Recent content by mikehoover

To remove the blue plastic, use a dowel of appropriate length and thickness (pencil?). Get the edge started and the rest is made easier.

How did you determine the length of oak dowel? How deep below the beer surface should it extend? Thanks!

CO2 from fermentation can cause the hydrometer to float higher than it would if the beer were de-gassed prior to checking the gravity. Try pouring your test sample through a folded paper towel to help de-gas it.

I think it is because having the lid on traps a lot of heat. The condenser will create a negative pressure in the BK.

I'm getting about 2 gallons over a 90-minute boil. I run the condenser wide open at about 100 psi (until one of my kids flushes the toilet). That is with a 1.5" condenser with a 9psi nozzle. I am "upgrading" to a 2" condenser as of next brew. I have brewed two 1/2BBL batches so far with the...

I had the same problem when testing my new set up. I have the 5000 BTU AC with a 48 quart cooler. I had 7.5 gallons of 33/67 glycol solution. When I set it at 20F to crash the test water (1 BBL volume with 50 ft 3/8" ID stainless steel coil inside), it would not go lower than 39F and the chiller...

The trick to the digital ones is to get rid of the digital control panel, circuit board and the two temp sensors. Mark all the wires and study the schematic that is on the housing. That leaves the compressor, capacitor, condenser fan & coil, and evaporator coil. I left the compressor and...

I put a hose filter washer, the kind you put on your washing machine connections, where my hose connects to the condenser unit to catch any particles that come out of the pipes. I still have some galvanized pipes in my house and get particles every once in a while.

Thanks BrunDog for posting this great idea! After reading the whole thread I decided to give this thing a go. I went with 1.5" TC fittings and the 6.32psi/@40 brass fitting. Given that it was mentioned above that the 2" TC gives 1.85 more spray cone surface area, that's something to consider...

When trying to connect, I get "Connection refused." Hadn't had that problem before. UPDATE: Found some helpful info here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/remote-access/ssh/

Is there a way to stop running Craftbeerpi without shutting the Raspberry PI down? The two options on the "About" tab are to restart or shutdown. Shutdown shuts the PI down. I would like to simply stop the program from running and leave the PI booted up. [Set up remotely and operated via wifi on...

Installed Craftbeerpi twice and still not running. I get "is not running...failed!" after I run it and then check status. Anything else to try? Thanks! UPDATE: Found a solution that worked for me. I loaded a fresh new download of software onto a different Sandisk card. First a complete new...

I just purchased a couple of new stainless steel firkin casks and was wondering if they need some special cleaning regimen for the first time or do the manufactures clean them? Thanks for any suggestions!

How much water should be put in the pressure cooker? Suppose I determine that I will need 1 ounce of pellet hops to achieve my required IBUs, then I would put the 1 ounce of hops directly in the pressure cooker with how much water? Thanks and regards - great article!