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I am torn between PET bottles with a spigot for easy sampling or a glass carboy with a thief for sampling. Both cases I would cover with aluminum foil to minimize O2 ingress. And both PET and glass have very low permeability. I had thought that the pellicle that forms on the surface blocks...

I'll throw this out just as a thought: Have you considered a counterflow chiller? I find them to be easier to clean and use. Nice option if you plan to use a hop back. I am not dissing immersion chillers - they can work fine. Just thought I'd open up the alternatives before money is spent.

I use a CFC (25 feet of 1/2 inch copper pipe in a 1.5 inch water jacket). The BK has a stainless steel screen tube formed in a circle to a tee that connects to the pickup tube. The screen has about 1/16 inch openings which keeps out most of the hop debris and is certainly fine enough to prevent...

Thanks.

I routinely add another gallon of sparge water to the mash bed after I have finished mash out. I will get somewhere between 1.012 and 1.030 unhopped and unboiled wort from this which I refrigerate (~38 *F). It keeps for a couple of weeks (assuming good sanitation practices). I will discard if...

+1. Let the beer finish fermenting and you may need to dry hop (at a reduced quantity) to bring back the hop aroma.

I have contemplated this same experiment. After doing lots of research, I came to the conclusion that some cold break in the fermenter is probably good for yeast health. I listened to a podcast where several home brewers (I think the number was about 15 or so) did a side by side test of split...

2 oz of whiskey will have a very noticeable impact in 5 gallons. 2 oz of chips will be ok for 2 - 4 weeks of secondary.

I only use 2 piece valves for HLT, Mash and BK. Remember, everything gets boiled anyway. I also use 1/2" silicone tubing and stainless steel hose barbs. No leaks in 45 batches. I only use a hose clamp when I am sliding the silicone tubing onto smooth copper pipe of the CFC (that will leak...

+1 to the comments of stainless over plastic for cleaning and durability. The yeast don't much care as long as the vessel is sanitary and the temperature is correct. Actually I've been happy with my flock of 6.5 gallon carboys (other than lifting them!). I use CO2 to push the beer into kegs...

+1 for the 2 piece valves. All I have on my BK is a 2 piece valve. I totally agree with the the comments above about avoiding a site glass on the BK. I use a dip stick. Much easier to clean. +1 on the comments to just use a handheld thermometer - which is needed only if you do...

I use silicone hose and slide onto stainless steel hose barbs. Simple, cheap, one handed operation and fewer parts to clean. The only time I use a hose clamp for leaks is when I put the silicone tubing over smooth copper tubing and on the poutput side of my pump. I use a March 815 pump for...

The pump will help with vorlaufing and moving the mash to the boil kettle. You can place the BK high enough so you can gravity drain through the wort chiller into your carboy. I wold add valves to at least the BK and Mash Tun. You can find weldless adaptors at bargainfittings dot com and...

A disaster waiting to happen. Previous owner was right - use it only for flowers.

I am planning to convert my mash tun to direct fire to automate mash temperature control and do step mashes. I see a number of folks have used BG14 for DFM but also many comments on keeping the heat low. If you had a chance to redo the design after using it for a while, would you stay with...