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you can't build one cheaper. A single good burner will cost you $75 new. If that frame is strong enough to hold 8 gallons of water plus 10 lbs of mash and its water and a boil kettle full of liquid...maybe 75-100 lbs, you're good. buy it quick.

Not sure about efficiency affects. I'd think more about sparging and even mashout to impact that. Like Astropunk talks about...higher temp conversions yield maltier/sweeter beer where lower temp conversions yield dryer/alcoholy beer. You will fully convert at any of those temps, so the only...

Moderately well modified malts benefit from a proein rest to break down any large proteins into smaller proteins and amino acids ans well as to further release the starches from the endosperm. (Palmer-How To Brew). Well modified malts such as Pale and Amber (slightly roasted pale) don't require...

I've transitioned from immersion to counterflow and finally to plate where I'll stay. You can make your own counterflow chiller with your 30' of copper and a garden hose. The performance will likely surprise you.

I can't remember where I read this, so you can discount it if you like...but freezing the beer and removing the ice was a technique used in lagering to remove water and increase maltiness. If you let it thaw, no changes to gravity, but if you wanted to malt it up, you could leave the ice (just...

In Beersmith there is a menu item that allows you to adjust your hops because of age. It uses knowledge that there is a 25% loss of Alpha Acid % in 6 months. Given that, it is possible that 3 month old hops could have lost some small percentage of Alpha Acid. Personally I would never worry...

Not using tri-clamps...just SS 2-way Ball valves on each vessel, then using 2 3-way SS valves for the central plumbing which connects the vessels in to the pump and uses 1 output for HLT to MT and HLT recirc, then Boil to chill. I love the idea of using tri-clamps for the heating element in the...

I like the burner adjustability. Smart thinking. I have the Sabco brew frame. Made my own controller. The sabco is sealed for wind blockage I guess, but it's difficult to get enough air in there. I got it tuned in, but it wasn't easily adjustable like yours. You'll get some heat...

bleach and water should handle it too. Long keg brushes could get up in there too.

If you are using a Hefe yeast, they tend to be low flocculators, so most of the yeast stays in suspension. Trub should pile up down there pretty well though...and be brownish/greenish--not creamy white like yeast. At least that's my experience.

wow! That's quite a resevoir down there. I use a similar design from Sabco, and it gives me about two inches at the bottom of the keggle. You're doing RIMS so you are recirculating the wort. If you had a sparge arm which would spray the entire grain bed, you could get away without submerging...

Simcoes give such a nice taste, you'll probably change your recipe! Welcome back to the brewing world. Enjoy that beer.

Plate chillers (or even counterflow chillers) are a quantum leap past the good old immersion chiller. I live in Colorado and have well water coming into my house at 63 or so at the tap. I dumped my immersion chiller when my neighbor made us a counterflow chiller out of a garden hose, some...

According to Palmer's "How to Brew" The water temp should be about 170 for sparging. Water that is too hot can lead to astringency...as can very wet mashes (1.5 is very wet. I settled in on 1.35 because that way I can recirc my mash with the RIMS controller and get good coverage). Palmer also...

I'm not in Washington, but if you built it, you can probably run it better than a 3rd party who has a different setup. I built my RIMS setup a year ago. The specifics of my system (RIMS tube should be primed for pump to work best, setpoint of the temp controller should be below room temp to...

I batch sparge and go for maybe 15 minutes. Just enough time to add hot water to mash, drain, repeat. Oh, sorry! I know you were asking about fly sparging, but the time difference alone makes me suggest batching if you are interested in experimenting.

You pointed out one drawback of adding more wort...hop utilization. Charlie Papazian and his "Joy of Homebrewing" talks about ways to improve your beer...first is when a recipe asks for sugar, use dried malt extract instead, second is a full vigorous boil is very important to extract hop...

For my hefe I always use 50% wheat malt and 50% Pils. The Flaked wheat would possibly add head retention, but depending on the yeast you are using, that recipe is close to the classic ratio already.

I recently transported my keezer to the neighbors house in my John Deere garden trailer. It was bumpy, but with 30 minutes for the beer to settle, it was fine. I expect the same for you. I am assuming it will stay cold. Like someone else said, turn off the CO2 and you should be OK. Some...

Used weldless for about 4 years now. Never a problem with them. I considered having SS nipples welded in after I already had a 3/4" hole for my weldless and was told that those holes are too big for a good bead...lesson being that once you commit, you are pretty well committed. Purists will...