New Shiny and US Red Ale BIAB

[Spapro]

I have been very happy with the Peco boiler but the Birthday Fairy recently brought me a shiny new 50l stainless boiler with hop filter from the Malt Miller (the £88 one). I have transplanted my 2 peco elements into the new boiler and today took if for a test run.

Brewed an Amarillo/Centennial Red Ale BIAB:

4.5kg Maris Otter Malt
500g Cara Red Malt
60g Black Roast Barley

60 mins - 22g Columbus
10 mins - 10g Centennial and 10g Amarillo
5 mins - 10g Centennial and 10g Amarillo
0 mins - 20g Centennial and 20g Amarillo

Dry Hop - 30g Amarillo for 5 days before bottling.

Yeast - Safale US 05

Expected Gravity was 1.048 for 23litres - achieved 1.050 with 21.5 litres so not bad for a first run.

ABV: 4.9%
Bitterness: 43 IBU's
Colour: 19.3 EBC

Mashed for 1hour 10 mins at 66°C

Expected it to look more red but will see how it looks in a pint glass in due course.

Very happy with the boiler, a real pleasure to use and top quality and value from the Malt Miller :thumb:.

The larger 50l size of the new boiler should allow me to do away with a dunk sparge in a spare FV which I have been doing with the 32litre Peco boiler.

Here are some piccies:

 

[yeastinfection]

shiny . i love shiny :thumb:

 

[Leon103]

Beer and boiler look good.
Think my next investment will be a shiny boiler.
So you do a full mash?

 

[DoctorMick]

That recipe looks amazing! I absolutely love centennial.

 

[MyQul]

SHINY! SHINY!

When you tranplanted the elements it you have to cut any new holes/ do any drilling?

 

[Leon103]

SHINY! SHINY!

When you tranplanted the elements it you have to cut any new holes/ do any drilling?

Malt miller cut holes for you.

 

[Clint]

Great write up! A couple of questions. ...do the elements just plug into a mains socket (sorry if this is painfully obvious to some of you!),Does the bag of grains just sit in the vessel on top of the elements? How do you measure/regulate temp? How do you measure litres? Sorry again but I'm contemplating "having a go" alongside the kits..

Cheers

Clint

 

[Leon103]

Great write up! A couple of questions. ...do the elements just plug into a mains socket (sorry if this is painfully obvious to some of you!),Does the bag of grains just sit in the vessel on top of the elements? How do you measure/regulate temp? How do you measure litres? Sorry again but I'm contemplating "having a go" alongside the kits..

Cheers

Clint

Not my kit but yes they just plug in but be careful overloading.
The elements aren't turned on with the bag in.
You would need a sight glass to know how many litres.

 

[Spapro]

Beer and boiler look good.
Think my next investment will be a shiny boiler.
So you do a full mash?

Hi Leon,

I did everything in the one pot, 35litres of liquor at start, no seperate rinse or dunk sparge stage as I used to do with the Peco due to its smaller size.

I did squeeze the grain bag a little after it had drained but nothing excessive.

Efficiency looks fine to me - I planned on a 60 minute mash but it probably got left for 70 minutes or so.

 

[Spapro]

Great write up! A couple of questions. ...do the elements just plug into a mains socket (sorry if this is painfully obvious to some of you!),Does the bag of grains just sit in the vessel on top of the elements? How do you measure/regulate temp? How do you measure litres? Sorry again but I'm contemplating "having a go" alongside the kits..

Cheers

Clint

Leon has pretty much answered your queries but here is my two penneth !

As Leon mentioned you do just plug in the elements into a normal 3 pin socket but you do need to be careful not too overload your house electrics/ciruits. I have 2 different circuits in my garage - as my main house electrics are a bit old. If in doubt obviously consult an electrician.

Both elements on to heat the liquor for the mash to 71-72°C. Then turn elements off and add the grain bag and grain - mash starts at circa 66-67°C. Cover the boiler in sleeping bags/duvet covers etc to maintain the temp during the mash as bets you can.

Mash for one hour or so, then remove the grain bag and turn both elements on to bring to the boil. Once boiling I turn one element off for the duration of the boil. One element is fine to hold the rolling boil.

You can run on just the one element, which works fine but 2 elements does really speed things up during the heating stages.

Regarding measuring litres, some use a dip stick with key markings on it. I filled to 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 litres and tape measured down from the rim - I will be attempting to DIY etch the inside of my boiler with the required markings using a 9v battery, salt water and cotton buds - looks quite straight forward looking at you tube videos. I can make some cut-vinyl stencils/decals at work for this job.

