eco boiler brewing questions

[thegoatboy]

Hello,

it's been a while, but I'm back with some questions!

so firstly, i took my peco boiler for a brew yesterday, and this didn't go according to plan...

firstly, I was following the saisson recipe from greg's book

I noticed at the start that there is an empty space between the hop filter and the bottom of the boiler that took about 7 litres to cover.

I did all the hops part of the process first then came to the sparging part.

I emptied the boiler as best I could then heated up 20 liters as specified. but this was 20l + the 7l empty space.

Sparged as best I could, but then there was an overflow of sparged water available.

I put the wort back in the boiler with as much spage water as I could, but I still had a LOT of sparge water left.

what will be the consequence of this?

at the end of the boil I had about 21l of beer left over as expected.

what is the best process for sparging with a peco boiler?

my second question is after finishing the boil process the plan was to leave the yeast pitching until this morning. it was only last night i noticed that the yeast was off.

how long can you leave the beer waiting around before pitching yeast?

 

[Fil]

yeast off?? if you mean its an out of date dry vacuum pack of yeast dont worry about it dry pack yeast has proven viable YEARS after BBF dates Live yeasts however are another matter and you really need to ensure a viable population by building up a starter population.

However Pitch the yeast ASAP, you have prepared a huge pot of simple sugar solution aka a feast for any mircolife that lands in/on it.. part of the reasoning behind pitching a population of billions of yeast is so they can out eat and out grow any other competing colonies of microlife that have also found the brew. Late pitching can give any unwanted microlife an opportunity to thrive.

 

[thegoatboy]

the yeast was out of date and it had written on it "keep at 4 degrees"

I didn't see that and its been in the shed for quite a few months, where temps are probably in the upper 20s

so it sounds like its probably best to bin it?

 

[Alside101]

what is your full setup. i have a peco but use a home made mash tun aswell

 

[thegoatboy]

peco boiler, a bucket with a tap, and two other buckets.

 

[Fil]

get some yeast in there asap,, if its an old smack pack or similar containing a live culture of yeast that you have then its possible you can bring on a viable population still after pitching the pack in a sterile circa 1.040 dme solution and building up again, but it will take a week or 2 if successful, meanwhile your brew is sat ultra vulnerable.

a dunk sparge where you preheat or draw hot water from a combi boiler into a bucket, and after draining over the kettle you dunk the grain bag in the bucket is a popular biab sparge method, some inventive folk have sourced large catering strainers to sit the bag in over the kettle so sparge liquor can be trickeld thru to rinse the grain.. an evening with a pint or 6 browsing biab methods online could be rewarding..

 

[Alside101]

peco boiler, a bucket with a tap, and two other buckets.

have you got any pics

 

[thegoatboy]

get some yeast in there asap,, if its an old smack pack or similar containing a live culture of yeast that you have then its possible you can bring on a viable population still after pitching the pack in a sterile circa 1.040 dme solution and building up again, but it will take a week or 2 if successful, meanwhile your brew is sat ultra vulnerable.
.

i took it off the boil last night at about 8.30 pm

plan was to pitch when it cooled this morning.

i have a different type of dry yeast here.

what will be the outcome if I use that?

 

[Fil]

sassions are defined by the yeast more than any other aspect of the brew so with an ale or lager yeast yeast you wont get the sourness, and to promote more fruity flavours i would be tempted to ferment at the warmer end of the range suggested for the yeast you have. but a beer is better than no beer and without pitching yeast your allowing other colonies of microlife that have inevitably gained access to your brew the opportunity to gain a foothold.

its outside my scope of reference but you may be able to inoculate the brew with some brett later on in the process still??

Or you could grab your oldest wooden spoon from the kitchen and try the 'magic stick' approach

 

[thegoatboy]

I panicked and I chucked in what I could find in the house. It's a pale ale yeast. S05?

If the other yeast comes tomorrow, can I chuck that in too?

Or just leave it as it is?

 

[Fil]

Sure, and it should have some impact, but US-05 will likely get off to a roaring start at warmer temps, So just how the yeast interact and contribute is difficult to predict. chances are though it will produce a memorable and distinct result you will never be able to replicate.. its just the way brewing goes sometimes at least you will have a story behind the brew if you can find someone who's eyes dont roll back when you start waxing on about your brews like i can..

 

[thegoatboy]

ha ha

all lessons learned.

"memorable and distinct result you will never be able to replicate" - not sure if that is good or bad. :-)

I need to look into sparging a bit more.

Looks like the 20l specified by greg was overkill.

 

[thegoatboy]

Well it was bubbling away as expected today. Extra yeast added.

Let's se how it goes

 

[foxbat]

what is the best process for sparging with a peco boiler?

Having tried a few BIAB sparge methods I've settled on the dunk as the one that gets me the highest efficiency and gives me the least stress.

After the mash lift up the bag, lightly squeeze and transfer to a bucket (a 10l fermenting bucket is the ideal size). Add sparge water - I use 5 litres. Leave for 15 minutes ish. Actually I don't leave it. I prod, stir and agitate the bag to make sure it gets a good consistent soak. Then lift up again, squeeze like mad and pour all liquid back to the boiler for the boil.

how long can you leave the beer waiting around before pitching yeast?

The no-chillers leave it overnight but the sooner the better is the answer. If you can't pitch right away then seal it as airtight as you can manage until you're ready.

 

[thegoatboy]

I used 20l water. left it soak in there for 20 mins at that temp, then flushed it through a few times.

but there was quite a bit left over after filling me boiler.

I left it overnight sealed up with the bubble filter on it before pitching the yeast later.

dunk sparge with less water will be my next effort i think.

 

[Fil]

as im sure your aware its a recursive process refining your brewday measurements to match your style equipment and performance (bhe), armed with the results of brew #1 brew #2 will edge closer to both gravity and volume targets, by the time you have brew #4 under your belt you will probably be spot on with both, Meanwhile keep your focus on your gravity target and dont worry too much on shooting wide of the volume target, for example 15l of on gravity target beer will suit you better than 25l sub 3% abv beer which may struggle to maintain a shelf life due to too little ethanol.

Consider in investing in a chiller, or read up on no-chill, chilling the beer quickly to pitching temps not only reduces the time errant microlife can gain access and establish a foot hold in the brew as well as encouraging a better cold break and kicking off the process that much quicker. No chill will allow you to continue as is for the most part but will reduce the risk from infections considerably.

 

[thegoatboy]

My plan was toto chill with ice, but due to delays it was late at night.

The second plan was to pitch in the morning, but issues with yeast.

Best laid plans eh

 

[Fil]

Its not a brewday without at least one minor thing going off plan I tend to make the same mistake time n time again, for ages it was loosing my no roll glass thermometers to rolling off my ad hoc brew day beer crate platforms on the patio, finally solved that by looping string over the top knob and hanging up the thermometer between uses, then shifting to a thermapen.. last few brews ive been forgetting the kettle finings, uncovering the fraction of a ptotofloc tab when clearing up DOH!! (twice ive done that now!!)