Recent content by mikronmagic

I use it all the time, no problem whatsoever. The line does get a bit more stiff but IMO it isn't brittle at the temps we use it.

I second the fermenter. Remove the spear and you have yourself a fantastic stainless fermenter! You can use one of those orange carboy caps, fits pretty nicely on the top lip.

The problem with the jet burners is that the way the jets are designed they require a decent amount of gas flowing through them to pull in the proper amount of air (incorrect gas-air mix causes soot). So if you try to turn them down, you'll most likely get a sooty bottom. The workaround to this...

That sure would be tight, it's hard to tell from the picture. Are you looking to buy this online or in the store? If you can physically see it before you buy it, cut out some cardboard circles to see if it would fit. I do agree with beersk though, getting a fridge would be cheaper. Plus the...

I run NG on my setup and did a lot of research before I settled on a modified BG14. Those jet burners put out a hell of a lot of heat, but they aren't adjustable. They are also notorious for sooting up. I suggest buying a BG14, drilling out the orifice to 1/8" and adding a ball valve to control...

Were these on the clearance rack? If not, it looks like someone tried to use them and returned them. You can get fittings that have the solder already in the socket for newbies, but that doesn't look like it to me. My suggestion is to return it and get a clean one.

Cbaddad is right that you could get a great pipeline going, but the chest freezer might save you some cash on your electric bill. If you think about it the kegerator will be high 30s to low 40s 24/7/365, compared to your fermentation chamber only needing to be 65 whenever you have a batch...

Chris white says in his book that it's beneficial to oxygenate at 12 hours. Supposedly it cuts fermentation time down by 25%, but I've never tried it so I can't confirm this.

Gorilla glue is a polyurethane glue so it requires moisture to cure. If you spray some on it will cure quicker.

Make sure the hard drive magnet is perfectly centered on your fan. If the poles aren't centered the stir bar will try to spin out of wack and will always throw the bar.

I've ordered 4 towers from them and only had one issue (perlick faucet wasn't cast perfectly and required some filing to make it not seat correctly - not really their fault). Sounds like you got really unlucky!

I ordered my 3d at almost the same time, and he just shipped it a couple days ago. I can only assume he's overloaded with orders like thargrav said. It sucks to wait almost a month to get the thing, but he did say 4 weeks in the original order email. I'd rather he take his time to get this thing...

Obviously you're getting some heat out of your burner if the one pot is heating alright. Unless you live in a freezer, it must have to do with the fluid flow of the heat with your aluminum pot. What's the diameter of your SS pot? Also why can't you use your SS pot as a boil kettle?

They sell both kinds. One way to check is to stick it in PBW overnight. If the screw looks really tarnished/dull then it's probably just a nickel plated steel screw. If it looks the same as the rest of the clamp you're ok.

If it's not too late to return the aquarium pump, you could just use bottled oxygen. It's free of bad bugs and will get your saturated O2 to the correct level in about 60 seconds. Chris White (the founder of White Labs) talks about this type of thing in his yeast book, and he says you're likely...