Brew in a Bag Tips & Tricks 

I used a grinder to smooth out the edges. Never got the bag caught. I got the idea for the ladder after watching Alton Brown make one for his fried turkey.

No, I do not. It was one of those things I've since corrected since making the video.

I would, but the last time I did I had people gagging at the smell.

@@Hypobrew I brew with my smaller 3 gallon pot on the stove. The smell doesn't bother my wife since she loves my beer from extract. It use to bother the children, but their all grown and out of the house. I just figured I'd give it a go.

The end of the probe is rounded. If you plan on picking up a weldless thermometer make sure you get one with a rounded end.

Never thought have that. Have you "dunked"? If so, how did it turn out?

HypoBrew I recently did a full volume, dunk sparge and fly sparge on exactly the same recipe and all came out at 79 percent efficiency. I was surprised. I'll repeat the experiment in a few months to see if it happens the same.

I use a second kettle with a bowl placed inside (turned upside down) and pull my bag , let it drain a bit and then place it in that second kettle to let it drain (you could squeeze if desired) . Meanwhile, I've heated up a small volume of water to 160 and pour over my draining grains, let it drain some more (the wort is heating up towards boil at this point). I collect all the drained wort and pour it back in my kettle. That process resulted in 84% eff. Gave me something do to while the primary kettle was reaching boil temps.

@@CountDrunkula Did you ever complete any more efficiency testing?

Yes. I did the same experiments and the fly and dunk sparges were the same and the full volume a tiny bit less after the squeeze only by a percent lower so well within bounds of error. Recently I forgot to heat water for the sparge and was really surprised to find out that it didn't make a difference - you can sparge with cold water. After that I did some searching and found lots of people saying the same thing and heard it on Basic Brewing's podcast. You've still got to heat the water for the boil so there's no real gain, but it's good to know it's ok to go on. When I got a refractometer recently that really made things more exciting. I've been brewing batches 40% bigger than my boil pot so making a more concentrated wort and really expected a big efficiency hit. When the pot was filled I sparged a little and found that the wort was still coming out at 1.030 so I kept sparging until it was at 1.012 and boiled it in a different pot. Not ideal but pleasing enough. Without the extra wort my efficiency was 80%, with it 85%. I love the refractometer.

I did (and typically do) a 5 gallon batch. I did not sparge. As per your high gravity question that depends on the size of your kettle, which determines how much grain you can fit. I would guess you can go north of 18 pounds of grain in a 15 gallon kettle. I once made a Quad but I put in a pound of dark candi sugar and 1/2 pound of turbinado sugar.

specialized41 No. It's the steam tray/bottom from a tamale pot. I don't see why a pizza plate wouldn't work though. it would just have to be pretty sturdy.

It was the steamer tray from a 32-quart tamale pot. You can read my post about the pot here: hypobrew.com/index.php/2014/01/18/my-23-brew-kettle/

HypoBrew I understand. What did you use to get the steamer tray out of the hot wort before the boil? I’m assuming you didn’t reach in and grab it.

yambor44 I use my paddle to knock it upright. It pokes up out of the wort. I then use my silicon gloves to grab it.

HypoBrew perfect! Thank you.

...possibly...

I do not.

@@Hypobrew Why's that mate ?

No, I don't.

No sparge

Colin Parkinson True, but I don't trust those clamps enough.

Then he probably has to climb on ladder to mix the thing ...people just try to be over smart poop fly