I have some questions hoping someone can answer:
1) sparging with an all-in-one. Where do you get the hot water? Nobody really shows where they are heating their sparge water in the electric brewing videos I've seen. Looks like sparge is only a gallon or two so could a coffe maker be used for this? It's more gear, but frees up the kitchen stove and I don't have to carry boiling water down flights of stairs.
2) maybe I missed something in the videos - can you heat up your mash water a bit and use the recirculation pump to sparge?
3) I have a 240v outlet for the clothes dryer. Anyone using that outlet with their setup? How's it working for you?
4) the Anvil has a 6.5 and 10.5 gallon model. I think I need the 10.5 capacity to have enough capacity to fill a 5 gallon corny keg from one batch. Is that right?
5) fermenting. I live in a tight space with inattentive people and a glass fermenter in the closet is going to get busted. The 7 gallon bucket is probably fine but anyone ever messed up a batch because of scratches on the inside? I get the concept of microbes hiding in the ridges, but how often does it happen? If you're not digging around in there with a pitchfork is it hard to scratch them enough to be a problem? Otherwise, I'm thinking something stainless.
5b) is the spigot on your fermenter all that functional or do you still end up with a lot of trub in your wort? Ever run the wort through a filter when transferring it?
6) conical fermenters. What did you find better about yours?
7) brew bag. I don't see too many people using these with the all-in-one systems. Why is that? It seems like any way of keeping the grain chunks out of your wort, pump and sparge water would be an added bonus.
8 ) wort chilling. What do you like about your setup (ice bath or tap water)?
9) if you went back in time to previous you before brewing, what would you tell yourself?
1) heat it before you start brewing. Hold it in a hot liquor tank (aka water cooler). Or heat some water in a stock pot with another heat source while you’re brewing (stove, heat stick, hot plate, etc). Or sparge with cold water.
2) most of those systems do recirculate but once you lift the basket I am not sure using wort to rinse the grain would get you much. Sparging rinses sugars from the grain. A sugar saturated wort might not do much though admittedly I’ve not tried it.
3) my brewery is the former clothes folding alcove in the laundry room. All my equipment sits in that area. I ran a 220v extension cord behind the drier and washer, around the perimeter of the room around to the brewery to my induction cooktop I use as a heat source. On brewday I simply unplug the drier and plug in the extension cord. Works great.
4) I believe you are correct
5) others have used the same bucket(s) for decades with no problem. I use stainless.
5b) the spigot on the fermenter is very useful. I use mine to transfer finished beer to a keg. It can also be used to take hydrometer samples to determine progress in the fermentation. It is positioned at the lower end of the fermenter but above the yeast and trüb cone.
6) I use an SS Brewbucket. I believe the best features are the lid seal and trüb cone. I brew a lot of Ales and get blowoff so I want the blowoff come out the tube only. I want the yeast to settle out in the cone post fermentation so I can transfer clear beer.
7) the guys at Basic Brewing use a bag in the basket of the all-in-one system they use in their videos.
I use a hydra immersion chiller. I like it because it’s fast. I use tap water initially and save the hot discharge for cleanup. Then I switch to a pond pump submerged in ice water.
9). Relax. Close enough is good enough. Setup up the general conditions for nature to work within a reasonable tolerance and you will be rewarded.
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