Recent content by fdben

Office Space and Dilbert are fantastic. It's scary how similar work can be to Dilbert... Ben http://engofftheclock.blogspot.ca

I would go for the 55 gallon food grade HDPE barrel, but I'm biased because I have 2 in my barn. I'll be trying this if I end up needing the capacity. I'm converting one to an HLT/holding tank now. Ben

This is an inspiring thread! I'll cobble something together this weekend if I'm not out at the cabin. Great work everyone. A lot of great ideas in this thread.

Just so you know - your PM inbox is full. Let me know when you find out about the flat rate box. How would you prefer to receive payment? Paypal? Ben

Mechanical P. Eng here. :mug:

I 3rd this idea? Does that mean the motion is carried? These diagrams are awesome, and help those of us with a little less electrical knowledge plan future builds!

I can't comment on the extract vs all grain, as I only did a few extract kits before jumping straight into all grain, but I'll give my input for gear. I have very similar kit to what you mentioned (almost exactly the same actually) but I just upgraded to a 17 gallon kettle, and have a cooler for...

Agreed. It is relatively inexpensive to get the basic all grain gear setup. Get familiar with your process then make the call if you want to upgrade to electric. You'll figure out what techniques you like using and which gear you'll need to accomplish it. What gear do you have now? With...

I use a wine thief and find it very handy. I pull the sample, let it degas and come to room temperature (if I'm pulling it after the boil or mash) then drop the hydrometer in. I've noticed that bubbles clinging to the hydrometer can definitely change your reading, so watch out for that...

I do this. 2L flask works great for me for starters that are smaller than 2L I'm going to 10 gallon batches though so now I need a 5L flask!

How big is the heating pad? Any idea of the wattage? Could build a small insulated box for the buckets and see if the pad will heat the the space adequately.

Roger, serious clay. I put some more compost on the mounds last night, but I didn't want to dig them up and disturb them. Should I dig them up to improve the soil? or stick it out...? I'll have to take some more pictures as they are about 6 to 8 inches and leafy now. I now realize I should...

I'll be rigging something like this up in a couple weeks. It drives me nuts having my sprinkler water so much area that doesn't have hops growing in it... Looks good!

As I mentioned above - here is the hopyard. I have setup one post per variety, but have only planted one plant per post this year. This will let me work out the kinks, and next year I will have 4 plants per post if all goes well. The posts are 3 layers of laminated 2x4's to make a 24' post...

I hear you - I planted late due to frost and laziness. Hops went in the ground May 23, and 2 or 3 of the 5 were up within 2 days. Here are some pictures as of yesterday. I'll post pics of my trellis system another time - 5 post are 24' long buried 3.5' in the ground (so 20.5' exposed), with 4...