Cooling/volume questions

[jmoney05]

First, I finally got a propane burner, the dark star, and started brewing with that. I noticed that my beer is a lot darker so I am going to upgrade to a 10 gallon pot. Will I need to change around anything for extract kits if I start with 6 gallons instead of 2.5?


My other issue is with cooling. I have a wort chiller now and it does cool off the wort...in a couple of minutes. Because it is under 100 so fast I end up with a lot more sludge in the fermenter. Is there any harm in removing the chiller once the wort is under 100 and then placing a lid over the pot, allowing the wort to sit for 30-45 minutes before transferring to a primary. Additionally, is it ok to let the wort sit in the fermenter for several hours before hitting it with 02 and pouring in the yeast? I seem to be pitching way to early and it's mod my nervousness about leaving the wort with just foil over the airlock.

 

[duboman]

So basically with the propane burner and larger pot you can begin doing full boils instead of partial boils. You can also do late extract additions to keep the color more true. This means you add 1/3-1/2 extract at beginning of boil and the rest at like 10 minutes to flameout. Also be sure you are removing the pot or dropping the flame so you do not scorch the extract as it goes in.

There will be some adjustment to the hops necessary due to better hop utilization from the full boil volume. The wort chiller is still fine but your chill time will increase due to the larger volume of wort. Ideally you allow the chiller to go as low as possible. In other words if your water source is 70F then you should chill until the wort equals 70. You can also set up a pre-chiller to go lower using ice. Some people will also freeze water bottles, sanitize them and drop them in the cool wort to go lower as well. Others will place the vessel in a fridge until pitching temp is reached.

As you can see there are a lot of ways to go but the most important is to pitch cold and allow to warm to desired temperature of fermentation.

 

[jmoney05]

Should I cover the wort at some point to prevent contamination when cooling under 100?

 

[duboman]

Should I cover the wort at some point to prevent contamination when cooling under 100?

You can but I've never done it and I see no issues with contamination. Covering the pot will actually slow the cooling process down as you are retaining the heat with the lid.