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The sacrificial anode in water heaters is usually made of magnesium or aluminum, so while it corrodes, it doesn't rust.

The good news is that cleaning your equipment is more important than sanitizing it. If there isn't any residue left in the fermenter or bottles, then you will likely get acceptable beer even without sanitizing. The reverse is also true, if you have dirty equipment and only use a sanitizer, you...

I used to use One Step which is a similar oxygen based product. This is a one and done cleaner/sanitizer and depends on the hydrogen peroxide produced when it is dissolved in water. I would guess it is effective for no more the 24 hours due to gassing off the oxygen, so saving and reusing is not...

I have been able to make headless beer with a medicine flavor without having to use the quat :). I am a bit of an experimenter since I do 8 L batches and have used acidified bleach at 40 ppm twice without a chlorine/band aid like effect. It was actually recommended by Charlie Talley the chemist...

An easy way to harvest yeast is to make an over sized starter and save some of it in the refrigerator for next time. It is in it's cleanest form as a starter rather than washing the trub off a primary fermentation.

I have a 5 gal brew kettle for small batches that has no fixtures on it. I just use a sanitized 1 liter plastic measuring cup to carefully ladle out the cooled wort and find that I get very little trub this way. Since I bottle directly out of a 3 gal primary with spigot, I 3D printed a...

I would imagine that evaporation plays a big role in a changing reading over time if you have a very thin layer. There are some fairly cheap non sterile syringe filters on amazon that you could try.

Looks great for proofing dough, very interested in this.

The coffee world uses refractometers and syringe filters to measure extraction. The filters are very expensive in my mind, but you can take a look at: VSTAPPS STORE — Syringe Filters for Espresso / Coffee I have an optical refractometer, the VEE GEE BTX-1 and with it I can take a reading within...

I bought two used Crydom 50 amp SSR pulled from industrial equipment on ebay for $18 that run at room temp for a 10 amp load on my DIY air popper coffee roaster. They are designed to be mounted to a panel, but even at a 20 amp load I doubt they would need a heat sink. The cheap fake ones are a...

It's over 9000 900!

I am 63 and brewed my first extract batch in 1982. Now days all my batches are what I can fit in 12 500 ml ez-cap bottles, so about 9 liters post boil. I use a Wilser bag in a 20 liter kettle, do no chill in the kettle and ferment in a 2 gal bucket inside a cooler with frozen bottles for temp...

I think the boil off condenser is a cool concept. If I wasn't so lazy and the vent system so easy, I would give it a try. If you don't like it, you can always give or sell it to someone else. One thing I don't like about it is that it mixes the tap water mist with the boil off condensate. If it...

I had made a software based pressure regulator for a work project years ago to control a 2000 psi pressure chamber using a PLC. The designer had spec'd a $1500 mechanical regulator that performed very erratically and had a large hysteresis. I removed the regulator and made use of the pressure...

The tea method works well with an inverted Aeropress too if you only need a small amount.

I have found I like to seed with cheap unflavored yogurt. I tried using the fancy multi culture types and didn't like the taste. Since I am somewhat lactose intolerant, I also drain my yogurt for about 6-8 hours with an overpriced stainless mesh filter to make greek yogurt. It actually comes out...

What are you referring to with temp control on the hot side?

I have been doing the sucrose solution and syringe method out of concern for contamination. Lately I have been making a sweet hop tea in my inverted Aeropress such that each 500 ml bottle gets 10 ml. I just heat water to 180 in electric kettle and pour over weighed sugar and hop pellets and let...

I am interested in trying this, but need to know where I can find good source of suitable barley. I think popcorn can be malted and the sweater screen method looks like a good approach.

My only experience with using chalk was for a sugar wash. It is generally insoluble in water but will dissolve in carbonated water. So it acted as a pH buffer dissolving in as the yeast became active and stabilizing the pH at around 4. Sugar washes tend to stall if the pH drops below 3, which...