Recent content by russki

I'm not seeing anything offensive in BeerdTraveler's posts... I don't mind an occasional zombie thread, even my own. Anyway - as far as timer goes, I personally do not see a benefit in having one built-in - I just use my kitchen stove timer for mash times/boil/hop additions. If you really want...

Bump...

Still available - will ship at buyer's expense...

I have a Neslab RTE-4 lab circulator for sale. This unit does not chill (compressor relay just clicks repeatedly), but the heater and circulator pump are working fine. It has a 1 gallon temperature controlled (up to 100C/212F) reservoir with a pump that circulates the heated liquid (water or...

Would you do $45 shipped for the three twists?

I used Kal's method (The Electric Brewery) - the only difference is that I used much cheaper single-gang boxes that I waterproofed with silicone. You are correct that the elements need to be bent slightly to fit into the kettle. I just did it over the corner of a wooden bench before I installed...

As far as rust on the element faces - maybe some discoloration, but not any major rust. I wipe them dry after each brew session.

For cleaning, I fill it up with about 5 gallons of hot tap water and a scoop of PBW, then I recirculate for 15-20 min. While it's recirculating, I close and open all of the valves a few times, and scrub the pot and the elements with a dishwashing bristle brush (dollar store brand). I drain and...

Nope, no scorching at all. I do scrub the elements after each brew - they get coated in residue. If they are not cleaned, I can see this leading to scorching.

What he said. As an added benefit, Nestle jugs are PET, so you have a cheap 5-gallon carboy (whatever the deposit is).

Yes, 10 gallon batches are a bit tricky with this rig. Here's how I do it: I start with 11 gallons of water, get it up to mash temps, put the basket in, mash in, start recirculation. I throttle the pump (with a ball valve on the output) so that there's only a gentle flow over the grain bed -...

Nice build! Nope, that's all I did, and it's been working great. One thing I do differently now is I set the strike temperature to my target mash temp (i.e. if I'm mashing at 152F, that's what I set the on the PID from the get go); otherwise it seemed to overshoot my mash temp. Have fun with...

The Danish Lager one is still lagering; I was going to bottle it this weekend. It didn't attenuate as much (1.013 vs 1.010 with Chico), and the hydro sample was a bit maltier and smoother. Can't say that one is better than the other - have to reserve judgment until it's done. Can't beat having a...

Just brewed exactly that - split 10 gal of Helles wort between US-05 and Danish Lager yeasts. The Chico version was fermented at 66F, and came out quite good. It can actually pass for a lager now that it's been in the keezer "lagering" for 3 weeks. As long as you pitch enough 1056 (use a...

That's good to know, although I figured out the priming issue even with the "impeller on top" configuration. My problem with that pump was that it quit in the middle of two brews; once from overheating, and second time when the shaft seized. I've been using a Chugger for the last 3 brews, and...