26.5 Litres of a new brew in the fermentation cupboard.
A big update to the process towards trying to get bigger batch sizes, and also a bit of an experiment in trying to get best utilisation after listening to Glen Tinseth and John Palmer discussing that hop utilisation isn't linked to gravity but the proteins in the wort.
The boilers comfortably hold 26 litres without risking boilerover, the fermentaiton bin has 28 litres this time (1.5 litre dead space). I think going to 29 litres may be ok in the fermentation bin which would give a maximum batch size of 27.5 litres.
Tasting this brew during the boil seemed to be quite bitter so cut the hops back and added a few more finishing hops. The big flaw in the process was trying to boil (12 + 14 in the primary boil) and 14 litres (secondary boil)- but the left over wort cooled to 50deg between the sparge and draining one of the boilers. The time to get back to boiling with the hops left in the boiler wasn't insignificant.
Proposal for the next process:
T0:
T15: - as soon as the first 12 litres of wort is sparged begin boiling for 45 minutes - no hops (A)
T~30: begin boiling
- carry on sparging and collect next 14 litres of boiler
- carry on sparging and collect 12 litres of wort.
T~60: add pipes/immersion chiller for sterilisation
T~75: begin draining wort from (A) into fermentation bin and cool to 37deg
T~90: begin boiling 14L wort with medium gravity and hops (B) and 12L with low gravity (C)
T~165: drain into fermentation bin and cool.
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