Recent content by HopsMan

I'll take the last two if you still have them. Matt

I would take a ball valve if you have any left.

If you ever get to Fargo, I could meet up with you and take it off your hands for 40. If you choose not to go with the previous poster!

It's certainly closer, the boil would be a bout the same, your big time difference would be cooling 1 gallon vs. five, and even that isn't going to amount to 2 hours difference. I was just trying to throw numbers out there without sparking a debate on the difference of times for different size...

Absolutely worth it! Dry hop for more than two days though, or it may not be worth it.

The question is whether you want to spend a couple hours brewing a gallon sized kit, or a couple more hours added and brew 5 gallons? I wouldn't advise splitting a 5 gallon kit between multiple fermenting vessels until you start getting into the experimentation stage.

Is the adjustable angle Thermometer spoken for?

The main problem if you're going with just an element with no control is that you will most likely either undershoot and have hard time getting to a boil or overshoot and have boil overs. I know you can do some funky math and get pretty darn close, but I just overshot on mine, and built a...

PWM is a pulse width modulator, it basically gives you a dial control that pulses current to the element at speeds based on how high you have the dial turned up, allowing you to control the vigor of the boil. PWM kits are dirt cheap, and very easy to wire up with simple soldering skills. Add a...

I'll take the Beersmith if cank doesn't for some reason.

His first post he mentions a 5 gallon pot, so 4.5 might be a bit tough to control. I went without one for a 240v 5000W element and my 10 gallon boils were boiling over unless I stirred constantly. Chances are he would be fine, but I've always thought it was nice to have control over the boil.

If you don't mind a little slower boil time, the heatstick might be the way to go. There is a lot less messing around with wiring and holes in your kettle that way. That being said, I love my pwm controlled e-keggle and wouldn't do it a different way! (Apart from full automation, of course :) )

yeah, you shouldn't have an issue, that should only draw 16.6 amps. You might have to watch how many things you have drawing from that circuit, and turn some stuff off, or not use other things while brewing.

With 4.5 gallons, I would personally go with a 120v low watt element plugged in. I would encourage you to wire up some sort of pulse width modulator device to control the boil if you go that route. Another option would be finding a hot plate, and using a heat stick to supplement. I know a guy...

Glad to hear the stout is coming together, congrats! As far as the off flavor thats lingering, I've found my stouts and porters have that as well. I can't pinpoint it, but the only thing I can come up with is that my water here is geared much more toward lighter styles of beer. This last...