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Post #3 made 10 years ago
by mally
Nice set up Pist!

Great hop sock too
G B
I spent lots of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I squandered
I've stopped drinking, but only when I'm asleep
I ONCE gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life
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Post #4 made 10 years ago
by pist
Thanks mate. The hop sock works well, it allows the hops to stay nice and loose. I think from memory it was one of the large ones that craftbrewer stock.

Post #5 made 10 years ago
by PistolPatch
Great pics pist and welcome to the forum :party:,

Nice job on everything :thumbs:. Here's a few things that might help...

If your three ring burner slows down, clean the holes out with a drill bit. Mine seemed to work fine for the first two or three brews and then lost it. I cleaned the holes out and also bought a variable regulator and since then (6 or 7 years ago) have done no more maintenance. They are great burners.

Check your kettle tap regularly. Do a search of posts done by me that include the phrase 'nostril test'.

Mally likes your hop sock and it does look great in the pic but in real life it is much smaller than it appears. I still have that hop sock pist (the large one) but haven't used it in years. What I do now is use my BIAB bag. I suspend it so that it hangs lazily in the boil and it works a treat. The bag provides a lot more surface area/non-constriction. I'd really have to do a few side by side brews though to see if there is an issue here. There probably isn't but my BIAB bag works better for me :scratch:.

Looks like you have silicone hose there - nice! And the only hose to use where any sort of high temp is involved.

Don't rely on your thermometer probe too much during the mash. Unless you stir the mash, the temperature can read quite wildly different depending on where you put the probe. So, always give a stir and temp check when you can.

Where to put the probe on or in a fermentor is also bit of a juggle :). So many things that factor in here. I have one 'inactive' probe sitting right in the middle of my fermentor using a keg dip tube. This gives me a good idea of what is happening inside the fermentor. My 'active' probe, the one that actually controls the fridge, just sits in the fridge. This stops the fridge from going berserk if that makes sense. You can also move that probe higher or lower depending on what stage of fermentation you are at to control how often/quickly it activates. For example, at the beginning of fermentation it is best to hang it high so as it cools things down faster. After active fermenation, moving it down to mid-fermentor height makes more sense.

Two probes are better than one I reckon ;).

Good stuff pist and thanks again for the excellent pics. Great to see you found your way here :peace:,
PP
Last edited by PistolPatch on 15 Aug 2013, 19:16, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #6 made 10 years ago
by pist
Thanks for the pointers PP appreciate it. Will take it on board and see how I go. With the burner, ive done 2 batches and it seems to have quite a bit of soot over the top, so I'm going to have to consider doing what you have I think. Would a medium pressure variable reg be ok? They seem to be the most common type that HB stores stock. I do make sure I pull the BV apart completely after every batch.

I've seen what a fermenter tap can end up like if you dont clean them, and honestly after putting the effort in to mash a batch I dont see any reason not to clean your kettle tap after every use either.

Ill certainly try putting the hops in my grain bag. I had issues with my first batch (an APA) not turning out as hoppy as I hoped...possibly this could be the issue?

Good points about the probe in both the fermenter and mash too. Ill certainly keep that in mind.

It was definitely cold enough in the shed at that particular time to not put the FV in the fridge so I left it off and just fermented it on the bench. I'm drinking that particular batch now, and aside from the lower hoppiness im stoked with it!

Thanks once more for the pointers, I'm sure I'll have loads more questions...Next weekend will be just my 3rd batch so ive still got alot to learn!

Post #7 made 10 years ago
by Aces high
Those 3 ring burners always get sooty, plus all the paint will burn off and it will end up a nice rusty colour just like mine. I wouldn't worry to much, just blow some air through occasionally and all the soot and rust comes out.

Ive never been able to get all the burners burning blue, there is always a bit of yellow flame, which means the LPG is not burning completely, which means soot. Either way it will still boil a 50L keg just fine.

I like your keg and lid design, I wish I had thought to do that when I was cutting my first keg.

Post #8 made 10 years ago
by pist
Yeah ive seen many people cut a large round section around the top. This didnt make much sense to me as the bag would catch on the edges. If you cut around the very top weld you get the same volume out of it anyway...theres not much space between the top of the dome in the lid and where i cut so youre losses in volume are very minute...and being so open theres nothing to catch your bag on when you pull it. I used 4 pieces of 50x3 aluminium flat bar for the retainers on the lid as they have enough spring in them to slip nicely over the top ridges in the keg and holds the lid nice and firm so theres no risk of knocking it off. Was a bitch to pull the rivets in the stainless though. Had some very sore hands afterwardsun hindsight i should of taken it to work and used a pneumatic rivet gun.

Post #9 made 10 years ago
by PistolPatch
pist wrote:Would a medium pressure variable reg be ok?
That'll be perfect pist. That's what I have and I can boil 60 litres of wort with it no problems.
pist wrote:I do make sure I pull the Ball Valve apart completely after every batch.
Good on you! Hopefully yours isn't too time-consuming. My one is a PITA to put back on the kettle as it always leaks so what I do is fluch through a fair bit of boiling water, opening and closing the valve many times and then do the same with Starsan. On top of this I do the nostril test before brewing.
pist wrote:Ill certainly try putting the hops in my grain bag. I had issues with my first batch (an APA) not turning out as hoppy as I hoped...possibly this could be the issue?
I don't know on this one post and I'm not sure who would. I don't think this sort of thing can be tested unless you do a proper side by side test on it. I never noticed any problems when I did use the smaller hopsock. Using the BIAB bag though seems better to me. More likely explanation would be on the hops themselves or the brewing process I think :think:.

:peace:
Last edited by PistolPatch on 18 Aug 2013, 17:06, edited 2 times in total.
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