jfowler1 said:I try to make a nice upgrade every year. A pump, SS ball lock QD's, correctly sized 10 gallon vessels... they have all made things a lot easier.
However, my favorite addition may be my most recent and also one of the cheapest.
I ordered a $35 Marshalltown bucket heater and an $11 grounded electric timer from Amazon. The bucket heat is like an out of the box version of the heatstick that has become quite popular.
I set up the rig the night before with 10 gallons of filtered water, and have the heater set to turn on about 4 hours before I am ready to brew. When I am ready to brew, I walk into the garage, pump 4-5 gallons of ~155F strike water over to the mash tun, get the temp set, and toss in the grains.
The remaining 5-6 gallons of sparge water and the bucket heater stay in my HLT with the HERMS coil and continue to slowly heat up to about 170F over the duration of my mash program.
I do not have to use a drop of propane until I am ready to start lautering and boiling.
I love the upgrade because it saves me an hour or two on brew day, required no DIY effort, and doesn't need to be babysat like my propane burner.
I try to make a nice upgrade every year. A pump, SS ball lock QD's, correctly sized 10 gallon vessels... they have all made things a lot easier.
However, my favorite addition may be my most recent and also one of the cheapest.
I ordered a $35 Marshalltown bucket heater and an $11 grounded electric timer from Amazon. The bucket heat is like an out of the box version of the heatstick that has become quite popular.
I set up the rig the night before with 10 gallons of filtered water, and have the heater set to turn on about 4 hours before I am ready to brew. When I am ready to brew, I walk into the garage, pump 4-5 gallons of ~155F strike water over to the mash tun, get the temp set, and toss in the grains.
The remaining 5-6 gallons of sparge water and the bucket heater stay in my HLT with the HERMS coil and continue to slowly heat up to about 170F over the duration of my mash program.
I do not have to use a drop of propane until I am ready to start lautering and boiling.
I love the upgrade because it saves me an hour or two on brew day, required no DIY effort, and doesn't need to be babysat like my propane burner.
mattfmoore said:After I make my sanitizer and use it during the brew day, I put a lid on it and keep it around until I bottle that batch. When I need to sanitize air locks, blow off tubes, secondary, etc, its right there. Oh, and I use the 1 oz vinegar, 1 oz bleach to 5 gal water formula-- no rinse and cheap.
kpr121 said:Interesting about the puppy pads. I seem to eat through paper towels, its one of the things I have been looking at resolving (expensive approach is to tile/waterproof/enclose my entire brewing area and then just shop vac'ing spills). So I have been thinking about alternatives. Are they much cheaper than paper towels?
Electric BIAB, hands down.
I use a venturri tube to aerate my wort.
No sloshing from pot to bucket. No rocking and rolling carboys. No drills or whisks.
Just a short length of racking tube, with a paper clip sized hole, inserted between the pot and carboy. Lots of aeration.
A brew buddy.
Can you post a photo? Sounds simple and fast!KavDaven said:I use a venturri tube to aerate my wort.
No sloshing from pot to bucket. No rocking and rolling carboys. No drills or whisks.
Just a short length of racking tube, with a paper clip sized hole, inserted between the pot and carboy. Lots of aeration.
spearko520 said:hard liquor
Time savors are good, but quite honestly I just enjoy allowing myself more time. That way I never rush, and think about everything.
where did you find a reg that has LpM? i can't find anything with volume (cfm- etc) - only Pressure.Issue with using ambient O2 is you'll never get above 8ppm that way. Might be fine for low OG brews, but you'll need another method for anything bigger.
I use a pure O2 system to oxygenate my batches. This is comprised of an O2 wand (stone on a 22" stainless wand) from William's Brewing along with a 20 cubic foot O2 tank (from a welding supply shop) and actual O2 regulator with a flow meter. I can set the O2 LpM (typically 1-2LpM) rate via the regulator and then just let it infuse for the amount of time I wish (usually 60-90 seconds). I'm planning on getting an actual tester for amount of dissolved O2 so that I'll KNOW how much O2 is in my wort prior to pitching. I also plan on building a chart/table so that I'll know how much LpM to use and for how long to hit my target infusion level.
where did you find a reg that has LpM? i can't find anything with volume (cfm- etc) - only Pressure.
I'm curious as to whether or not you could connect that regulator to one of those disposable tanks from home depot
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