The benefits of a tap on a stock pot boiler

[BluePanda]

As a result of a little birthday cash, I have decided to make the leap from kits to AG via BIAB.

I am at the stage of researching the kit required and have so far decided to brew on a 50 litre stock pot on gas outside, although I might change my mind again later.

Looking at stock pots, I see some come with a tap and some with a tap/hop filter. I've only experienced kits so far, so am unsure of the benefits of a tap. My initial thinking is to brew on a workmate, use a hop bag(s) to contain the hops and cool the wort with a homemade copper tube wort chiller in the stock pot. Once cool I figured I could just syphon the wort into my FV.

Obviously taps are popular for a reason, but my lack of experience has meant I can't think of what that might be. Is there any reason my suggested method will not work ?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Hairybiker]

1. you can recirculate the wort to aid cooling
2. you can pump it from the tap, if it lower than the FV (ok you can do this with a syphon as well)
3. you can use a hop filter and get better usage from the hops (that's the theory I have just gone the other way with a hop sock, to make pumping easier)
4. you can control the speed of the feed to the FV using the tap.

can't think of anything else at the mo.

[Sean P]

If you siphon the wort you will include some of the break material If leave the hops loose in the boil they will form a natural bed on your hop filter and when you drain through a tap you will leave all the crap behind

[Kev888]

I can't see any actual need for a tap in the setup you are initially aiming for if you would prefer not to have one, particularly if you have the skill to fit one later if you should change your mind about things. There can be a little more complication using taps with gas, even metal taps can have plastic or rubber seals so some people feel the need to shield them from flames and very hot gasses if they have a big burner, though others say they've been fine. Part of what some people like about BIAB is its ability to be low cost and/or simply set up too, so they may prefer not to use taps for those reasons - of course you can't accidentally leave a tap open and lose a load of wort if there isn't one.

That said, taps/valves do offer greater convenience in running off the wort IMO. They are particularly useful where people may want to use loose hops and a hop stopper (fitted to the back of the tap somehow), a magnetically driven pump fed from the boiler by gravity, and/or an external cooler of various kinds. Also, if syphoning wort after cooling then sanitation of the tubing is obviously important (no saliva!) and unless theres a hole in the lid it can be harder to syphon whilst keeping flies out, which can be attracted whilst brewing (though if there are the pipes of an immersion cooler sticking out there may be a gap there already). If instead the boiler is to be emptied when its still very hot (say into a no-chill cube), then sanitation is less of a pressing concern but there can of course be safety issues to consider when starting the syphon.

So unless theres a specific need for a tap, which you don't seem to have, then its just down to preference IMO.

EDIT: oh, and it could well be worth protecting the workmate with a heat shield of some kind - burners can kick out a surprising amount of heat downwards as well as upwards.

Cheers
Kev

[Fil]

imho, Need a tap? No, especially if your chilling with in the kettle before transfering out, just chill, and leave to settle for a good 20-30mins, and then siphon off the hop and break sediment as best you can taking sterile precautions just as you would if siphoning out after primary fermentation., tho dropping the wort from the FV neck to help aerate may be preferable to feeding the siphon to the FV bottom.

If you expand on the brewkits complexity you may well need to consider a tap but if your dont need it why have it.. its just something to hit u in the groin or catch in doorways when humping the pot about and i think everyone has started filling with the tap open at least once if they have one fitted that is ..

[BluePanda]

Thanks for your replies, as usual very informative. I really appreciate the tip about a heat guard and I wasn't aware about the flies so thanks. Having looked into the hot and cold breaks I found I wasn't as clued up as I thought.

My thoughts are to go without the tap and see how it goes - I can always fit one later.

Probably have more questions later.

Thank you.

[Normski]

The siphon tube could block with hop debris.
If I didn’t use a tap, I would use a Sanitized 1.5L jug and a Sanitized sieve.
And loose hops.

[Fil]

fwiw ONCE after a hop filter clog i have poured a 25l brew out of the boil kettle tru a sieve over a 4" neck fermentor.. only spilt a lil bit Never again!!!!