[beersk]

I use 5gal kegs, as long as you purge I wouldn't see why this wouldn't be acceptable right?

Yes, I think so.  If you fill it with sanitizer and pump the sanitizer out it will be full of CO2.  If you push the beer into it then there's no problem.  You can easily push the beer in by venting the keg, hooking the racking cane to the out post, and pushing with 1-2 psi from the carboy.  Or you can open the keg and rack and RDWHAHB.

Awesome.  I'm not buying any 3 gallon kegs then as I've got 3 cornies already.  All I need to do is swap my ball valve from my 10 gallon cooler to my 5 gallon cooler and make myself a smaller wort chiller.  This is exciting!

[holzster]

For a 2.5 gallon batch - is a 5 gallon carboy bad to use?  Or should I get a 3 gallon?

Thanks - might be a basic question but not for me.

5 gallon is fine, unless you're going to secondary. I do 2.5 and 3 gallon batches a lot and ferment in a 5 gallon carboy or 6 gallon bucket, even.

Thanks

[Will's Swill]

OK, for those of you who do really small batches, like 1/2 to 1 gallon, are you doing these all grain?  I recently tried this with a dark mild and my efficiency really sucked and I had a heck of a time with temp control.  What are you using for your MLT?  Anyone going this small with a fly sparge?  This would be a great size for me to experiment with, but not given the results I'm getting so far...

[tomsawyer]

If I were doing something this small I'd do no-sparge, use 3qt/lb and do it in a pot on the stove.  It would take constant attention and stirring while heating at a low heat.

[tygo]

Maybe do it in a dutch oven.  Get it to the low end of your mash temp on the stove.  Put the lid on and pop it into the oven preheated to 170F and then turn off the heat.

[beersk]

Ah, thus one thing I discovered tonight while seeing how long my stove brought 4.5 gallons of water to a boil was that eventually condensation builds up on the hood over the stove and starts to drip back down into the pot.  Problem?  It's pretty annoying and makes me worry about contamination.

[tschmidlin]

I use a 2-gallon round cooler with a braid, I think it was $10.  I sort of fly sparge and use a pyrex measuring cup (with a handle being the key part) to scoop water out of the hot liquor pot add it as I'm running the wort out the bottom.  I might try batch sparging next time, but I've read that batch sparging is for suckers.

[tomsawyer]

Ah, thus one thing I discovered tonight while seeing how long my stove brought 4.5 gallons of water to a boil was that eventually condensation builds up on the hood over the stove and starts to drip back down into the pot.  Problem?  It's pretty annoying and makes me worry about contamination.

I just wipe across the hood every so often to prevent this.  I also have to wipe above the hood once in awhile.  I'd also clean it enough that no grease would fall into the pot if it were to drip back in.  Otherwise I don't think it matters, the boiling sterilizes.

[beersk]

Ah, thus one thing I discovered tonight while seeing how long my stove brought 4.5 gallons of water to a boil was that eventually condensation builds up on the hood over the stove and starts to drip back down into the pot.  Problem?  It's pretty annoying and makes me worry about contamination.

I just wipe across the hood every so often to prevent this.  I also have to wipe above the hood once in awhile.  I'd also clean it enough that no grease would fall into the pot if it were to drip back in.  Otherwise I don't think it matters, the boiling sterilizes.

Frakkin' awesome, dude.  Thanks for the reassurance and advice.

[jeffy]

Actually, that condensation dripping can return DMS (dimethalsulphide) or its precursor to the boil kettle.  I think it would be wise to avoid that.
I remember an old story about Rolling Rock from back in the day.  After building a new brewery they started to lose sales because the beer didn't taste the same.  Turned out that the old kettle vent had a bend in it that allowed the condensation to fall back into the wort and create their distinctive flavor, so they changed the new stack to mimic this.  (Keep in mind I have no idea if this is true, but it's a nice story.)

[beersk]

That is an interesting story.  I'm gonna do what Lennie does and make sure to wipe the condensation regularly.  Another obstacle I found was that my kettle is a taller, narrower one so it's difficult to get the chiller in there without taking the kettle off the burner.  Unless I can boil the whole time with the chiller in there, say, putting the chiller in the kettle during the first or second runnings, I suppose. 
I also thought about covering half the kettle with foil so as to keep anything dripping back down from the hood out of the kettle.  Not sure if that would increase the chance for DMS though since there'd be less surface area open.

[denny]

I might try batch sparging next time, but I've read that batch sparging is for suckers.

Then it should be right up your alley, no? 

[tomsawyer]

I wouldn't cover it,  the minute amount that might drip back in is not a concern.  The Rolling Rock kettle example probably dripped a good percentage of the condensate back in.  I don't see the need to boil the chiller the whole time, can't you just stick it in there immediately after the boil?  I think even near boiling temps will sterilize it in seconds.  I have an IC but I quit using it, with small batches just putting the kettle in the sink with four or five changes of cold tap water is enough to bring the temp down under 100F in short order.  Then I transfer to the fermentor and put it in the swamp cooler with some ice bottles to finish the job.

Batch sparging is a sign of intelligence.

[beersk]

You think sticking the chiller in there after "flame out" would be enough to sanitize it?  I don't think it'd hurt to remove the kettle from the burner to stick the chiller in at 15 minutes left and bring it back up to boiling.  The temp doesn't drop more than 10 degrees; that shouldn't affect the hop utilization much, I wouldn't think as it's still at 200 F or so.  It's kind of a pain, but I guess I could just boil for an extra 10 minutes or something.

[tomsawyer]

You can pasteurize milk in 15seconds at 161F.  I think putting the IC in at flameout is probably enough but if you can get 10min of boil that would probably give you peace of mind.