Summer Brew 15th April

Garth · Post by **Garth** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:12 am

hope you're having a good brewday Pop, just got my HLT heated up....

I tend to recirculate about 8 jug fulls, after this I get no grain in the run-off, but the liquid is rarely very clear.

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:20 am

Boiled for about 45 minutes before starting my hop schedule. This was to evaporate wort and add the spare to get as much sugar as possible!

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:39 am

The boil is over and cooling has begun.

It has been a nice easy brewing day with very few problems. I thikn now is the time that I invest in a spiny sparge arm. All I need to do is find somewhere that still have them in stock!

maxashton · Post by **maxashton** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:40 am

No camera again, Pie? hehe

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:41 am

maxashton wrote:No camera again, Pie? hehe

I've got the camera and have been taking pics. Will be uploading them soon

maxashton · Post by **maxashton** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:59 am

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:25 pm

And here are the pics (these will be updated fairly soon with some post brew images....)
Slideshow

inthedark · Post by **inthedark** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:30 pm

PieOPah wrote:All I need to do is find somewhere that still have them in stock!

The Homebrew shop in Farnborough had one left when I was in last week. A 7" I think.

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:58 pm

Will call around tomorrow and buy one. Is the length the length of the arm or the bar that sits on the MT?

My MT is 14" across so would need something to fit that....

Anyway, my brew day is now over (except cleaning the boiler) and I have ended up with 36 pints, an OG of 1.042 and an efficiency of 60.06%.

Pretty much what I was shooting for but still dissapointed with the efficiency. I am sure that this will be vastly improved with a sparge arm as my 'bottle' was likey to be drilling nice little channels in the grain bed.

Still, I feel that although it took longer, I prefered Fly Sparging to batch sparging.

inthedark · Post by **inthedark** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:05 pm

Ive just measured mine - it's the 7" model.

The arm that spins is 7" long; the top part of the 'T' shape that it hangs from is 13" and the upright part of the T is 10".

I expect this means you'll need a bigger one!

SteveD · Post by **SteveD** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:22 pm

Nice slideshow. It's good to put faces to names.

For easy sparging until you sort out a spinny why not just set your boiler to very hot 90c+ fill up a watering can with a rose fitted and use that. Monitor your mash bed temperature at keep it between 70 and 77c If it threatens to go over 77c, add a bit of cold to the watering can.

I don't think they're beyond the wit of man to build - Some modeller's brass tubing, a smaller piece to solder perpendicularly to the horizontal piece of a gauge to fit inside the vertical tube, a fine drill bit, a piece of steel wire and some solder for use on potable water supply.....then, put it together so it spins

(Info lifted from Blue Peter website)

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:22 pm

Thanks. I'll call up before I put any orders in. This way I can ensure I have the right size for my needs

SteveD · Post by **SteveD** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:23 pm

inthedark wrote:Ive just measured mine - it's the 7" model.

I expect this means you'll need a bigger one!

Ooo-er missus! What do you know that we don't

inthedark · Post by **inthedark** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:26 pm

iowalad · Post by **iowalad** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:58 pm

Nice slide show.

I have only batch sparged (with ss braid). Always thought I was getting surprisingly clear runnings but then realize I have never had anything to compare my runnings with. My base malt so far has always been M. Otter.

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Summer Brew 15th April