re: Homebrewing: In-Process Thread

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Glad all the soldiers survived their march.

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That was some high quality packing. I'll be sending that same box and packing supplies back your way.

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Does that come with Conan or is that not available from the labs yet?

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Nope. They haven't been able to get that yeast strain yet, so I know mine won't be the same. But the hop schedule looks pretty good. We shall see how it turns out.

Question about using Kegs as mash tuns/boil kettles/sparge tanks, etc...

Currently, my brew system is 2 - 10 gallons water coolers and a 9.5 gallon stainless brew kettle for 5.5/6 gallon batches.

I have 1 keg with the top already cut off, another that i need to do work on, and i have a slim quarter keg, that i'd have to work on also. Next year, i plan on using a whole new brewing setup, so i'm wondering a few things.

1) The slim quarter keg, comes out to be about 8 gallons. Is this plenty enough room to use as a sparge tank for 10 gallon batches?
2) Unlike the cooler system, where i get my temps to a certain level, and then close the lid and wait for an hour, i'm assuming with a keg setup as a mash tun, you have to keep the burner on to keep the mash at a certain temp. (correct me if i'm wrong). Does this constant heat a) Scorch my grains? b) Increase the evaporation rate of the mash water?
3) Also, with moving to this kind of setup, i'd need to get a pump (or 2 if my brew rack doesn't have an elevated sparge area). I see the march 815 pump on homebrew sites. What other equipment would i need with the pump? Hoses? Also, with the pumps, can you control how fast you pump out your wort?

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I'm planning on using lactose, but never have before. Have any of y'all used it? When do I need to add it?

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If you are all-grain, i'd assume it acts like oatmeal, and you'd add it at the mash. However, i've never used it, so don't quote me on it.

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If you are all-grain, i'd assume it acts like oatmeal, and you'd add it at the mash. However, i've never used it, so don't quote me on it.

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it's a dry sugar, so I am going to throw it in at the beginning of the boil like I have done with maltodextrine


what is a good amount of cocoa nibs in the secondary of a 5 gallon batch?

thanks. did you sanitize them in any way or throw them in?

I'm all about "more is better" when it come to making and drinking beer

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We come from the same school of thought.

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literally

Could someone explain a RIMS system to me? How it works?

This seems like the one i want to build. I just don't understand a few things. What i've beer reading talks about recirculation, and it talks about heating your recirculated wort in the tubing.

1) If i'm recirculating my mash, won't the grains clog up my pump pretty frequently? Or am i supposed to only recirculate the wort while it mashes.
2) How does it maintain heat? If the point of a RIMS is to avoid scorching your grains/wort via direct fire, then this must mean that you are not heating up your mash tun once you have your initial mash water heated. Does this mean there is a secondary heat source that heats the pumped wort in the tubing? If so, is this some sort of electric source?

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I picked up stuff for a hoppy wheat. I've got 3 oz Citra and 2 oz Galaxy and going to use some harvested cali ale yeast.

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I was going to do this with cali ale yeast but have changed my mind and am going to use my Crooked Stave brett. I'm going to go 152ish for 60 min, 30 min boil, all late hops, probably 10, 5, 0, then another addition at 180 F, pitch 100% brett stater, then two rounds of dry hopping.