Rooster_P
Well-Known Member
Well I finally got the chance to brew this weekend. Here is my brew station, with no frills. It was awfully cold on sunday, but I have a window from my gameroom that I can monitor the process, so that helps prevent frost bite.
I'd like to take a moment to thank Bobby_M for his all grain write up. It made my brew day run fairly smooth. It was not without its problems however. My manifold floated and although when sitting on the bottom it can't pull away from the hose bard as it angled up it became disconnected. It was my own fault however since I didn't use the hose clamps I got to connect the manifold to the barb. It is only a mistake if it can't be fixed.
After the mash and sparge I moved my boil location to just inside my garage door. I learned last weekend that the cold wind prevents me from creating a good rolling boil, and getting at least a gallon boil off. As you can see from the stain on the out side of the pot, I got a great boil pre hop addition, and actually had to cut my heat way back.
The big water puddle on the floor is not from the boil over. Water seeped in under the garage door and froze. The heat from the burner thawed it out.
Despite the few problems I had the brew day went very well, and I have no doubt that I made beer. Next weekend I hope to brew again and with any luck have a few less hiccups.
Thanks again to everyone on this site for providing so much information. It made the upgrade an easy step to take.
I'd like to take a moment to thank Bobby_M for his all grain write up. It made my brew day run fairly smooth. It was not without its problems however. My manifold floated and although when sitting on the bottom it can't pull away from the hose bard as it angled up it became disconnected. It was my own fault however since I didn't use the hose clamps I got to connect the manifold to the barb. It is only a mistake if it can't be fixed.
After the mash and sparge I moved my boil location to just inside my garage door. I learned last weekend that the cold wind prevents me from creating a good rolling boil, and getting at least a gallon boil off. As you can see from the stain on the out side of the pot, I got a great boil pre hop addition, and actually had to cut my heat way back.
The big water puddle on the floor is not from the boil over. Water seeped in under the garage door and froze. The heat from the burner thawed it out.
Despite the few problems I had the brew day went very well, and I have no doubt that I made beer. Next weekend I hope to brew again and with any luck have a few less hiccups.
Thanks again to everyone on this site for providing so much information. It made the upgrade an easy step to take.