That’s very true. Unless you’re doing a kettle sour, in which case you want to bring it back down to under 120F after doing a good mash-out to pasteurize the grain bed. :cheers:
When I do biab I fire up the burner the same time I pull the bag, it makes no sense to cool it down. I guess if I didn’t have an extra pot I would cold sparge or more probably do a full volume mash.
now that there is a fork in the process[ :cheers:
Funny you mention it I have an on demand hot water heater with a digital read out. How about set it for 160 fill the tun then sparge no waiting for water to heat or hlt
I’m trying to find an on demand that can get me to at least 170 or above.
This would be very beneficial to say the least.
Mines a enviro temp I bieleve. Got it from sportsman’s guide. I’m surprised nobody has mentioned a CFC to simplify chilling. That will be added soon as I get time to put one together.
This is my problem as well…I,ve been tring here and there to…Modulize? is that a word? my brew gear by trying to set it up on rolling carts and such… trying to make everything as easy to move arouns as posssible
:cheers:
I would think a brewer could discard the original temp settings from a water heater and put a control that can get higher temps…… Be careful and have a way fer it to purge should it get out of control…. thats whats so great about brewing…. these neat gizmo’s you can come up with, while enjoying a pint or two! Sneezles61 :cheers:
Seems to me that sparging with cold water would work but I do agree that some efficiency would be lost. We are basically making a kind of sugar water to ferment. Ever try to mix table sugar in cold water? Doesn’t work as well as in hot water.
About water heaters, the on demand might work. Even if you couldn’t get the water as hot as you need ti would be a good start and cut down on the time. With a regular water heater, ever see the crud that come out of one when you drain it? If it was dedicated and you drained it often or filtered the water on the way in well then that sounds good. I have seen them installed with the supply going in the drain just to stir the junk up on the bottom. Supposedly this makes the tank last longer.
Oh yes, I drain our domestic water heater once a year because of that stuff/crud. I would get a smaller 20 gallon that will be only fer brewing. yes it will need to be turned on/off when needed. Put a site glass on it so you can monitor water amounts? Just thinking about simplifying… Sneezles61 :blah:
Kai showed only about a 1% efficiency loss from cold water sparging. That’s also been my experience. Your sugar example is only valid if you’re at the limit of solubility of sugar in cold water. Wort is nowhere near that.
A cold water sparge will simplify the process. N0-sparge will simplify it even more. Yep, you’ll lose some efficiency. You have to decide if it’s worth the effort.
Opinions vary, but I’ve read several posts that claim no-sparge gives more malt character. I’ve also read that it has no effect on malt character. Decisions, decisions.
Kai showed only about a 1% efficiency loss from cold water sparging. That’s also been my experience. Your sugar example is only valid if you’re at the limit of solubility of sugar in cold water. Wort is nowhere near that.[/quote]
I’m impressed that someone could figure there was a 1% difference. Who is Kai?
My system is a HERMS so the HLT also raises the mash temp. I do find that is is difficult and slow to use it for that and stick to a single step mash most of the time. So sparging with cold water wouldn’t really save much time since it heats the MT at the same time (3 burners) but would save a lot of propane.
LOL. Kai Troester is a famous homebrewer from about 10 years ago who unfortunately does not post here anymore. He went by username “Kaiser”. Yeah, looks like he hasn’t logged in since 2011.
You’re familiar these days with all the work Marshall Schott of Brulosophy.com has been doing lately? Yeah, well, before that, there was Kai. He ran a gazillion experiments, a lot of them having to do with mash temperatures and decoctions. Unfortunately it seems I am no longer able to connect to his Wiki site, but I do see he has been maintaining braukaiser.com as recently as 2012…
Again, I’m not sure what he’s up to these days. But suffice it to say: he’s one very very smart dude.
LOL. Kai Troester is a famous homebrewer from about 10 years ago who unfortunately does not post here anymore. He went by username “Kaiser”. Yeah, looks like he hasn’t logged in since 2011.
You’re familiar these days with all the work Marshall Schott of Brulosophy.com has been doing lately? Yeah, well, before that, there was Kai. He ran a gazillion experiments, a lot of them having to do with mash temperatures and decoctions. Unfortunately it seems I am no longer able to connect to his Wiki site, but I do see he has been maintaining braukaiser.com as recently as 2012…
Again, I’m not sure what he’s up to these days. But suffice it to say: he’s one very very smart dude.[/quote]
Thanks Dave. I do remember Kaiser here. It is nice to have people like that to take the time and effort to do experiments that help us all.I don’t mind some simple ones but just can’t bring myself to get that scientific about it. Brew it up and see what happens. Not very often do I come up with one that’s not drinkable and certainly better than the stuff from the corner store.
Did bookmark the braukieser link. There is a design for a PWM controlled stir plate from May 2013. Over my head or more like I glazed over reading it and I took electronics once upon a time.
LOL. Kai Troester is a famous homebrewer from about 10 years ago who unfortunately does not post here anymore. He went by username “Kaiser”. Yeah, looks like he hasn’t logged in since 2011.
You’re familiar these days with all the work Marshall Schott of Brulosophy.com has been doing lately? Yeah, well, before that, there was Kai. He ran a gazillion experiments, a lot of them having to do with mash temperatures and decoctions. Unfortunately it seems I am no longer able to connect to his Wiki site, but I do see he has been maintaining braukaiser.com as recently as 2012…
Again, I’m not sure what he’s up to these days. But suffice it to say: he’s one very very smart dude.[/quote]
It is sad he doesn’t post anymore. I don’t see him on AHA or HomeBrewTalk anymore either. I wonder if he is still brewing at all…
LOL. Kai Troester is a famous homebrewer from about 10 years ago who unfortunately does not post here anymore. He went by username “Kaiser”. Yeah, looks like he hasn’t logged in since 2011.
You’re familiar these days with all the work Marshall Schott of Brulosophy.com has been doing lately? Yeah, well, before that, there was Kai. He ran a gazillion experiments, a lot of them having to do with mash temperatures and decoctions. Unfortunately it seems I am no longer able to connect to his Wiki site, but I do see he has been maintaining braukaiser.com as recently as 2012…
Again, I’m not sure what he’s up to these days. But suffice it to say: he’s one very very smart dude.[/quote]
And before Kai and Marshall, there was me…
Last time I spoke with him, not much. Job and family were his priorities. And I think he became a bit disenchanted with the homebrew community.
Well that just goes without saying, doesn’t it? Mr. “Life begins at… 1.060”. 
I can understand Kai’s position if that’s true. This homebrewing obsession is a fine line for me as well. I have taken a couple of hiatuses already over the years. I’ve only brewed probably 3 or 4 times this year. Also I might never make it to NHC, ever. Not that I don’t want to, but more just that I don’t want to THAT much.
And then after a while, you can catch the bug again. Or not. Life is just like that sometimes.
Well that just goes without saying, doesn’t it? Mr. “Life begins at… 1.060”.
I can understand Kai’s position if that’s true. This homebrewing obsession is a fine line for me as well. I have taken a couple of hiatuses already over the years. I’ve only brewed probably 3 or 4 times this year. Also I might never make it to NHC, ever. Not that I don’t want to, but more just that I don’t want to THAT much.
And then after a while, you can catch the bug again. Or not. Life is just like that sometimes.[/quote]
It’s interesting that Kai’s withdrawal from the homebrewing world seemed to happen after he spoke at an NHC. He never said it, but I got the impression he was somewhat disillusioned.
