Recent content by tekkydave

Keith, The plan that I am in the process of doing involves jb welding a metal gang box around the exposed elements, and afixing that to the side of the kettle. Here's what I am basing it on: http://www.instructables.com/id/Electric-brewing-system/

The controller I can see buying, since it is more work, but for the element, it is such a minimal amount of work. You can buy http://www.highgravitybrew.com/productcart/pc/Heating-Element-5500-Watt-SS-306p2669.htm for $70 +...

Very cool. What do you do about temp control?

The site says they are safe for water storage, can we assume they are 100% food safe? I'm always wary of using anything plastic that wasn't specifically made for food storage. How is your friend planning on controlling temperatures?

I'd be more worried about little bits of glass than a contaminated batch. When I broke my hydrometer, it broke into 5 trillion little pieces. Not worth worrying about in my opinion. Dump the batch and brew another.

I was hoping to mash at night, then boil the next night. Doesn't seem like the greatest idea I've had. it's just frustrating sometimes when you have small children. I have virtually zero time to myself, and the little time I do have, I'm exhausted and just want to turn my brain off. Oh well...

C'mon man, that's not what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear "yeah, sure, I do that all the time. No sweat."

Due to family constraints, long work week and long commute, I don't have much free time to myself, let alone 5-6 hours in a row. Anything I can do to break up the brew day makes life much easier. For instance I measure and crush the gain the night before, and get my mlt and BK ready to go the...

Congratulations! What yeast did you use? I don't see it listed.

Mind blown. Aluminum or SS? Googling ocean state job lot right now.

No, I am usually a bit over OG, or very close to it. I think that due to the small batch size, boil off, wort transfer and trub loss are much more noticeable. Also, my BK is 4ga, so I personally can't start my boil with much more than 3.5ga, without having a heart attack. If I had a larger...

I sympathize with the low volume. I've yet to actually yield 2.5ga, despite sizing recipes for 1/2 of 5ga batches. It's a lot of cleaning for not that much beer. I figure I'm just taking my licks and learning the process. When I move I'll have more room for larger batches.

Gingerman and Village Pour House are good bets.

Hi, I have the same mash tun as you, and I've had no problems maintaining temp for 60 mins. I am also doing 2.5 - 2.75 gallon batches. One thing I picked up on here, is while you are heating your strike water, throw a couple of quarts of near boiling water in the mash tun, and put the lid...

8 gallon pot on a stovetop, hmmn, you give me hope. Do you have a higher than average stove? Also, i couldnt tell, is that gas or Electric? Im confined to the kitchen, so ive been doing 2.5 gallon batches. Do you get a good rolling boil?