Homebrewers - Whats in the fermenter?

[kaisersozei]

Originally Posted by cricky101

I ordered some Falconer's Flight hops today for a future pale ale or IPA. Never tried them before. Anyone used them or know of a commercial beer that uses them I may be able to find? The descriptions I've found make them sound really tasty.

It's a pelletized blend of American NW hops, that includes Citra, Simcoe, Sorachi Ace, Columbus & Cascades, iirc. The only commercial use I've found is from Maui Brewing, they did a limited release IPA earlier this year.

Originally Posted by mmblz

Brewed once years ago, hoping to try again sometime in the next year.

How useful is a built in spigot and thermometer on the brew pot? Seems like it would definitely be nice but I'm guessing far from essential?

How important is a wort chiller?

Do it!

A spigot & thermometer are very useful for your hot liquor tank if you are doing an all-grain batch--in that process, you have to heat the mash/sparge water to a certain temperature and then add it to the grains. Since many homebrewers use a gravity-fed system, where the HLT sits higher than the mash tun, the spigot comes in handy. On the other hand, I've been brewing for 20 years and don't have a spigot on my brewpot, so you can definitely do without. Once I get old & weak, lifting 5-6 gallons of liquid to dump it into the fermenter might be a challenge, but until then I get by.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/2011/02...grain-brewing/

On the other hand, I love my wortchiller. All of my brew sessions are full 6 or 7 gallon boils, so getting that volume of liquid to cool down quickly to avoid contamination would be impossible without the wortchiller. If you are only doing a partial boil with an extract batch, you can probably get by with using an ice bath or adding cold water to the fermenter before dumping in the wort. A full boil gives you better hop utilization, meaning you won't need as much in the boil so your ingredients are cheaper, too. I would definitely spring for a wortchilller!

Good luck!