Recent content by jdieter

What are your gravity readings and how the heck do you measure 1/10th of an ounce?

Came across slimline corny kegs that are advertised as slightly smaller than 9" diameter cornys. Curious if anybody knows the true diameter difference between slimline and standard cornys. One online source say 5/16" smaller but also says their normal 2-3 gallon cornys are slightly larger than a...

Just finished this conversion following tips from previous posts regarding this 4.4 cu.ft. fridge. My door modification was cutting out the drink holder panel about .375" from the gasket and fitting a frp panel in the void. It made a much cleaner look than tape over the drink holders. I was a...

D-west, did you build or buy the foot rest? If bought, where and also a really nice looking bar.

Started this "J" shaped bar last winter in my shop. Built the structure and case frames in three sections. The long straight section with a liquor cabinet at the end, the curved section, and the short straight section with the kegerator. Moved everything to the house in the summer, married and...

I had a similar challenge when building my brewery and considered a bridge crane. From a cost and simplicity standpoint what worked for me was a hoist hanging from a truss and putting everything that was too heavy to lift by hand on rollers so I could move it to the hoist location. This also had...

I use Bru N Water and I'm considering changing my salt additions to ensure I get thorough mixing. Is there a problem with adding both mash and sparge additions to the HLT which has the full volume of brewing water. For this beer the mash and sparge water volumes are almost identical, before I...

Forget to ask about your motor, mine is a little fast at 45rpm, I'd like to find one closer to 30rpm

I used 1/2" copper pipe and soldered an internal reducer bushing I could thread on the paddle end and ream on the driven end along with 2 setscrews.

I mix iodophor with ro water and get a little better foaming and it seems to hold it's color longer than tap water. Use Iodophor at recommended no-rinse level for everything and keep a spray bottle of starsan for spot sanitizing. Also use ro with the starsan and the spray bottle ph has tested...

I mash in a keg and use a stirrator/mash mixer running constantly. Here's a link to the BT article about constant mash mixing; http://morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue2.6/put.html I built the mixer for the same reason, no temp stratification and the ability to hold...

I use a Briskheat brand silicone heating band on my keggle MT. It's 8" x 42" ,1KW @240vac. Cost was around $150. Works great for maintaining mash & fly sparge temps. Stays within 1dgf of target temp. Also use it in conjunction with a burner for jumping up to mashout and the rare times I step-heat.

My well water isn't suitable for brewing almost any style, Ca>110ppm, Mg>35, HCO3>450, TA>350. So I start collecting enough RO the day prior to brewing, most times around 20 gallons. I mash-in with a combination of RO and hard water depending on the recipe mixing the two waters in the MLT. The...

I use Bru'nWater and consistently hit my target mash pH so I'm assuming I have enough mixing going on with my stirrator setup. Is that a reasonable conclusion? It's doable, but would be painful to change my setup to mix the salts in the HLT.

I underlet my mash tun with untreated RO water with a continuously running stirrator. I pull a small amount of wort and add the salts returning the mixture to the MT asap. Is my practice compromising the mineral treatment of the mash.