ILMSTMF
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2014
- Messages
- 534
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TL; DR. If you're lifting a heavy brew kettle, stop. Find a way to not need to lift it. If you hate the time-suck and / or the labor of cleaning, find a better way to do it.
My back hurts. I am grateful to @IslandLizard, @Noob_Brewer, and @LittleRiver who inspired me to rethink my process. The whole process. I hope others can learn from my mistakes.
BIAB, propane. I was striking in driveway. Doughing in / hoisting bag in garage. Returning to driveway to boil. Chilling on garage floor. Transferring from height in garage. Four team lifts of the heavy brew kettle. No more. I had to think about the steps of brew day to plan a new way to do things that would save my back.
• Water supply. Find a source of water nearby to the burner. So, I did. I had that in my garage but the whole point of changing my process was to avoid moving the heavy BK around. Front porch has a spigot so, let's use it. But, let's see how we can make that water supply multi-purpose... I bought hose quick connects for about $10 to make connecting stuff quicker (duh). I purchased a 25' potable water / RV hose for $10. If my BK had volume markings, filling it would be easier but, because it doesn't, I used a 1 gallon pitcher to transport 1 gallon at a time into the nearby BK. This process was still easier than my old method of getting water into the BK. For reference, I would divide the total strike water volume into two buckets. Carry them from the kitchen outside to the BK, dump in. I am sad that I might have to resume this process in the cold months when exterior hoses will be shut off. Until then...
• CREATING a different solution for hoisting the bag where the BK can remain in place atop the burner eliminated 2 of 4 lifts. For me, simplicity prevailed. An 8' A-frame aluminum ladder (light weight). Built a plank with an eye bolt but determined it didn't give as much lift height as I wanted. Instead, wrapped a simple chain around the top "step" of ladder, tightened the "loop" using a carabiner which allowed for a higher hoist point, S-hook from my pulley into one of the chain's links, all set. Why the extra height? Once the drain and squeeze (so sue me) were complete, I was able to easily lift the bag up and over the side arms of the ladder. No mess, no bag in the way for duration of the boil. That's just my preference. Sorry @LittleRiver ! :-D
All details here: #41
• Chilling. This is the second use of the nearby spigot. Quick connects. RV hose remained attached to supply, routed to IC inlet. I used a goofy slinky hose on the outlet to collect ~6 gallons of the chilling water. It will be used later for cleaning. *** After that, I didn't need to collect more water so, I threaded a garden hose onto the slinky hose and ran the outbound water to the curb. If I needed to, I could have connected a sprinkler and watered the lawn. That's 3 of 4 lifts eliminated.
• Transfer. I would normally transfer from a height in my garage. The BK's ball valve had a length of silicone attached with a wort aerator. It was a notable length to keep the splashing contained within the bucket FV. Well, I got me a new FV. Taller but wider than the bucket and holds a larger volume. The volume it allowed for naturally allowed for an easier way to minimize splashing out of the vessel. And that also aided in preventing the wort aerator from drowning in the wort being transferred in. You see, one needs to account for where that tubing will end at within the FV. A balancing act of keeping the wort all in the FV and also not letting that wort get so high as to submerse the tubing. So, I cut a shorter length of silicone and now the end sits a few inches below the opening of the FV. Wort stays in FV and never gets so high to drown the tubing / aerator.
Greed bonus! I went balls out and decided to tilt the BK once the pick up tube finished transferring the wort. I respect your preference, however, I want as much wort into FV as I can get; trub and all. So, because I had the "luxury" of the BK being on the burner stand, I was able to easily tilt it. Very little wort remained in the BK after this. At this point, all 4 lifts of the heavy BK have been eliminated.
• Enormous bonus - clean up! I hate clean up. This is the third use of the nearby spigot. *** I used to collect the first ~13 gallons of the IC outbound water when working in garage. I would carry those 3 buckets from garage, up stairs, and across the house to the shower where my cleaning would normally take place. Stupidly / wastefully, I would fill the entire 15 gallon BK to overflowing with Oxi. Let it soak, then open ball valve to drain out. Then repeat with hot rinse water. Again, to capacity. All brew day parts would get cleaned in the BK. Tedious and required bending. Plus, the hot water pressure in my shower is awful. So, I fixed the process. Capturing only the first ~6 gallons of IC outbound water to two buckets, I later dumped it into the BK to create an Oxi solution. This was after first blasting the BK and IC with the hose sprayer nozzle to break down hop debris. That was a big help! Usually would be difficult to get the debris off the IC. OK, so, 6 gallons into BK lifting only 3 gallons at a time to dump in. Then a simple sponge to scrub the entire surface of the BK, IC, whisk, etc. Drain out into buckets, dump the chemical solution to the curb. Blast rinse all parts inside the BK, probably didn't even get 3 gallons in there, drain, and dump on the lawn. Dry all parts with a terry cloth and put them away for storage. Done!
I cannot stress enough how much better this made the brew day. Normally, I would be scrubbing, rinsing, and draining into the night. Plus, an overnight air dry before all the stuff gets stored. Again, though, I will miss being able to do this in the colder months...
Think about your process, weigh pros and cons, figure out the pain points of your current process, and plan for how you can make everything more efficient. Aside from a few small hiccups, yesterday might have been the best brew day I've had. I plan to repeat that for every brew day to come.
