Well last night my parts and HERMS coil from Stainless Brewing arrived! I managed to get the holes marked and drilled in the HLT and did a test fitting to make sure everything lined up. Now I have to clean up the holes and mount it permanently. I also got the inlet bulkhead installed in the MLT and checked the fit of the aluminum lid I bought. It fit perfectly! I can already tell that these updates are going to make mashing SO much easier. The old lid was very cumbersome to screw on and off without disturbing the hose laying on the grain bed. If you are using a rubber maid 10 gallon cooler you should pick one up. To help it hold the heat I plan to cut a couple of circles out of some reflectix insulation and fit them on top using the handle to hold them in place. This order also contained a few cam-lock connectors that will allow me to reorganize my hose lay out and have 2 - 18" ones to lower heat loss. I will post some pictures tomorrow.
My first Brew using the electric system has been kegged and is being forced carbonated! I am trying to slow carbonate this time in a effort to eliminate a slight metallic taste in the finish of some of my previous brews. I found a chart on-line that I am using to ensure I do not over carbonate. The beer smelled great and the taste I took from the hydrometer tube was pretty good. I got really good attenuation and wound up with an FG of 1.005 putting the ABV at about 3.5. I think the kit called for 4.5...... I know the reason for the problem is that I misread the site glass on the boil kettle and wound up with too much volume. Then I made the mistake of not taking an FG reading until after I drained into the fermenter. Still can't believe I goofed this up! Basic stuff! I should have known when I came up with 6 gallons of wort after a 70 minute boil instead of 5.5. From now on I am going to base my boil time on gravity readings and not time.
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