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Well, I was going to say that they don't tell you how much grain comes in the all grain kits because they don't want to give away the recipes, but now that I think about it, that kind of sucks. In order to know how much grain you need, you need to be able to tell them your brewhouse efficiency...

I think manufacturers of everything don't like it when their product is used for an alternate use. When used for an alternate use and they know about it, they may become liable for any product liability issues that arise from the alternate use and they probably didn't do any testing on the...

CPVC. Copper isn't worth the money for the look (no one sees it but you). Also, as to the dead space issue, if you construct it properly and have a good cooler, you can avoid a lot of deadspace. And, for El P, BLEACH DOESN'T BELONG IN BREWING. SEMPER FI! :D

sweet. I'm starting to lean towards the plastic corks myself as the real kind is starting to look like it is going to be a real pain in the arse. I'm thinking of a volume of about 3.5 to 3.7, but I haven't completely decided yet.

That's almost the exact attenuation of my belgian strong when I put it into the secondary a few weeks ago. P.S. How did bottling go? Did you use the italian floor corker? Ease or difficulty? Are you aging them standing up or on their sides? Did you add any yeast prior to bottling? What...

From what I understand, the higher the temp (to a point), the higher the body. The lower the temp (again, to a point) the drier the brew will be. I believe this is due to higher temps leaving more dextrins in the wort and lower temps not doing so. The off flavors you are referring to are...

Hmmm, I use mine with slots down and I also get about 68% efficiency. I like the idea of better efficiency, but I also like the consistency I get by having the slots down. Perhaps I'll try it on the next few brews I make and see if it's as consistent.

At some point, I'll get off my lazy ass and post pics of the one I just made. I used CPVC for everything, glued nothing and it worked like a charm making my big belgian. After getting the CPVC, I wondered if the PVC would have worked, because the temp ratings on the side of the CPVC were at...

I dunno. What sanitization procedures do you use? Perhaps you used a bleach dilution and didn't rinse something enough?

Do you think the heat alone will invert the sugar and turn the sucrose into glucose or do you not care? I make candi sugar to be sure that the sugar has been inverted by giving it an acidic environment and heat.

Not that I know of. I used 15 pounds of Belgian Pale this weekend in my brew and had no problem with my 60 minute mash.

Yea, I did my first batch with my square 48 qt. cooler over the weekend. The batch was a Belgian Strong Ale with 20 pounds of grain. After adding about 10, I am pretty sure that the grain bed would have been sufficient. However, after adding the full 20 lbs and mash water, there was still...

I just thought I would add that you don't need a sparge arm to do fly sparging. I do fly sparging by the pour the sparge liquor over a turned over spoon or on top of a plastic lid method most of the time. Or you can always just put aluminum foil over the top of your mash tun, poke holes in it...

A1) Yes, but it could be better. It just kind of depends on your system, the crush on your grains, etc. My efficiency is 68%. As far as efficiency goes, I am more concerned with consistency. A2) Your FG will probably be pretty low, depending on your yeast. I'm unure about that English Ale...

This debate is really old, and no one (at least any homebrewer I've ever talked to, myself included) knows enough metallurgy to settle the debate. The answer is: it depends. There are different types and blends of aluminum just like there are different types of stainless steel (e.g. I have...

I'm considering making a mashtun out of a 60 or so qt. cooler (I already have a Gott Cooler mash tun that I will continue to use for lower gravity beers and smaller batches). I have seen several set ups that make a copper manifold out of something like 1 inch diameter copper pipe, then...

I think the best cost justification argument for home-brewing or all grain brewing is not based on a per bottle price, but a comparison price. You can't get much cheaper per unit than the big american companies. Therefore you have to try to say, "well, I make better beer than them"...

I have almost that exact same setup. It works quite well. I don't sparge exactly like that, but overall everything on that page is what I do as well. Now that I'm getting more into brewing, I think I might have wanted a bigger mash/lauter tun to begin with. Instead of using a drink style...

Yep. If conversion didn't take place, your gravity would be very low.

When I sparge I usually collect about a quart every five minutes or so. Of course, my efficiency is 68%, so maybe I should sparge slower. Of course, it could also be my system, I don't know. I'm happy with my consistency, so I'm not changing anything.