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I built mine based on these designs, but the one regret I have was only having about 7" between the faucet and the drip tray. I do not have enough room to fill growlers or large swing tops. I'm probably going to rebuild the coffin box to make it taller. There is a pic in my gallery.

If you are purchasing a magnet off the net, make sure you know the axis of polarity. I thought I scored a very nice magnet for my new 12" square based stir plate , but when I ran a test, the stirbar stood up at attention... The axis of polarity was through the vertical thickness, not the long...

Since yeast strains so not always react the same, I have taken up the habit of checking the gravity with my refractometer. I think most of mine start at about 10 brix, if it has dropped 4 or 5 points, I know everything is working as expected.

I have dumped lagers the same way I do ales, although I probably dump less volume when it is a lager. I crack the bottom valve a little until the trub start flowing and then collect about 8-12 oz of the thick slurry. When it starts running thinner, I close the valve. I have not had any...

I have a 14 gallon and can do both 5 and 10 gallon batches with no ill effects. I think a 5 gallon batch in a 22 gallon conical would have way too much headspace. Also keep in mind the ability to put these into a stand-up freezer for temp control. It will be much easier to fit a 14 gallon...

Yes, that is what I meant :) If you can do that, it would be less restricting than the additional elbow you were showing in option 2.

Another option to consider on your outlet vent through the window is to extended it out further from the window so the distance between the outlet and the inlet are further apart.

How far back in Dutch history do you want to go? I was doing some research on this and found references to 'gruit' or 'grut' style beers from the 1400s. This was before hops were widely used and herbs like bog myrtle, yarrow, and juniper were the norm. (A History of Beer and Brewing by Ian...

I use the BCS460 controller with appropriate SS probes for temperature monitoring. I use the round drink coolers for mash tuns and the way I monitor the temp is to just drop the probe in through the top cover. I slid about 2 feet of very small silicone tubing over the end of the probe to...

I set both my elements and my pumps with 3 way auto-off-on switches. Most of the time the BCS is controlling everything, but it sure is nice to manually heat up some water or control the pumps without having to use the computer interface, or accidentally interrupting the running process. I...

My probes were calibrated and the new Steinhart-Hart Coefficients put into the system. However, there are two factors that impact why I get a boil at this set point. First, as mentioned earlier in this thread, exact boil point is base on atmospheric pressure, since I am 500 ft above sea level...

Ed, So far I have done three batches, two 5.5 gallon and one 11 gallon, and the PID control based on the temp set point seems to work pretty well. It could be the placement of my temp probe, it is not right next to the elements so there is a small but measurable delta in the temp of the wort...

I have the BCS-460 controlling a 5500 watt element and it is super easy to control the boil. I can boil 5 or 10 gallon batches and control a hard or light rolling boil. The simplest way I found was to set the target temperature for the boil kettle and set the control to 'PID' instead of...

I received a 14 gallon conical from my wife on Christmas (yes, she is the best) I put the conical in an upright freezer (13.7 cu ft). I purchased a Love TSS2 dual stage controller to run in 'neutral area mode' The temperature probe is taped to the conical part of the fermenator. Note that I...

Looks like the liquid level boards from AMETEK may be an option. It will open or close a relay based on liquid contact.

Lol... I was not working the lazy angle. Just thinking if there was a way to prevent burning up an element if it accidentally was energized while dry, or if the volume in the HLT dropped while sparging or cleaning in place.

I was wondering if anyone has set up an automated way to make sure an electric heating element is fully immersed in liquid. I am using the BCS controller, and was thinking that a sensor to test for immersion could be monitored and used to determine if the element could be powered or not. I...

I really appreciate all the effort many of you have put into documenting your builds. I recently finished setting up my electric rig and have had two successful brew days on the new system. I borrowed heavily from Kal's work, but I am using a BCS460 for control instead of separate controllers...

Echoing pompeiisneaks... I made 11 gallons of pale ale this weekend and split the batch into two carboys. I used a Nottingham packet in each carboy; the first one I pitched directly onto the cooled wort, the second one I pitched it with re-hydrated yeast. When I checked them the next...

Brewgirl was right, it was highly flocculant strain, White Labs WLP002. I looked at White Labs website, they indicated it was very highly flocculant. It turned out fine. I blasted the cooled wort with a bit of O2, perhaps about a minutes worth. I had great activity the next morning...