Does anyone use a screen on top of their BK while brewing outdoors? Lids are a n-no, but i cant see why a screen would do any harm. Especially if you’re trying to keep things from flying into the pot.
Welcome to the forum and yes, I have used a screen from a window as a bug barrier on the kettle. But you can use a lid propped to allow reasonable ventilation, as well.
Cheers!
You can use either a screen or a slightly open lid (15% is what I usually hear quoted) but I haven’t found a need for either.
I will match your first post with my first post. I have a lot of trees near my brewing area and windy days toss around a lot of debris such as leaves and pine needles. I will use a mesh splatter screen from time to time to make sure nothing gets in the kettle.
I bought this - Amazon.com
It fits nicely on my 10 gallon kettle. I don’t think it would work for a kettle larger than 10 gallons.
Nice device there and it doubles for frying foods!
Welcome also to the forum. Glad to see new folks participating and joining the hobby (don’t mind us old guys - we have little else to do and we are fairly opinionated!)
Nice device there and it doubles for frying foods!
Welcome also to the forum. Glad to see new folks participating and joining the hobby (don’t mind us old guys - we have little else to do and we are fairly opinionated!)
I have several large maple trees in my yard. I don’t think I’ve made many beers that haven’t had at least one leaf in them by the end. Bubble Bees, wasps, honey bees too and none of them has ever caused any real problems. I would likely draw the line at a squirrels, rabbits or chipmunks but so far they haven’t tried to jump in.
I’m a pretty laid back brewer though. 8)
Paul
I recall touring a small scale distillery just over the Kentucky line. The amount of ‘interesting’ life forms in the wash was fairly gross. The finished product was outstanding.
There is a difference, however. That still will fix a host of evils (and cause a few? ;) ) Bees in the boil might be analogous. But once you start running the wort chiller, bugs, pollen, dust, all become persona non grata in the kettle. Sanitation must be observed at this point.
Agreed
And it occurs to me that this (covering while chilling) is a great application for aluminum foil. It’s sterile right off the roll, easy to fit over your whole rig, and will keep everything from falling in. Aluminum foil is one of the most underrated tools in the brewer’s kit.
There is no problem with having a lid on your kettle during portions of the boil. However the duration that the lid needs to be off the kettle does vary in accordance with the grist composition. While a maximum of about 30 minutes is all that is required to remove any existing DMS in your wort, the remainder of the boil period can be fully covered with no ill effect.
Covering the kettle is actually a useful measure for reducing heat stress on your wort. With the lid on, the heat input can be reduced. Any SMM in the wort is still converted to DMS at the same rate as a full open boil as long as your wort is still at boil temperature. As soon as you open the lid and resume a good rolling boil, the DMS will be expelled in about another 30 minutes.
While I understand your concern with stuff falling into the kettle, its better to reduce the evaporation for a portion of the boil duration. So placing a screen over the kettle isn’t ideal for either the covered or uncovered stages of boiling since it allows atmospheric exchange of both too little and too much. You really want All or Nothing, not Sort Of or Semi.
Regarding stuff falling into the brew pot, one of the periodical cicada hatches did provide a historical name for one of my brews.
I named it 8th Plague Stout.
To my surprise, I was able to keep them out of the pot although there were several close calls,
Dan Listermann once made a beer with dried, ground up cicades
Um, no, I’m good, thanks. No, really, just a water’s fine.
I’d say enter it as an experimental protein beer