Brewday 9/9/07 English Bitter

[mixbrewery]

I really must plan for any early start - at least to get the HLT switched on with cheap rate electric!

Or, build in an immersion heater timer
That would give my an extra hour of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Hope its going well G.

[Garth]

thanks lads,

yep boil is nearly halfway through,

batch sparged and slightly miscalculated somewhere when measuring the litres of water into the tun, got about 34 litres of sweet wort so may have to boil 4 or so off, I can't blame DaaB's calculator as it has worked fine for me before and many others

I think I prefer batch sparging, I believe my efficiency was suffering due to bad coverage with the spinny arm, maybe channelling down the sides or something, I don't know.

[Garth]

I honestly don't know where it happened, one minute I had two 15 litre batches going into the boiler then when I looked again it was nearly 35, I calibrated the boiler myself so I know that's ok.

never mind, if I boil off the excess this will be ok won't it?

meaning that my IBU's won't be out for the amount of wort..?

anyway, the hop maniac in me reared it's head, so I'm adding a bit more (10g) at 15mins and I'm gonna steep 20g Fuggles at switch off, couldn't help it ..sorry

[Jimberbob]

I hope the brew is going well Garth. I think I may try batch sparging in future.

[Garth]

Cheers lads, all wrapped up, yeast pitched, hit my target OG 1039 and volume 24l, at 70% eff.

I feel as if I'm brewing properly now, rather than just using guesswork. I think I've just been lucky in the past with only a few not so good brews as I really didn't work much out, but now with the boiler with the scale on the side I can boil down or top up to get the volume spot when before it was a bit hit and miss.

Cracking brewday, off to the park now with SWMBO and Young Apprentice Brewer (The Hop Chucker Inner)

Jimberbob, give batch sparging a go, I didn't like the sound of it at first and liked me spinny arm, but it does seem to guarantee a reasonable efficiency return, good if you are getting low ones. and no chance of over-sparging which I often worried about.

[Garth]

that's so weird, I was just there putting everything away and the spinny was there as it lives in the mash tun when not in use, and I was thinking, these were so 'wanted' a while back when they stopped importing them and now it's redundant. I doubt if I'll use it in the near future.

You're so right, total control rather than hit/miss, when spinny sparging I was always down to 1006 before I got near to my pre-boil volume but now...loads better.

[prodigal2]

Glad your brew day turned out well Garth
Batch Sparging thanks to Dennybrew and you DaaB has been made easy to quantify Some of the sites I looked at about it, you would need a PhD in Quantum Mechanics to get your head round the figures and maths.

And as a process it is very simple, and once you have your head around your efficiency, quite hard to really screw up, and also you get a feel for what your grain bill should be for a target OG. And once you get going it sticks to the time honoured principle of KISS, and this also makes replication easier for me anyhow, then again I have only just started brewing(come Crimbo I will have only malt bothering for 12 months )

[prodigal2]

And once you get going it sticks to the time honoured principle of KISS,

Arrrrgghhhh, sorry mate but that has to be the most aggravatily and ridiculously pointless acronyms ever. When does anyone ever, deliberately set out to find the most complicated and expensive solution to a problem when an easier one is immediately apparent. What's worse is that when ever someone comes up with that phrase, usually their ideas are either far from being the simplest solution or they are just plain crap. And by the way, don't call me stupid

(bet you didn't expect that on a Brewday thread )

(and not aimed at you either P2)

It is phrase, I have to use within my work life as people have a tendancy to over complicate. And its a great way to get people to pare things down to the core of the job, and also make things replicatable(which is important when you tour shows around). And yes people do find complicated ways of doing things, because it can make them feel important, and can make them feel they are the lynch pin to a job(its called technologyitis, using technology for the sake of it!!!) And as a phrase it has saved me from calling someone a "useless, time wasting, self important[insert expletive]".
And I'm affraid that phrase has made it home

Good point though DaaB, I really never questioned the phrase(I will add I do a lot of work with Sepos, and..... ).

Anyhow back to brewing. The batch sparge method which you have made comprehensible to "stupid" folks like me is great as it allows the new brewer like myself to worry less about constant monitoring of the wort, and get what is needed into the boiler. And then become a more confident brewer, who can if they so wish monitor all the details.

[Jimberbob]

Right! That's it! Out with the sparge arm!

[prodigal2]

I will add I do a lot of work with Sepos

I've done bit in my time too, they are great at taking all the credit

Not sure what Dennys site is like now but I even found that complicated, it wasn't until I heard him talk about it on a pod cast that the penny dropped it took Steve F to point out that you add the sparge water before running off in batch 1 that I did it properly though. Denny did say he was going to simplify the description on his website.

Well DaaB, Denny only galvinised me to go the Batch sparge route(and until you went batch, he was the only real advocate of it in anything comprehensible to the concept), and yes to a total novice with a handful of kits under my belt, it was complicated beyond belief, and I must of spent about a month searching the net to find a clear and concise explanation of method with no avail. I was aware of the concepts and yet nothing to say this IS what you do. AG1 was a suck and see it wasn’t until AG2 where you getting the Batch sparge info formulated on your site and things became very clear(along with my beer I might add).

It was sooooo frustrating that the concept of batch sparging seeming so simple and yet, everywhere I looked the calcs of sparging(and method) really didn't say how to do it clearly:? I didn't want to go the fly sparge route as in concept seemed too fussy for my tastes and my brew days are quite often snatched affairs when I am tired returning from somewhere and packing to go elsewhere So I did not want to be fabricating a fly sparge device, and loose my first few options to brew properly(at the time I only had 1 FV and a plastic wine barrel).

Anyhow a few posts ago I was trying to pay you a compliment. Which is you have presented a simple and clear method to batch sparge, that works!!! And for that alone is if you and Hector wish to cross the Bay of Biscay, there is a room available At the end of the day between you and Jim got me making beer, a debt which is hard to pay back

[prodigal2]

Just checked dennybrew and he has not updated the site
But on the plus side that means DaaB you have the definative site on t'net to go batch sparging... [insert comment about britains and their great minds ]

[prodigal2]

hey, next time at work when you need to tell someone 'KISS', try instead just to look at them under raised eyebrows then walk away looking a the floor, shaking your head and muttering under your breath.

That's got to be much more satisfying surely

Yes......but its hard to stop yourself going "t***" under your breath. I'm afraid there are a lot of BIG egos in my trade. Coupled with my ability to not suffer fools gladly and tight time schedules, sometimes you just have to placate idiots And then do it the right way(and no I don't always mean my way)

[prodigal2]

The phrase 'great minds' and myself aren't generally used in the same sentance

[Garth]

great banter lads, lovin' it,

glad everyone agrees that the 'ole batch sparge is definately a straightforward, reliable and simple way to do the job, oh, and it saves precious time also,

I believe spinny sparging can work well, if not better and return better results but it is not for everyone, and it didn't really ever work for me, kind of hit and miss, some days reasonable/good efficiency, some days absolutely attrocious, so until I come up with a better way of doing it, (maybe that spray nozzle thingy from Beertech?), and upgrading the equipment, I'm sticking with the batchy.

Just saying to the wife, it's changed my brewday, when everything goes right and you get expected efficiency, it puts you on a right high,

even leaving the fermenter tap open during run off/cooling and having to get the mop out didn't spoil my day....

c'mon it wouldn't be a normal brewday without doing that would it?

[prodigal2]

...t**t is such a good word when dealing with the incompetent

Its usualy the words I put around it that seem to cause offense