Im a bit lost.

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
Robdog

Re: Im a bit lost.

Post by Robdog » Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:44 pm

Ok mate cheers. I suppose regularly stirring the wort as you do cools it also.

Im just a bit of a worrier you see, well you probably do see form all the questions i ask hah :) , i dont want to fork out for a chiller now and then when i go onto 10 gallon batches which i will after the first few 5 gallon brews as to me it makes sense to do 2 brews in the same time as 1 find out the chiller is not good enough but if its good enough for you and Parva its good enough for me.

Do you do 10 gallon batches mate? Or just 5 gallon in a 10 gallon boiler?

Its just form what i read the quicker the beer is cooled the better, not sure if this makes the beer taste better or whether its something more technical.

adm

Re: Im a bit lost.

Post by adm » Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:50 pm

Right now, I just do 5 gallon batches in the 10G boiler. I use corny kegs for storage, so 5G equals a corny plus a few bottles for "samples"....and my current philosophy is to brew as many different types of beer as I can to learn - so 5G suits me better.

However - the H&G chiller should be fine for 10G as well, it will just take a bit longer to get down to 25C, but no big deal.

Having said that, I have a plate chiller on order and will be plumbing that in when i upgrade my brewery to a pumped system which will probably happen over the Christmas holidays....I don't think it will be much "better" - but for working in the pumped system it should make sense.

There's a great line from Charlie Papazian about homebrewing: "Relax, Don't Worry and have a Homebrew". Good advice all around!

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Aleman
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Re: Im a bit lost.

Post by Aleman » Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:52 pm

I do 18 Gallon batches and have gone from an Immersion Chiller to a CFC, to a plate chiller to a double CFC and back to an Immersion Chiller . . . . When I build the 20L plant I'll be making . . .. an Immersion Chiller

Robdog

Re: Im a bit lost.

Post by Robdog » Thu Nov 13, 2008 7:02 pm

adm wrote:Right now, I just do 5 gallon batches in the 10G boiler. I use corny kegs for storage, so 5G equals a corny plus a few bottles for "samples"....and my current philosophy is to brew as many different types of beer as I can to learn - so 5G suits me better.

However - the H&G chiller should be fine for 10G as well, it will just take a bit longer to get down to 25C, but no big deal.

Having said that, I have a plate chiller on order and will be plumbing that in when i upgrade my brewery to a pumped system which will probably happen over the Christmas holidays....I don't think it will be much "better" - but for working in the pumped system it should make sense.

There's a great line from Charlie Papazian about homebrewing: "Relax, Don't Worry and have a Homebrew". Good advice all around!

I can see the philosophy in brewing as many types of beer as you can and i may well follow the same principle. Infact ive only been brewing kits 4 weeks and im starting my 4th and final kit tomorrow.

I think i may bite the bullet and place an order :D

softlad

Re: Im a bit lost.

Post by softlad » Thu Nov 13, 2008 7:20 pm

Robdog wrote: I think i may bite the bullet and place an order :D

If you can get SWMBO to agree, go for it !

I bought the H&G kit and was very impressed with it on its first outing.

wetdog

Re: Im a bit lost.

Post by wetdog » Thu Nov 13, 2008 7:46 pm

I wouldn't get too worried about things, there are people on here who do everything from cool the whole batch in 10 minutes, to people who just leave the lot to cool overnight and they all make decent beer. the CFC mob get to cool quicker but all the break material goes in the fermenter, the all night brigade save money by not buying a chiller but its a long wait and the cold break doesn't really happen, so that leaves the IC guys which I think on the whole offers the best all round solution. If its good enough for Aleman who's tried 'em all then that's a good enough recomendation for anyone. One point though, when using an IC its good to give a stir every now and then to circulate the cooling wort but this should be just a gentle move around rather than a rousing stir

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