Collecting Wort

Ok, here is a picture of the wort collection from one of my brewdays. As you can see, the worlds cheapest mashtun is being used in a high tech siphon gravity feed system. It is my belief that the fermenter I am using is made for winemaking, but it was the only thing I could really use here. And, it works fine. Previously I had used glass carboys, but I have none at the moment.

The collection of the wort is slow. Tube diameter plays an important role in this, and I have to make do with what I have.

All in all it seems to work out fine. I was going to go through the trouble of drilling a hole in the cooler, and have the runnings feed out of the bottom. But, siphoning works just as well. I do not have to worry about sanitation (starting the siphon) since it is a pre-boil process step.

This type of all-grain system could not get any simpler!

Chill Haze

It seems I have my first case of chill haze, and the symptoms are obvious. My beer seemed to have dropped clear in the third week of it being bottled, and I was thrilled. Unfortunately, once it cools in the refridgerator, things get murky.

The sad part is that I had Whirlfloc on hand for all of my recent brews, but I had forgotten to put it in for the last two out of three batches. So, we will see if the All-Simcoe IPA (no whirlfloc) retains a chill haze quality or not. My last batch I did remember to put it in, I guess I will know in a month or so.

From what has been read, it seems that gelatin, whirlfloc, and irish moss can sometimes solve the problem. But, cold filtering will usually always solve the problem. Since I do not have the means, I will find another way.

The cause of the problem can be everything from what the barley farmer did, to protein content, to tannins, to the maltsters...etc.