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Author Topic: Finding what works for you (me)  (Read 5524 times)

Offline roffenburger

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Re: Finding what works for you (me)
« Reply #15 on: January 06, 2010, 11:54:01 am »
My wife and I currently live in an apartment. Equipment storage is a serious issue, among other things. I have a quite large closet dedicated for brewing stuff, however, when I need something, a lot of the other "stuff" has to come out for me to get to it.

The city water supply sucks.

I have to mash in the kitchen or dining room when its really cold outside. I boil with a turkey fryer on a 5'x10' wooden deck that I'm not supposed to have a propane burner on. Chill in the kitchen with an adapter for the sink faucet.

I love brewing too much to let it slow me down, and I have to say that the quality of my beer has improved a TON since moving to all grain last March and reading, reading, reading.

We'll be moving soon--into a house---and I'll hopefully have room to spread out a bit!


About your trub waste in the kettle-
I have recently accepted that I am going to be throwing out some wort. You have to leave it behind somewhere and I figured I would leave it in the kettle instead of the primary. In the past I have dumped all the trub in the fermenter. I don't know what in my mindset happened, but there is something awesome about crystal clear wort going into the fermenter. I have upped my recipes a little to account for more waste. Pennies, maybe dollars more for cost...not much.
Travis R.

Offline ndcube

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Re: Finding what works for you (me)
« Reply #16 on: January 06, 2010, 12:50:49 pm »
I have upped my recipes a little to account for more waste. Pennies, maybe dollars more for cost...not much.

Yeah, but you get that cost back with more beer in your keg / bottles.

Offline enso

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Re: Finding what works for you (me)
« Reply #17 on: January 06, 2010, 05:05:52 pm »
Space can certainly be an issue.  Lack of or "too much" where everything is scattered here and there...

My water supply sucks as well.  Wicked chlorinated and yet it also smells like swamp water!  I solved that by getting my water from a spring.  There are several roadside natural springs around up here in VT/NH and the water is wonderful!  Essentially there is a spring that has been capped with a concrete cistern and it runs through pvc pipes down to the roadside with a catch basin.  I have no idea the mineral make-up and I am sure it probably changes throughout the year but it tastes excellent and makes fantastic beer.  I have thought about getting an analysis someday... just for kicks. I take a trip every now and then and fill every empty bucket, keg, or whatever vessel I have and collect 30-40 gallons.  A bit of effort but well worth it in my opinion.
Dave Brush

Offline enso

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Re: Finding what works for you (me)
« Reply #18 on: January 06, 2010, 05:07:57 pm »
One problem I have with evaporation rate is that up here in the winter in an unheated garage the steam gets wicked and I can't really see how hard it is boiling.  Not to mention the dryness in the air (especially when it is sub zero) increases the evaporation.  Guess that is another item I need to work on!
Dave Brush

Offline onthekeg

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Re: Finding what works for you (me)
« Reply #19 on: January 07, 2010, 07:49:13 pm »
Right now I shoot for 7.25 gallons preboil and generally end up with 5.5-5.75 gallons.  I know that is a pretty high evaporation rate but it works for me I guess.

Just turn down the heat. You want to shoot for 10-15% boil-off/hr

Anybody else have any parts of your brewing that just aren't as smooth as you want?
[/quote]

I hate wort chilling. I’d like to set up a wort circulation system but for that I need to by a pump and possibly a kettle with spigot.

Kai

Kai,
you can always try No chill once to see how you like it!
[/quote]

Offline Kaiser

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Re: Finding what works for you (me)
« Reply #20 on: January 08, 2010, 08:05:29 am »
you can always try No chill once to see how you like it!

I'm not fully on-board with that but may give it a try at some point just to see how it works. I'll also plan to try BIAB. The biggest problem with these techniques is that they require equipment which I don't have.

Kai