Jim's Beer Kit

Thanks for the info and sharing experiences. After reading and watching lots of stuff, I think the key is rapid cooling (as Kev888 highlights) to produce a good cold break. If some or all of it ends up on the FV, It's probably not a bad thing. I think when all said & done, cleaning and sanitizing a ...

Fuzzy, thanks for that. It seems that it will take longer to cool if recirculating back into the boiler and avoiding cold break & trub in the FV. K100t, That's a very interesting article which points towards the cold break & trub being beneficial! Many thanks. As you're not far from me, would you be...

Having changed things around in the brewery I was thinking of maybe changing from Immersion to plate chiller but I'm not sure if I want the cold break in the FV. So, a couple of questions for those that have changed from IC to PC (or use both): Did you notice any difference in taste or clarity? Does...

Bungle, that's just what I intend, thanks for the info. Kev, thanks for that. Im going to go with the pump recommended by Guy above which seems to tick all the boxes as I'm only going to pump up around 1 metre. The hop filter blockage is an interesting insight. I've just bought one of the large Brew...

I stand corrected I've not read into the subject (clearly), I'm basing comments on my own personal experiences.

Yes, either calcium would be better added directly to the mash. I tend to add the remaining calcium to the boil rather than the HLT although some will say it's required for the sparge.

If you return the wort to the boiler at a certain angle you can also get a whirlpool going with it. Google 'Jamil's whirlpool chiller' if you're interested.

The Mr Malty website just about sums it all up for me, thanks for the info Hogarth.

Looks like i'll be re-working my chiller!

No, check the ph as you were at around 15 mins. If you're adding calcium to the HLT, it's very difficult to get it to disolve so most of it ends up on the bottom of the HLT. I would measure and add the calcium for 13l of liquor to the mash which will lower the ph.

Nick

If you're using an immersion chiller then keep the pump running -- it speeds up the cooling tremendously. Thanks Hogarth, I was hoping that would be be the case. I've got a decent hop filter so I think that I will go with the pump in Guy's post, start the recirc when the immersion chiller goes in a...

One of these pumps from The Malt Miller should do you.

I like the look of that pump Guy, thanks for that. Sounds like you're doing something similar to what I'm thinking of except that I only want to transfer the wort once and not have to bother with the Starsan.

Thanks for the reply Ulsterman. I see what you're getting at but I'm trying to avoid lifting wort around and make the brewing process quicker & easier. Another problem is that my FV is a bit of a tight fit in the fridge so it wouldn't be possible to pour wort into it. Here's a photo: http://i351.pho...

So far I've managed to stick to my brewing remit which is to keep things as simple as possible and I've got away with using mains water pressure and gravity to brew beer. This works well for me but I'm now changing my set up which means I won't be able to run wort from the boiler into the FV as the ...

my wlp007 is apparently a whitbread strain, as are wyeast 1098 and 1099 (not sure about 1097, couldn't find any info)

Sorry, meant 1098

The theme was a simple pale-only malt bill, a huge bittering charge of traditional UK hops early in the boil, no late boil additions, and a relatively small dry hop. Over time the extremely strong bitterness seemed to turn into a thing of beauty, quite different to the modern US translation of IPA ...

I would advise treating as per Graham Wheelers book by boiling with plenty of Gypsum. It will put your liquor right in the ball park. It's time consuming but it works very well for me with water at around 235mg/l alkalinity brewing lighter summer ales.