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I only got a brief glance at the system I mentioned above with the bottom cut out rather than the top. It was used as a mash tun. IIRC, the original sanke opening connected to a pump and the plumbing housed a PID controlled heating element before returning to the mash tun. At the time, I was...

Exactly! I met some guys who took the bottoms out of their sanke kegs to make their keggles; it was a great setup and made so much sense.

There were 40,901 car fatalities in 2023. There were 42,721 car fatalities in 2023. How many of you are giving up your car?

Welcome. Just bottled my first mead; the JOAM recipe I found here. I am looking forward to trying it out about mid-February. 💕 The little taste I took encourages me to start another batch soon. Perhaps we can both get some good ideas here.

I have to admit, I love my glass carboys. Watching a batch of wine work is more fascinating to me than the lava lamps I remember as a kid. I can’t even tell you without going out to count how many I have. I guess I have what I am supposed to; I sold two and within a couple weeks I acquired three...

Not to throw a monkey wrench in this thread, but there’s always champagne bottles and cages. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Not exactly on topic, but related to carboy handling safety. A friend lets me pick his muscadine vines after he gets a couple gallons for his wife to make jelly. I pick to make wine and return a bottle to him. His uncle used to make wine and built the contraption pictured below. It’s...

I’m sure there’s a way to target this out exactly using algebra, but I’m not that particular. The issue lies in the fact that if you’re targeting a certain volume for your carboy (say 5 gallons) and you take a reading, you can easily determine how much sugar should be there to raise the SG to...

Welcome! Lots to learn here; been a great resource for me. Been making beer & wine for a long time, but I’ve got my first batch of mead in the works right now. Also, did a ginger beer this summer. I had done my first batch a decade ago, and somehow just never got around to making it again. If...

You can always get lucky. I bought some gear from some guys who listed on Craigslist. I baulked at the 10# steel tank that had expired 10 years ago, so the fellow gave it to me. What the heck; it would make a great doorstop. 🤷🏻‍♂️ On a whim, with nothing to lose, I tried to exchange it. The...

Critters have a way of knowing their limits; those that don’t get eliminated from the gene pool. I had a college professor whose son vomited and passed out from eating cheery plums, seed and all, from the trees that lined the street on his walk home from school. When he was late getting home...

Wow! I can’t imagine processing that many crab apples. Do you intend to press the crab apples, or do a ferment with the fruit? Some folks core their apples before grinding and pressing; others don’t. I would definitely core them if you intend to ferment any length of time with the fruit. All...

I’ve got my first batch, (JAOM), in the closet clearing up right now. It was started back in July. Some of the fruit is starting to drop. My temperature is similar to OP’s What temperature do you recommend for long term aging? I was thinking about letting this one sit perhaps until mid-February.

I just have one lager under my belt, so no expert. I fermented a 5 gallon Mexican lager in a 10 gallon corny in an inkbird controlled freezer. After the fermentation was complete, I changed the controller to lagering temperature and let it sit, connected to gas to keep enough pressure to keep it...

I have a fence around my garden to deter wildlife. Between the fence and the dogs, it works fairly well. I turn my chickens into the garden once it has run its course and they perform a clean up and, well, “fertilize” all over it. Several years ago, I planted some hops on two corners. One did...

Since OP is doing smaller batches, he does have the option of fermenting in a 5 gallon keg with a floating dip, priming the keg with sugar, and serving directly from the keg with a party tap, but I recommend the Tapit. This greatly reduces the initial costs of getting started with kegging, and...

When I keg a stout in the winter, I prime the keg with sugar, put it in the utility room adjoining my carport. It’s an unheated space, but houses my water heater, two freezers, and a single tap kegerator. Since I typically prefer my stouts at a slightly warmer temperature, I often don’t ever...

Perhaps, you could just use a small submersible fountain pump to push your tap water through your chiller. If you have a double sink, you could still put ice, or frozen jugs to further lower the tap water temperature. Then drain out to the other side. If a single sink, you could drain out to...

Yes! I have my first mead, using the JAOM recipe in the closet right now. I started it back in early July and it has quit working and is starting to clear up slowly. I’m hoping it will be decent by Thanksgiving or Christmas.