[IBU] Building 10 Gallon System - Questions

Fri Jul 4 10:31:38 CDT 2008

Does the bazooka tube slip off for easy cleaning/scrubbing the kettle?  or
do you have unscrew it each time?
ADAM

On Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 12:03 PM, Rost Dave <drost1 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Andy,
>
> McMaster-Carr sells the stainless screen you're looking for.
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: "Cleghorn, Andy" <Cleghorn.Andy at principal.com>
> To: Mike Young <myoung at mikeserve.com>; Iowa Brewers Union <
> ibu at iowabrewersunion.org>; amesbrewersleague at yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Thursday, July 3, 2008 11:49:03 AM
> Subject: Re: [IBU] Building 10 Gallon System - Questions
>
> 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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-- 
Adam "Basscat" Draeger
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