Recent content by Russtang

+1 The first couple of IPAs I brewed came out very underhopped. I had packed the hops into bags that were way too small, limiting the surface area.

I posted about it once or twice. LINK I love it. Very simple to program. Works great for my fermenting setup. To extend the probe, I just cut/soldered/heat-shrunk the two 14AWG probe wires. Piece of cake. Russ

I have a chest freezer, a full-size beer fridge/freezer and now a fermenter dorm-fridge in my garage. :cross: The space they all take up is well worth the benefits. I haven't seen much of a difference in the electricity bill, but living in Phoenix, my bill is still dominated by the air...

FYI, I built my complete setup for less than $60 total. Spent $25 on a used craigslist dorm room fridge and $34 on a temp controller. Ain't the prettiest fermentation chamber out there, but it was cheap, works great, and I can fit a couple of corny keg fermenters in it. Temp Controller...

I plan on brewing a full batch brew tonight or tomorrow with my new 25', 3/8" IC/icewater pump system. I'll post some stats on temperatures and cooldown times when I'm done.

It's a cobra, not a prius! ;) 13-20 mpg, depending on how heavy my right foot feels. They weren't making hybrid mustangs when I bought it...hehe. Decided to ride the slower one today. It gets 45-50mpg depending on how hard I twist my wrist. Despite the great mileage, it's still a lot of...

I'm no expert, but it seems like the sugar and apple juice mixture in the first step are like a yeast starter. Shouldn't take more than 20 or 30 minutes for fermentation to begin. There should be no appreciable gravity change if you mix it with the concentrate as soon as fermentation begins...

Since we're a little :off: My slower ride turns high 12's in the 1/4. My daily driver is WAY faster (in the high 11's). :mug: I like my commute. ;)

I have a couple of these. Pretty accurate and not bad for $4 shipped. :) Digital Probe Thermometer

Made this wort chiller last night. Turned out pretty good. I used stripped romex 14awg to make it rigid and space the coils out a bit. A $6 tubing bender made very nice bends. I used 20' of tubing since I have plans of circulating ice water through it. Here's a quick pic of my chiller...

+1 This is the plan for my next batch! ;)

I've got a mini water pump that I plan on using for my next brew. I plan on filling the sink with ice water and pumping it through the chiller. Our tap water is in the 70's this time of year, so it should help cool the wort pretty quickly. ;)

I used a swamp cooler setup in my bathtub for the first couple weeks of my first ale brew. I was able to keep the water temperature constantly down to around 72 in a house that hovers around 78 this time of year (Phoenix). With summer coming, and no one home during the day, we bump the temps...

I just got one of these for my $25 craigslist refrigerator/fermentation chamber. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E7NYY8 It has a switch to select either heating or cooling. I extended the temperature probe wires about 3 feet and ran it up inside the fridge. Working great so far. Total...