Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
This past Sunday we brewed the initial batch in my new Spike Brewing setup. I've always been brewing with propane burners but decided it was time to upgrade and be prepared for brewing inside (plan for when I move to my next place).
New system:
View attachment 726620
From the left: 20 gallon BK, 15 gallon HLT and MT. The wort filter (lower left) was from Brewers Hardware and it prevented the plate chiller getting clogged up with hop matter. That's with 12oz of hop pellets roaming free in the BK for the batch. Whirlpooling helped, filter caught about 3oz (post brewing weight, the weighed after sitting in a bag in the sink overnight). I ended up not getting the system complete from Spike with control panel and such mostly due to wiring limitations here. I have two 30 amp 240 outlets in the garage to provide power. These are three wire, not four wire. Which means it would either be a PITA or not viable to use one of their panels. Or one from eBrewSupply. Another item I plan to change once I move into my own house.
Before next brew day, the chiller will be relocated to above the filter and I plan to have new pumps. The old (from around 2011) March 809's just are not performing. Could be several reasons. Instead of attempting to get them working, they're getting replaced. I also received the oxygenation setup from SSBrewTech that will go at the chiller out port for the next batch. Just need to adapt the regulator on my O2 bottle to work with it. Nothing major, and I believe I already have the fitting I'll need. If not, I'll get one in time.
I used to use a hop spider (latest one is all stainless, connected to the ring I used to use with the nylon mesh bags). Cleaning it after the IPA was a pain. Whirlpooling is becoming a fast favorite, even after just one batch. Also liking how with the whirlpool aspect I'm not using as many ounces of hops to get the desired flavor/effect.
With the steam condenser lid, I'm pretty much ready to also brew indoors without any worry about condensation covering walls/ceiling as well as wort residue.
With whirlpooling, I didn't want to do my normal method of recirculating the wort back into BK until it hit a certain level, then send it to the fermenter. I did a bit of research last week and applied information found to great effect. Basically, I played with the valve at the pump to reduce wort flow going into the chiller, while having the chill water going full blast. I also played with the valve at the wort out side of the chiller to let it linger a bit more. I had to watch the thermometer there in order to keep it in the 60's. Total chill time of between 13 and 13-1/2 gallons of wort was about 9 minutes.
Efficiency on the first batch was higher than I've hit on the old setup. I'll need to take a better measure of the post boil volume with the next batch to check the parameters better. We actually hit a slightly higher OG than expected. I think the post boil volume was also a bit on the high side, which makes it even better.
Next upgrade I'm planning is to jump to conical fermenters. My primary choice is going to be Spike. I'll also pick up a glycol chiller for the times where I either want to cold crash, or need to fight higher temperatures in the room where things ferment. Probably going to end up with a pair of the CF10 models while still here. MoreBeer has the chiller that can provide for two fermenters at a time. I'm on the fence between that one (Max 2) and the one that will handle four fermenters (Max 4). The small difference ($200) between them is making it a tough choice. I'll also have to decide if I want to get one of the CF15 models.
More important is the batch that we brewed was going completely ape in less than 10 hours. I pitched the yeast around 8:30pm that night. By the next morning it was cruising. Spunding valve is set to 15psi and additional CO2 is pouring out. Temperature increased by almost 5F as well. Still within the yeast happy range.
New system:
View attachment 726620
From the left: 20 gallon BK, 15 gallon HLT and MT. The wort filter (lower left) was from Brewers Hardware and it prevented the plate chiller getting clogged up with hop matter. That's with 12oz of hop pellets roaming free in the BK for the batch. Whirlpooling helped, filter caught about 3oz (post brewing weight, the weighed after sitting in a bag in the sink overnight). I ended up not getting the system complete from Spike with control panel and such mostly due to wiring limitations here. I have two 30 amp 240 outlets in the garage to provide power. These are three wire, not four wire. Which means it would either be a PITA or not viable to use one of their panels. Or one from eBrewSupply. Another item I plan to change once I move into my own house.
Before next brew day, the chiller will be relocated to above the filter and I plan to have new pumps. The old (from around 2011) March 809's just are not performing. Could be several reasons. Instead of attempting to get them working, they're getting replaced. I also received the oxygenation setup from SSBrewTech that will go at the chiller out port for the next batch. Just need to adapt the regulator on my O2 bottle to work with it. Nothing major, and I believe I already have the fitting I'll need. If not, I'll get one in time.
I used to use a hop spider (latest one is all stainless, connected to the ring I used to use with the nylon mesh bags). Cleaning it after the IPA was a pain. Whirlpooling is becoming a fast favorite, even after just one batch. Also liking how with the whirlpool aspect I'm not using as many ounces of hops to get the desired flavor/effect.
With the steam condenser lid, I'm pretty much ready to also brew indoors without any worry about condensation covering walls/ceiling as well as wort residue.
With whirlpooling, I didn't want to do my normal method of recirculating the wort back into BK until it hit a certain level, then send it to the fermenter. I did a bit of research last week and applied information found to great effect. Basically, I played with the valve at the pump to reduce wort flow going into the chiller, while having the chill water going full blast. I also played with the valve at the wort out side of the chiller to let it linger a bit more. I had to watch the thermometer there in order to keep it in the 60's. Total chill time of between 13 and 13-1/2 gallons of wort was about 9 minutes.
Efficiency on the first batch was higher than I've hit on the old setup. I'll need to take a better measure of the post boil volume with the next batch to check the parameters better. We actually hit a slightly higher OG than expected. I think the post boil volume was also a bit on the high side, which makes it even better.
Next upgrade I'm planning is to jump to conical fermenters. My primary choice is going to be Spike. I'll also pick up a glycol chiller for the times where I either want to cold crash, or need to fight higher temperatures in the room where things ferment. Probably going to end up with a pair of the CF10 models while still here. MoreBeer has the chiller that can provide for two fermenters at a time. I'm on the fence between that one (Max 2) and the one that will handle four fermenters (Max 4). The small difference ($200) between them is making it a tough choice. I'll also have to decide if I want to get one of the CF15 models.
More important is the batch that we brewed was going completely ape in less than 10 hours. I pitched the yeast around 8:30pm that night. By the next morning it was cruising. Spunding valve is set to 15psi and additional CO2 is pouring out. Temperature increased by almost 5F as well. Still within the yeast happy range.