 

[Spapro]

SHINY! SHINY!

When you tranplanted the elements it you have to cut any new holes/ do any drilling?

I'd already bought the Q-max hole cutter as I was looking at a different supplier who charged £10 per hole. The tool was around £17 delivered.

The Malt Miller only charges £5 per hole so in hindsight probably easier to get them to do it.

I bought a 1.5" (38mm) Q-max punch tool, which was a little small - had to open the hole a little using a drill bit in my drill. End result is fine but was alittle fiddly.

I had read on here a 40mm hole can be a bit roomy for the Peco element but does work - I assume if the supplier cuts the hole they use a 40mm tool.

The Q-max tool itself is easy to use - drill a quick guide hole (5mm, then 7mm, then 10mm drill bit size) then use the Q-max tool. Good video here: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=523GUbGnruA[/ame]

 

[Leon103]

Hi Leon,

I did everything in the one pot, 35litres of liquor at start, no seperate rinse or dunk sparge stage as I used to do with the Peco due to its smaller size.

I did squeeze the grain bag a little after it had drained but nothing excessive.

Efficiency looks fine to me - I planned on a 60 minute mash but it probably got left for 70 minutes or so.

I noticed you can get a 7.5kw gas burner from them for£28 which I though was reasonable. I would go down that route to save electric and I doubt my circuit will cope with two elements running. A project for another time.

 

[Spapro]

I guess gas 'vs' electric is a personal choice, I am lucky I was able to tweak electrics where I brew without too much hassle to run 2 elements so electric makes sense to me (no running out of gas and having to pickup gas bottles etc).

Cost wise I reckon the electric costs me £0.93 per brew (based on 9kWh of electric at 10.36p per kWh). This is running 2 elements for heating periods and the single element for the 1 hour boil.

No idea how this cost compares with the cost of gas per brew ?

 

[Clint]

Thanks I get it now! Doesn't the weight of the grain bag bother the elements? Sounds a palaver trying to mark the vessel....Couldn't you mark it with a Dremel on the outside?

Cheers

Clint

 

[Leon103]

I guess gas 'vs' electric is a personal choice, I am lucky I was able to tweak electrics where I brew without too much hassle to run 2 elements so electric makes sense to me (no running out of gas and having to pickup gas bottles etc).

Cost wise I reckon the electric costs me �£0.93 per brew (based on 9kWh of electric at 10.36p per kWh). This is running 2 elements for heating periods and the single element for the 1 hour boil.

No idea how this cost compares with the cost of gas per brew ?

Electric would be easier and just thought it would be more expensive to run. I would have to get expert opinion on my electrics. The house has just been upgraded, the garage needs doing next.

 

[Spapro]

Thanks I get it now! Doesn't the weight of the grain bag bother the elements? Sounds a palaver trying to mark the vessel....Couldn't you mark it with a Dremel on the outside?

The grain kind of floats when stirred into the liquor (bag already in place round the rim of the boiler). I don't get the impression it puts any real pressure on the elements - didn't with the Peco boiler and that was much less rigid than the stainless.

Marking the outside would mean lots of guesswork as the sides are solid so you cannot see the level of the liquid inside from the outside and vice versa. Etched the boiler using the 9v battery and salt water/cotton buds this evening - quite straight forward and pleased with the results. Was able to make the 'stencil' at work so quite lucky there.

Heres some pics:

 

[Spapro]

Electric would be easier and just thought it would be more expensive to run. I would have to get expert opinion on my electrics. The house has just been upgraded, the garage needs doing next.

The garage circuit breaker(s) (trip switches) in your main consumer unit (fusebox) will be rated at 16amps or 32amps or something - what is the rating of the circuit breaker for your garage ?

Each Peco element draws just under 10amps (2400watts divided by 240volts).

 

[Clint]

A great job there fella!

Cheers

Clint

 

[Leon103]

The garage circuit breaker(s) (trip switches) in your main consumer unit (fusebox) will be rated at 16amps or 32amps or something - what is the rating of the circuit breaker for your garage ?

Each Peco element draws just under 12amps (2700watts divided by 240volts).

To answer the question, I don't know. Had a new unit a few months ago and haven't looked at it.

 

[Spapro]

To answer the question, I don't know. Had a new unit a few months ago and haven't looked at it.

Worth checking - just check the number printed on the garage circuit breaker.

Just checked and the peco elements are actually 2.4kw (rather than 2.7 as I thought).

So they actually draw 10amps not 12, two elements running together draw 20 amps and my leccie costs me a bit less than the 93p I quoted above per brew.