Brewing Again

[Scooby]

I'm looking forward to seeing the hop back and how it compares to my idea

Jez, I better burn the midnight oil getting it up to standard then

I wouldn't worry about competition, mines a 5 min job

Good I'm off to bed then

[DRB]

Hows the brew going any pics

[DRB]

Done want to sound dim but scratcher

[delboy]

Done want to sound dim but scratcher

Bed, where you lie and idily scratch yourself

[DRB]

AAAAGH RIGHT.
I think he must still be in there .

[Scooby]

Yawn, rub eyes, what time is it

It's been a real busy day and I'll fill you in on the highs and lows plus one or two pics as soon as I've had some tea.

[Scooby]

Thats better

I was a bit sluggish this morning, must have left the choke out. Apart from not making as early a start as I hope I had a number of interruptions, one extending the mash to 4+ hours, not a prob but annoying. I only took a few token pics, sorry

Got off to a good start hitting 69c bang on and the 5.2 worked well again.



Even after such a long mash the temp in the middle was still a healthy 64.3c and on the outside 62.5c
Topped up for the first sparge and started the run off.



After the second sparge I ended up with the required volume and a gravity of 1.042, my efficiency was up as I was expecting 1.036

Withe the boil complete I was setup ready to try the new larger hop back, here it is with 30g hops.



It didn't take long for the tube on the tap came adrift due to the taper on the tap and the extra weight of wort, so I put a couple of chocks under for support.



That was just the start, as the container got hot a leak appeared round the rim, not much I could do about that except wrap a towel round it, nothing worse than hot sticky wort dripping everywhere

When i tested it I only used a few litres of hot tap water, don't know what I can do about it, maybe some sort of clamping arrangement around the body and lid or just go back to the smaller one. Hope this gives you an idea of the volume in used DaaB btw the hops swelled to almost fill the hop back by the end albeit loosely.

I didn't lose to much and as the gravity was a little higher I just topped up and still ended up at 1.050, should have been 1.045

The Hop Back yeast hit the ground running and started it's job within an hour or so. All's well that ends well

[PGSteamer]

Could a simple solution to the leaky lid be to reduce the flow rate from the boiler so that it matches the flow rate out of the hop back? That way you could keep the level of the wort in the hop back steady and below the lid.

Kind of like doing a fly sparge through the hops.

[oblivious]

very nice

[Scooby]

Could a simple solution to the leaky lid be to reduce the flow rate from the boiler so that it matches the flow rate out of the hop back? That way you could keep the level of the wort in the hop back steady and below the lid.

Kind of like doing a fly sparge through the hops.

Great PGS, it's staring me in the face and I wrap towels round it the tap is on/off only but I do have to bleed the thing by cracking the lid, if I just bleed to 3/4 full then let it run that may do it

DaaB, I couldn't use more that 20gm or so in the other one so I thought I'd kick off with 30gm. I reckon it will fit 70-80gm

The leak is due to a loss of rigidity but dangling on the end of a piece of micro bore doesn't help. I'm going to try PGS's solution on the next brew but let me know if you find a suitable rigid/screw top container.

[prodigal2]

Looking good Scooby

Could the leak be due to the fact the hopback is twisting slightly as your in and out are of centre and that could be putting pressure on the seal on the lid as it twists,causing a slight leak. Perhaps if there was no strain being placed on the lid it "may" solve you leak?

[Scooby]

Looking good Scooby

Could the leak be due to the fact the hopback is twisting slightly as your in and out are of centre and that could be putting pressure on the seal on the lid as it twists,causing a slight leak. Perhaps if there was no strain being placed on the lid it "may" solve you leak?

I thought that at first P2 but the tube from the boiler to HB is flexible and the chocks under the HB in the second pic holds it quite firmly against the flex of the micro bore so there was little stress in the lid.

The containers are rated at up to 130c but they lose rigidity and coupled with the pressure of wort in the boiler just cause it to weep through the seal.

[prodigal2]

Perhaps plan B, could be use some PTFE tape around the lip of the container to improve the mechanical seal?

[BarrowBoy]

The Hop Back yeast hit the ground running and started it's job within an hour or so. All's well that ends well

What do you mean by "the Hop Back yeast" Scooby? There can't have been yeast in your fine-looking hop back, can there? - it would have been too hot.

Presumably, also, you can only use a hop back if you have a CFC - I can't see how you could have that set-up with an immersion chiller? Unless you were to run off the wort from one vessel to the other through the hop back and then chill it, I suppose.

[Scooby]

The Hop Back yeast hit the ground running and started it's job within an hour or so. All's well that ends well

What do you mean by "the Hop Back yeast" Scooby? There can't have been yeast in your fine-looking hop back, can there? - it would have been too hot.

Presumably, also, you can only use a hop back if you have a CFC - I can't see how you could have that set-up with an immersion chiller? Unless you were to run off the wort from one vessel to the other through the hop back and then chill it, I suppose.

I made a starter from the yeast in a couple of bottles of 'Hop Back brewery' Summer Lightening

Yep, the wort is hot as it flows on to the hops in the hop back, then passes through the CFC, the idea being that the hop oils dissolve in the hot wort rather like steeping hops at switch off, but as it is a closed system and wort is cooled straight away there is less chance of them evaporating unlike steeping, the result is more hop aroma and flavour.