I brewed my first batch of beer (IPA) yesterday and have some questions for people with more experience. I have beginner level equipment and did a partial grain w extract batch. 1. Recommended way to cool your wort quickly? I used an ice bath but that seemed to take a while 2. To whirlpool, do you swirl the beer in a circular motion for several minutes and then let sit or do you swirl it again once in awhile? 3. Best way to transfer wort to primary fermenter? I used an auto siphon into a funnel with a screen which got clogged immediately and then attached a hop bag to the end of the hose which also didn't work very well. Ive read of people using hop spiders but I was also told they can limit the hop utilization. Thank you in advance!
Ice baths are a cruel joke played on new brewers. Look into immersion chillers as a logical next step, assuming you have relatively cool tap water. If you are whirlpooling to get the hot break/hops/etc to settle in the middle, just get it going and then let it settle. If you are whirlpooling to increase hop utilization, the more you keep it moving, the better (generally). I pour through one of these... Hops will clog it, but it's easy enough to turn upside down to clear.
1. If you don't have a heat exchanger you should probably get one if you think you're going to continue - very necessary. When I started I used to transfer to my bucket and put it in the tub surrounded by ice and water. Buying the ice was fairly expensive. 2. Whirlpool once, get it going - it will only go so fast - and then just let it go. Allow it time to stop and settle. 3. I never worried about transferring too much trub, a little is OK. p.s. - I see VikeMan beat me to it. You should probably follow him, he's one of the best sources of information we've got here on BA.
#1 - Agree that immersion chiller should be the next equipment item that you purchase. #2 - I don't whirlpool, so I can't advise on that, but see #3. #3 - I have a strainer like VikeMan pictured, and I use it to separate trub from wort. (It does get clogged, but it's easy enough to dump and restart.) The strainer is also a good device to aerate your wort while it passes through and falls into the fermentor. I use a carboy as my fermentor, so my strainer fits perfectly into my funnel. I don't whirlpool so I pour from the brew kettle by manhandling the kettle while pouring. A five-gallon batch is probably the max that I care to lift and pour, so if you are able to handle that kind of weight, pouring is good. (Anything heavier than that, you're on your own to risk a hernia or sprained back.) **Regardless of whether you use a bucket or a carboy as your fermentor, this transfer pouring process is more safely done if a second pair of hands is available to hold the strainer (and funnel if using a carboy).**
Much appreciated!!! I am definitely going to continue brewing so I will look into a immersion chiller
What temp would you recommend whitlpooling for increased hop utilization? From the research I did it sounded like around 170 was a good temp but there were many different opinions.
To maximize bitterness, as hot as possible. But that's not usually the real purpose of whirlpools/hopstands. Usually, it's to maximize hop aromas. There are many aroma compounds contained in hops. They are all volatile and have different temperatures at which they tend to start to volatilize (i.e. escape into the air). But in general, it's a battle between extracting the compounds into the wort vs. subsequently losing them to the air. Unfortunately, hotter temperatures favor both. I tend to split my whirlpool/hopstand additions, adding half at flameout, and half once the cooling wort is down to 150F. But there are many different strategies, and I'm sure others can tell you about how they do it.
Just a few more questions. Do you recomend transferring the wort to a secondary fermenter? The wort is currently in a plastic 5 gallon conatiner and I was planning to transfer into the glass carboy and dry hop in there. Also, if I transfer it into the secondary fermenter, can I strain out some of the true while I transfer? Thanks again!
I dry hop in a keg as the secondary. But I also do the transfers closed, pushed by CO2. If I didn't do that, I'd dry hop in the primary. You don't have to transfer to another container to dry hop. The trick is to rack to the new vessel without picking up much trub. That's normally done by keeping the level of the racking device's (siphon, racking arm, or whatever) opening above the level of the trub.
