Recent content by sjzabel

Beer Alchemy does... I ran through this exercise tonight. After a quick wash/rinse with hot tap water, I added 5gal of 164 deg water to my tun (with the screen and tubing, also rinsed) it dropped the water temperature to 157 which came out to a thermal mass of 3.5lbs. I think that the thing to...

Username: sjzabel :) Freakin awesome! I'm a sucker for a contest with a conical :)

Yeah, in radical brewing he talks about doing something similar; seeping in vodka and then using that to flavor the batch.

Have you made this recipe before? The reason that I ask is that it is going to be a little hard determining how much zest to put in. As long as the primary fermentation is done you should be fine to add the zest to the secondary. I've done this with both Lemon Grass and Chamomile to add a little...

I think that you are fine to rack off. Once the bulk of the fermentation is done you aren't going to have the kind of flavor scrubbing that you would if you added the raspberries during primary fermentation. Also, you are going to get a little additional fermentation from the sugar in the...

I ended up getting a basic Randco from AHB. However, the difference between it and the analog controller is like night and day. Definitely worth the little bit extra. Also right now I am just feeding the sensor though the door...

I switched to a digital control, and now it's playing a mixed role between cooling my primary fermenter and cooling the finished kegs. Without a collar it holds two corny kegs and a 5lb co2 bottle and I'm still pretty confident that I'm going to be able to fit a third keg once there is a collar.

Currently, I have a single keg and a 5lbs. co2 tank with no collar. Height-wise the keg and the co2 fit if placed on the bottom. The co2 is off by about 1/4" if placed on the compressor hump. My plan is to add a one foot collar and if my back on the napkin calculations are correct I will be...

Picked up a 1. ported 6 gallon ported BB 2. racking adapter 3. simple flo valve 4. installation tube (def. made it easier to install) 5. universal closure 6. dry lock 7. right angle hose barb 8. blue handle (you can see how it got to 120ish :P) It is light, has a lot of hardware and racking is...

Picked up a 1. ported 6 gallon ported BB 2. racking adapter 3. simple flo valve 4. installation tube (def. made it easier to install) 5. universal closure 6. dry lock 7. right angle hose barb 8. blue handle (you can see how it got to 120ish :P) It is light, has a lot of hardware and racking is...

Played with the adjustment over the weekend and got it to stay at 38 deg Fahrenheit. The controller is definitely touchy. I have it set to the highest temperature that I can. Also, it also appears to get a little colder during the day (when the room and probe are exposed to a little extra...

The controller seems to be a bit temperamental. Possible Causes 1. I adjusted it too cold. (Currently I'm systematically stepping the controller back to see if that fixes the problem) 2. The probe of the new temperature controller is too short or not insulated enough and or in not meant to be...

When I was looking to do a conversion I wanted to know exactly what make fridge worked with which temp controls... hence this post. Prelog... YMMV; I have had this working only a single night now... so any long term problems or damage will have to be addressed in later posts. Playing with...