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I don't even bother with the fridge, I just take the sample and get on with my boil and usually towards the end it's cooled sufficiently. I leave the hyrdometer in there just to see how it changes with temp. After I've noted it, I jam my thermometer in there quickly to note the temp and do the...

Assuming you're on 120 volts, you could put 1200 watts on before you exceeded the 10 amp rating on the STC (volts x amps = watts). You should have no dramas.

Left temperature probe out of fermentation chamber by accident, heat was left on 36 hours, temperature reached over 50 degrees Celcius. Taking your gear to a mates house if you're not prepared or are inexperienced - had left half my stuff at home, took twice as long, got volumes wrong, had to...

There's nothing for it then except to brew some more. What a pity. :mug:

83 isn't all that high. Sure it's too high for a controlled ferment, and your quality may suffer a bit, but I can't imagine it's ruined the beer. Before I got a freezer for ferment control I did quite a few kit-and-kilo brews that would have been fermenting around 30 degrees C, they were fine.

Of course you're right, I should have said DMS and/or infections.

Keep an eye (nose?) on the smell coming out of the airlock. I've had some bad lags before that have exposed flaws in my brewing process and allowed infections to take hold. Nothing worse than opening your fermentation chamber and getting knocked over by creamed corn.

I've read that a starsan solution in a spray bottle is good for leak detection, has the added bonus of sanitising whatever you spray it on. Dish soap might linger on posts and get in the line (though I admit that's a pretty unlikely scenario). I haven't needed any tape on any threads, the seal...

Nice build. As I understand it, you're using a small freezer to provide the cool air, but how then are you getting this into your seperate chambers? Are the thermostats wired to fans with ducting? Or does the ale chamber just get cooled through the dividing wall? As for your doors, can you...

I just tasted mine. Not definitively bad, but not great. I suspect that's mostly to do with the problems that occured before it was cooked. Had a funny caramel sort of flavour which you might expect. Also a tea sort of an aroma, from the dry hopping no doubt. Like my other bad brews, it's...

How did this end up going - did you dump it? I found that I had left the temp probe outside of my ferm chamber overnight on a cold night, so the light bulb heater ran for at least 24 hours. When I found it it was 50 degrees C, and the airlock at gone very soft and melty. Still holding...

yeah, fair enough. After reading around a bit more that seems to be a common suggestion. I guess I just want to monitor it a few times to convince myself mainly. I'll try the beer line on my next brew and report back how I go.

Sorry if I'm misinterpreting: Are you saying that a 100w bulb will exceed the allowed amperage? I thought these things can take 10 amps as standard, and the fridge is much more power hungry than a 100w bulb? Xwingace - where does the probe sit, is it in water? I've heard people say that...

Righto then, I will avoid brass in the fermenter. Keep in mind that I'm in Australia and not the US, so everything here is 2 or 3 times more expensive. The only half decent thermowell I've seen here is a short little stainless thing that costs upwards of AUD$35. This doesn't even include the...

I was thinking of at least using this in my mash tun to monitor temperatures to begin with. I'm having some issues with efficiency that I believe are temp related (beersmith giving me strike temps that are too high I think), so I want to check the temp on a few brews closely to monitor/adjust...

I'm thinking of using a threaded brass pipe as the basis of my thermowell as per the image below. I can then use a threaded end cap to seal it, and use 2 brass nuts with a rubber seal against the vessel wall (either mash tun or fermenter). I have a similar set up on my HLT attached to a...

Hi JonW - this is what has me worried. I did get some water back through soon after, but this is not the same as a proper clean/dry/sanitise. I'll try to have a go in the next few days as suggested previously, getting some pointy nose pliers in there and trying to use the lugs to unscrew...

To me it seems that if you don't overfill your kegs, and don't force carb, you should never have a problem. However, I was force carbing at around 50 psi, then rolling the keg around to help the gas and beer mix. I had left the gas connected while doing this, and must have turned down the...

Your later hop additions are similar to one I've got on tap at the moment. I think I had similar quantities of hops, but my batch was smaller. Might have got 12 or 13 litres in the keg by the end (need to upgrade my kettle). It tastes good, fruity, hoppy. Again, dunno about the extracts.

+1000 on a check valve. I just got into kegs myself and managed to get beer straight up through the regulator on my first force-carb. Or if you want more than one tap, get a manifold with check valves built in.