I hope others are able to benefit from these ideas. Thanks!
My back hurts. I am grateful to @IslandLizard, @Noob_Brewer, and @LittleRiver who inspired me to rethink my process. The whole process. I hope others can learn from my mistakes.
BIAB, propane. I was striking in driveway. Doughing in / hoisting bag in garage. Returning to driveway to boil. Chilling on garage floor. Transferring from height in garage. Four team lifts of the heavy brew kettle. No more. I had to think about the steps of brew day to plan a new way to do things that would save my back.
• Water supply. Find a source of water nearby to the burner. So, I did. I had that in my garage but the whole point of changing my process was to avoid moving the heavy BK around. Front porch has a spigot so, let's use it. But, let's see how we can make that water supply multi-purpose... I bought hose quick connects for about $10 to make connecting stuff quicker (duh). I purchased a 25' potable water / RV hose for $10. If my BK had volume markings, filling it would be easier but, because it doesn't, I used a 1 gallon pitcher to transport 1 gallon at a time into the nearby BK. This process was still easier than my old method of getting water into the BK. For reference, I would divide the total strike water volume into two buckets. Carry them from the kitchen outside to the BK, dump in. I am sad that I might have to resume this process in the cold months when exterior hoses will be shut off. Until then...
• CREATING a different solution for hoisting the bag where the BK can remain in place atop the burner eliminated 2 of 4 lifts. For me, simplicity prevailed. An 8' A-frame aluminum ladder (light weight). Built a plank with an eye bolt but determined it didn't give as much lift height as I wanted. Instead, wrapped a simple chain around the top "step" of ladder, tightened the "loop" using a carabiner which allowed for a higher hoist point, S-hook from my pulley into one of the chain's links, all set. Why the extra height? Once the drain and squeeze (so sue me) were complete, I was able to easily lift the bag up and over the side arms of the ladder. No mess, no bag in the way for duration of the boil. That's just my preference. Sorry @LittleRiver ! :-D
All details here: #41
• Chilling. This is the second use of the nearby spigot. Quick connects. RV hose remained attached to supply, routed to IC inlet. I used a goofy slinky hose on the outlet to collect ~6 gallons of the chilling water. It will be used later for cleaning. *** After that, I didn't need to collect more water so, I threaded a garden hose onto the slinky hose and ran the outbound water to the curb. If I needed to, I could have connected a sprinkler and watered the lawn. That's 3 of 4 lifts eliminated.
• Transfer. I would normally transfer from a height in my garage. The BK's ball valve had a length of silicone attached with a wort aerator. It was a notable length to keep the splashing contained within the bucket FV. Well, I got me a new FV. Taller but wider than the bucket and holds a larger volume. The volume it allowed for naturally allowed for an easier way to minimize splashing out of the vessel. And that also aided in preventing the wort aerator from drowning in the wort being transferred in. You see, one needs to account for where that tubing will end at within the FV. A balancing act of keeping the wort all in the FV and also not letting that wort get so high as to submerse the tubing. So, I cut a shorter length of silicone and now the end sits a few inches below the opening of the FV. Wort stays in FV and never gets so high to drown the tubing / aerator.
Greed bonus! I went balls out and decided to tilt the BK once the pick up tube finished transferring the wort. I respect your preference, however, I want as much wort into FV as I can get; trub and all. So, because I had the "luxury" of the BK being on the burner stand, I was able to easily tilt it. Very little wort remained in the BK after this. At this point, all 4 lifts of the heavy BK have been eliminated.
• Enormous bonus - clean up! I hate clean up. This is the third use of the nearby spigot. *** I used to collect the first ~13 gallons of the IC outbound water when working in garage. I would carry those 3 buckets from garage, up stairs, and across the house to the shower where my cleaning would normally take place. Stupidly / wastefully, I would fill the entire 15 gallon BK to overflowing with Oxi. Let it soak, then open ball valve to drain out. Then repeat with hot rinse water. Again, to capacity. All brew day parts would get cleaned in the BK. Tedious and required bending. Plus, the hot water pressure in my shower is awful. So, I fixed the process. Capturing only the first ~6 gallons of IC outbound water to two buckets, I later dumped it into the BK to create an Oxi solution. This was after first blasting the BK and IC with the hose sprayer nozzle to break down hop debris. That was a big help! Usually would be difficult to get the debris off the IC. OK, so, 6 gallons into BK lifting only 3 gallons at a time to dump in. Then a simple sponge to scrub the entire surface of the BK, IC, whisk, etc. Drain out into buckets, dump the chemical solution to the curb. Blast rinse all parts inside the BK, probably didn't even get 3 gallons in there, drain, and dump on the lawn. Dry all parts with a terry cloth and put them away for storage. Done!
I cannot stress enough how much better this made the brew day. Normally, I would be scrubbing, rinsing, and draining into the night. Plus, an overnight air dry before all the stuff gets stored. Again, though, I will miss being able to do this in the colder months...
Think about your process, weigh pros and cons, figure out the pain points of your current process, and plan for how you can make everything more efficient. Aside from a few small hiccups, yesterday might have been the best brew day I've had. I plan to repeat that for every brew day to come.
I hope others are able to benefit from these ideas. Thanks!