Recent content by Rich711

Hi, So I always take my Ball Valves apart to clean them between brew sessions. I was wondering, if when taking my ball valves apart, should I take them all the way apart including the handle and stem that turns the ball in the valve. I have never seen this done in ball valve disassembly...

I have existing drain pipe in my basement brew area. It was going to be for a shower. But now I like to Brew Room Drain. There is an existing square concrete cut out, about 7" square. P-trap already installed. I wanted to put a 4" or 5" square drain perhaps with strainer. Anyone done anything...

Cool Brew area. What kind of construction is behind the diamond plate. PS - What make, model and vendor for your brew hoods?

Thank you for the all your comments and suggestions. I'm not sure, but I think that some of you think I may be obsessing just a little too much on my sanitizing operations. My basement brew operation will not need vapor fame and panel construction. Phase 2, a basement Brew Pub may need...

I was thinking of putting up a frame with vapor barrier and insulation. So I was looking for suggestions on what to finish the brewery walls with. I don't think I have the budget for Stainless.

Well in the Kitchen, with all of the cutting up of raw meats and such, I thought the walls should be sanitized. I am only wiping down the walls by the sinks and stove where I brew. Not necessary? I also read that the cleaner your space, the longer your beer will last before spoilage sets in.

I am in the process of moving my Brew operations (will be Electric) to the basement. I am trying to figure out what material I should use to cover the back wall of the brew area. The back wall is a concrete block wall. Previously I had water proofed the wall with 2 good coats of DryLok paint...

What is your normal cleaning routine? None of my bottles have labels, so I Just have to clean out the yeast residue.

To rinse or not to rinse. Ok ... Just before I bottle, I give my clean bottles a 20 minute StarSan soak. I have been giving the bottles a quick Jet rinse after the Star San soak. Many say there is no reason to rinse after the StarSan soak. Should I give the bottles a final rinse or not? Thanks

Regarding the rinse: it seems you never know when the rinse is good enough when the cleaning agent leaves the bottle slippery. Think a few seconds of power spray from the carboy jet should do the trick for the rinse?

I usually rinse by bottles as I use them and then just do a Star-San soak. Now I have gotten lazy and I have bottles with yeast residue and sometimes some mold. So I am going to soak the bottles to get out the residue. All of these bottles have already been de-labeled. So it looks like I...

At present there is no choice as I only have a Mash Tun and a Boil Pot. So I am trying to decide if I should just expand my brew operations with never an eye on sparging or add the sparge pot. With my two 10 Gallon vessels, it appears that converting my extract high gravity brews to my no...

Customer Service Still in the toilet eh? Anyone with recent contact with Brew Gear have anything good to report? Still hoping they get their act together. If not by next summer, I will have to start looking for another vendor.

I contacted Bru Gear an ask about their quality Control Problems. The following is their response: Rich, apologies for the slow response, we are working ona new channel strategy to address the very high volume of contact we receive, selling direct has been a struggle. We changed boxes to...

I am looking for a 120v portable heat stick for my 10 gallon brew pot. Ideally this would plug into a standard 120v ground fault outlet in my kitchen. This device would be used in conjunction with my kitchen stove top that easily boils my 5 gallon kettle and almost boils my 10 gallon kettle...