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hey guys...I recently aquired a 20L rubbermaid (with false bottom) and did my first AG with it yesterday...now my gravity reading was a bit hazy - 12 brix at 55 deg C I think...but I think this means, when adjusted for temp, that my preboil gravity was around 1.060 - once heat is accounted for...this is a bit higher than expected

just wondering how people find the rubbermaid's efficiency (when doing a continuous sparge)...because I'm thinking i was definitely above the predicted 75% i went with in brewsmith

Did you take a hydro SG? Your temp might be out. I have been playing with my neighbour's refrac... man that is a cool toy.

after breaking 2 hydrometers within a week i decided to invest in the refractometer...got the basic model with no temp conversion...really should have sourced a good conversion chart before beginning yesterday...

Might sound like a idiot but I have broken 3 glass hydrometers in under 12 months what is a refractometer and how much do they cost?

brewbeast wrote:hey guys...I recently aquired a 20L rubbermaid (with false bottom) and did my first AG with it yesterday...now my gravity reading was a bit hazy - 12 brix at 55 deg C I think...but I think this means, when adjusted for temp, that my preboil gravity was around 1.060 - once heat is accounted for...this is a bit higher than expected

just wondering how people find the rubbermaid's efficiency (when doing a continuous sparge)...because I'm thinking i was definitely above the predicted 75% i went with in brewsmith

My 10 gallon rubbermaid (see below sig block) and a copper sparge ring gives me 80 percent extraction efficiency no sweat. I set the Promash to 75% to be safe but I don't have any troubles exceeding that. Mind you, I've had a few years practice to get the mash and sparge process happening!!

Cheers,
TL

brewbeast wrote:hey guys...I recently aquired a 20L rubbermaid (with false bottom) and did my first AG with it yesterday...now my gravity reading was a bit hazy - 12 brix at 55 deg C I think...but I think this means, when adjusted for temp, that my preboil gravity was around 1.060 - once heat is accounted for...this is a bit higher than expected

just wondering how people find the rubbermaid's efficiency (when doing a continuous sparge)...because I'm thinking i was definitely above the predicted 75% i went with in brewsmith

Your reading is 1.048, heat is not a major factor when using a refractor which is alot of the reason that i use one when brewing, all you do to convert is take the brix reading and times it by 4 so 12 x 4 = 48 which means that by rights at 20*c a hydro should read 1.048..

cool thanks for that - 1.048, while a bit low on the efficiency, puts my beer well within the APA style i was aiming for

New Question on an old thread?

I'm considering retirement for my 50L rectangular Esky to go to a 10 Gallon Rubbermaid, main reason is, my grain bed is spread out & too shallow to be able to fly sparge effectively.

My question is though,
How close to the bottom is the out let on a Rubbermaid?
(I'm sure I have seen a pic on here somewhere but can't find it now)

Ivé looked ot the Coleman coolers & it is about an inch up from the bottom. Big problem....
No matter what sort of manifold you put in there it will not drain it self fully once it picks up a bit of air.
My current one is right on the bottom so I have a simple screen on it & a false bottom over that, it will drain just about every drop.

Cheers, Mick.

Hi Mick,
Have you considered trying a BIAB mate ?

Or... Using a sheeet of BIAB bag material (Swiss Veole from Spotlight) as a manifold, ie: line the esky with the voile ?

I heard the other day that its quite an efficient way to filter in a normal esky.

cheers,
Chris

edit : bloody spelling again

billybushcook wrote:Big problem....

I don't flysparge so I could easily be missing something here but what's the big problem? A couple litres of wort? So throw 50c more grain and a bit more water at it - numbers hit.

Bum wrote: what's the big problem?

The problem is that I'm a tight A@S# & don't like to waste a drop

But thx for your help guys.

Mick.