The Stroyteller Brewery Test Brew 170 litres

[prolix]

well done lads, love the grist mixer tube thingy

[Vossy1]

Just had another look through your brew day Bandit......and...

I can't believe with all that shiny and insulation, there's still a bloody canky old duvet/curtains on the mash tun

it's not worthy, let the moths ave it

[bandit]

F**k me that was a long day. Well here are the extra picks and some more detail.

Lets start where we left off. Before I forget though, cheers Des. It would have been about two hours longer if you hadnt been here to assist. When do we tell the world about the magic spud

Anyway back to it. Hold on, another sip of brandy......aaaahhhh!!!!

Right.

We had mashed in at 5.44pH and 65 Deg C.....nice start.



And this was the readings AFTER 90 minutes. It had gone UP!!!
We think the reason for this was that the grain mixer wasnt tuned correctly. The grain finished with 20 litres of liquor still to hit the tun. This meant that there was a large amount of water on the surface of the grain. We didnt want to mix the bed too much so our first reading was abit hit and miss really. We are making a variable flow grain dispenser next. I just love playing.

This is the full mash tun



Here are the first wort hops



And the guzzunda. It stays here to collect the wort. I then fit my pump to the bucket and not the tun. This way I may not sucking down on the grain bed and compacting it.



And here go the first clear runnings into the boiler with the hops



Heres the extended phils spinny spargry thing.



And this was probably one of the highlights of the day. Its so simple but a joy to watch. Beats batch sparging anyday. Spinny sparging is cool batch sprging is hard work



And here's the magic spud



170 litres boiling happily



The boil went very well. 7.5Kw really does make the bubbles rise. It really did boil. I have had some of the final wort sat in a tumbler for only 3 hours and its as clear as a bell with a good cold break. Looks very promising.

This is the cfc'd wort entering the fermenter



And that says 1.0418, honest



And thats a hydrometer



Two of these went into the compost bins plus one half full of hops



And one full fermenter



Back soon

[bandit]

I can't believe with all that shiny and insulation, there's still a bloody canky old duvet/curtains on the mash tun

I was lucky that Andrea hadnt seen me 10 miutes earlier. I had put one of her horse rugs on instead. She wouldn't have been happy

[Vossy1]

Did the magic spud hold the spinny at just the right height

[bandit]

Your getting warm

[bandit]

Help !! My ATC 800 is not doing as it should. It shows the correct temp but when the cooling circuit lights up it is not powering the socket. Does anyone have a wiring diagram to hand as I have taken the two wires from the back of the unit and put them into the live and neutral of a socket but it doesnt work

[bandit]

You can stop looking now. I have found sparky pauls wiring diagram. Mine looks nothing like Pauls

[bandit]

I will rewire tonight thanks and also build the second one at the same time. Thankfully with all the insulation on the fermenter its holding steady at 19.2 deg C and the yeast head is just starting to form. I just sprinkled dried SO5 on top last night. It does smell wonderful. Time to start planning brew 2. The Fireside 150 litre may start at the weekend.....or before hand if I find a spare 8 hours

[DRB]

I reckon you lost the end plugs for the spinny sparger and pushed the ends into the potato to seal her up, a la ( spud gun) .

[Vossy1]

[bandit]

And the winner is ...................................DRB !!! Well done mate thats exactly what happened. I had used silicon to seal the tube and it hadnt set. The hot sparge liquor softened it even more and out they popped. It was then that I remembered the spud gun and car exhaust tricks of my mispent youff. Yes we bunged it up with the spud. Life safer.

[Gurgeh]

I'm stunned. Fantastic set-up!

That whole no-mash-stirring rule has me very intrigued... I've been shown a plan for a mashing in device and part assmebled one. never used it and have since cannibalised it too... hmmm...

SO the rise in Ph you attribute to a miscalculation in your mashing-in? care to explain that to a confused reader?

[Martin the fish]

That's like a gauntlet slapped in my face that is.

I love your system and your ingenuity, But i must make mine bigger...

Give me two or three years and i'll be right there...

[bandit]

I'm stunned. Fantastic set-up!

That whole no-mash-stirring rule has me very intrigued... I've been shown a plan for a mashing in device and part assmebled one. never used it and have since cannibalised it too... hmmm...

SO the rise in Ph you attribute to a miscalculation in your mashing-in? care to explain that to a confused reader?

We tested the pH at a very early stage. The disproportionate level of mixing in the tube caused an excess of water at the end. When I visited a local micro they strongly advised not stirring the mash too much as this knocks out the air and the grain bed doesnt float, therefore we didnt over stir and left it to sort itself out. Leaving it for the 1 1/2 hours allowed it to settle and normalise so the Ph balanced out. With better flow rates on the next mix I should get a more consitant mix that allows for better readings. I will wait about 15 minutes next time before I take the original pH reading. It it remains higher than 5.4pH I may add some Gypsum to the mash and not put it all in the boiler. Again its a live and learm process that involves fne tuning.