cold water before it goes into the plate
chiller.  I have only done this a couple times in the summer.
 
I have tried screens and other mesh to filter the stuff out, but haven't
had much luck.  I had a stainless scrubber that looked like a Chore Boy
and connected that onto my drain, but it had a tendency to plug up.  We
stuck 10 gallons of barley wine once that had about 20oz of pellets in
it.  With that and the hot break their was about a foot of gunk in the
bottom of the kettle.  I ended up using a racking cane and taking it off
the top.  Not fun.  I have never plugged up the chiller.  I back flush
when done then recirc boiling water through it.  I have an older one
that is thicker.   I don't think it is the Shirron.  I could not heat
sanitize it because it has some plastic around the edges.  Like the
threads, the plates are sharp and the plastic helps to keep from cutting
yourself.
 
March pumps work pretty well.  I have had a few.  I still have a brass
one, but the plastic ones seem to hold up to the boiling temp ok.  They
are a bit brittle and if you are not careful you break the pump housing
so mounting it securely in an out of the way spot is a good idea.  They
are not water tight, so don't put it in a place where it could get water
with out some type of cover.  If it is under a burner I would put on a
heat shield, too.  You do need to get to it to oil it occasionally.
They will push quite a ways, but won't lift a foot.  Put it at the
bottom or you will have priming problems.  The valve may be handy, but
all you have to is either take the discharge hose off or lower it down
to get the liquid to push the air out.
 
Two things I would do differently with mine.  Mine has a higher hot
liquor tank and then the mash tun and boiler on the same level.  I added
a couple inches of space between the tun and the boiler, but didn't do
that between the tun and the liquor tank.  The burner from the liquor
tank is too close to the top of the mash tun and it gets very hot.  It
sounds like your configuration will be different, but just be aware of
how close things are together.  Mine doesn't make a lot of difference
unless I am doing back to back brews.
 
The other thing is about the quick connects.  I have the 1/2 NPT and
female quick connect mounted on the kegs and the pump and then the barb
male fittings on the hoses.  If I was going to do it again, I would go
the other way.  1/2 male NPT quick connects and barb females.  The
female fittings stick out too far from the kegs and I have broken a
couple.  Also the females cost more and you use less of them if you put
them on the hoses.
 
 
If anyone knows of a place that would sell that super fine S/S screen
like the Hop Stopper uses, I would be interested in buying some and
experimenting.

________________________________

From: ibu-bounces at iowabrewersunion.org
[mailto:ibu-bounces at iowabrewersunion.org] On Behalf Of Mike Young
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 1:42 PM
To: Iowa Brewers Union; amesbrewersleague at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [IBU] Building 10 Gallon System - Questions


After brewing three 5 gallon batches of beer in the last three days,
I've decided that I need to build a 10 gallon all-grain brew system.
I've got a couple kegs that are waiting to become my hot liquor tank and
boil kettle and I just ordered two Bayou Classic SQ14 burner stands w/
burners today from Amazon that I've read will support a keggle just
fine.  I'm planning on putting my hot liquor tank and boil kettle
directly on the burners and building a wooden stand to elevate my mash
tun cooler above the boil kettle so I can gravity feed my wort into the
boil kettle.  I'll mount a march pump on the bottom of the wooden cooler
stand and use that to pump my hot water into the mash tun.  I was also
planning on using the pump to push my wort through a Shirron chiller
(not purchased yet) to cool it down.  That being said, I've got a few
questions to ask my fellow brewers:
 
When using the Shirron chiller, what type of pickup tube do you use so
the chiller won't get clogged?  I use pellet hops exclusively, and have
seen several different options that I could use (whirlpooling, Hop
Stopper (too expensive), and a hop bag).  The idea of a hop bag seems
nice, but I don't really want to give up hop utilization.  whirlpooling
seems nice as well, but I've read several posts online where people have
problems.  I've seen several people that just use a piece of copper
tubing directed at the side of the kettle and pinched slightly.  What do
you guys use that works well for you?
 
Also related to the Shirron chiller, do you have to recirculate the wort
back to the boil kettle to chill it down, or do you find that just
running it through the chiller and straight into the fermenters works
well for you?  I'll probably do some initial testing when I get my
system built, but it would be nice to know what to expect.
 
I'd also like to know what everyone's experience with the March pump as
been.  From what I've read, you want the pump to be below the liquid you
are planning on pumping since it isn't self-priming.  I found the
following link which explains add a little valve that makes it easier to
prime.  I think that's probably what I'm going to do:
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1456549408053500498HeldvV
 
I think that's about all the questions I've got for now.  If anyone has
any helpful hints I'd be glad to hear them as well.


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