Thoughts on Spike 10g pot

Adding the DME/LME at the end of the boil will help keep the color lighter…
Sneezles61

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I have both a 10 gal and a 15 gal kettle. I use the 10 gal most times. Although there are many times I wish it were a 11 or 12 gal. Like brewing a NEIPA with a ton of hops, I like to scale up the batch a bit to make sure I get a full 5 gal out of the fermenter after the hops and yeast cake soak up what they need.

My set up looks dodgy, but I put the burner (hellfire) and brew kettle (SS brew tech) on the basement bulkhead cement steps, open the 2 steel doors then crack a couple of windows in the basement to create a bit of air flow. I can then position the fermenter on the basement floor just inside the bottom doors and when the wort is cooled ( immersion chiller hose runs out to the driveway), I can drain the kettle directly into the fermenter and eliminate the need to stumble around the steps with the wort.

Definitely not the ideal set up but for now its what works. Still no fun lifting the fermenter in and out of the chest freezer (and at the same time bumping my head on a low drain pipe running through the space).

I also have hardwired smoke/ CO detectors in the basement and throughout the house so I will know if something is blowing in the wrong direction.

Next house it will be better I keep telling myself.

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If you go this route which is known as Late Extract Addition (VERY scientific name) you’ll still need to add around 25% of extract early to help with hop utilization. HOWEVER, it’s a double edged sword. Since the gravity of the wort is lower you’ll get MORE utilization. The higher the gravity of wort the less utilization you get. You can combat this by using 15%-20% less bittering hops.

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