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I'm pretty sure they're out of business. Anything you find for sale online is leftover stock. Replacement parts are drying up. I have a fastfermenter, but not a fan. Still, that's a great score, just for the stainless.

You're right. I will not be disassembling it frequently in the future. New impeller ordered. Hopefully they'll be back in stock soon. In the meantime, I'll bust out the old chugger (and a pair of earplugs).

I heard back from Blichmann. Basically, the answer is, "You dun f'ed up." 1. Washer was always in place. I even ordered spares just in case I lose it. 2. I've run it dry for a second or two a few times, but nothing excessive. Still, it could add up I guess. Maybe it was that last one? I guess...

Hmmm. Maybe I'm tightening too much? I also am guilty of running near-boiling wort through it...

Took a closer look under a magnifier with a good light. No more crumbling or residue. I think it sheared, but the break is worn. It probably broke early in the brewing stage yesterday and the surfaces were just grinding on each other. Pump worked fine, though. I haven't contacted them yet. It...

How did this happen? It worked find during the brew day yesterday. I undid the triclamp and pulled the head off as one piece and put it in a bucket of PBW along with other items in need of cleaning. When I pulled out and separated it into its parts, I found this little black nubbin. It took me a...

I did a deep clean on my Therminator plate chiller today. A few gallons of water with PBW in the keggle, heated to 180, run through the pump, in through the out port of the chiller, back into the keggle through the whirlpool arm. Let that go for about 1/2 hour. Then I pumped the solution into a...

And so I did. I used my CNC to cut out the holes for the hop and water treatment cups as well as recesses for some whiteboard material so I can write the times for the various additions. The the CNC was able to cut the whiteboard to fit.

I wanted it as short as possible, as I have to wheel it in and out of the garage every time because the VW is in the way. It doesn't run. It's a '62, BTW.

very cool. I like the plate chiller slide. I'm going to think about that. As for my top, it's 19" deep and about 56" long IIRC. Definitely 50-somthing inches.

I rebuilt my brewing table. The original was over-built, too tall, and had a plywood top that was getting gross. I've been wanting to replace the top with a laminate surface. A barely used studio benchtop at work was finally being disposed of (after being left in the hallway for about 5 years!)...

The high school marching band has a monthly bottle and can drive. Last time I dropped off a bag of cans I asked if I could grab some bottles in exchange for a donation. I found about a dozen bottles from craft breweries on the top of the pile. They said I could just take them, but I gave them a...

I swapped out the 9.5mm duotight right angle connectors on my Temptwister with 3/8" push-ons from Home Depot. The duotights are supposed to work with the TT, but only one would make a good connection. I tried two different connectors, but they just wouldn't latch on. Found these at HD and they...

I've been pecking away at "The Best of H. Allen Smith." H.A.S. was a popular humorist back in the middle of the last century. He had a trio of best sellers in the 30s of humorous anecdotes about his encounters as a journalist with celebrities and eccentric folks, mostly in NYC and LA...

Check out Skirlnetz for very detailed plans for a simple controller. I found it to be a great jumping off point for my build.

My build is based on the Skrilnetz plan. It's simple and does what I need. I use a PID to control the HLT and a simple rheostat controller for the boil with a switch to go from one to the other (can't use both at the same time, so I don't worry about overloaded my 30amp outlet). I didn't add 120...

Welcome back! I too had taken a long sabbatical to raise my kids, and things have really advanced in our absence! BIAB is not a bad word at all. It seems to have become a prefered brewing technique. If I was to start over, I'd seriously consider going in that direction. But I've built a sweet...

I did the milk crate thing for a while, but my basement stairs a really janky. I gave up the glass carboys and now I put the fermenter on a dolly under the basement window and pump it from the kettle, through the chiller and into the basement. I do have a recurring fear of the hose somehow...

Finally got a second rotary spray ball. I've had one that does double duty of cleaning my hot side vessels outside in the driveway and my fermenters and kegs in the basement. I use a large submersible pump in a tub for the 15 gallon vessels, and a small submersible in a 5 gal. bucket in the...

Toggle clamp is much easier and cheaper, and I definitely trust it more.