Ghetto Brew Kit

[cgherrington3]

Just fooling around this morning with some ebrewing stuff I bought at Home Depot, when it hit me that I could make simple electric AG kit and mail it to my son in San Francisco for Christmas. I've been mailing him finished beer and thought he might like to brew his own.

So here's the the basics of the kit:

5 Gallon bucket $2.50
Lid $1
1500w 120v element $10
1" lockring $.50
5' cord $5
Spigot $3
Air lock $2
5 gal paint strainer bag $2

So I got ~$25 in the hardware

Here's a demo bucket action (don't be hatin' )

Include some grains and a pack of yeast.

Haven't worked on the recipe, but it should go something like this:

Add 3 gallons water to bucket and plug in
When boiling, unplug and add X amount tap water (to bring down to mash temp guess I could include a thermometer in the kit, but hey I'm cheap)
Add the grains and first wort hops cover with lid and sit for an hour
Remove bag
Boil for 1 hour
Let cool
Add yeast, lid, airlock
Let sit for 5 days in the cool San Francisco air
Add priming sugar to PET bottles and fill from spigot
harvest yeast and brew another batch
Wait 3 weeks
Chill and drink

 

[brewmasterorr]

I don't think you will be able to boil an hour with no temp control. You will get a vigorous boil and get a boil over.

 

[LAbrewer]

That doesn't look unsafe at all.

 

[theonetrueruss]

How long did it take to bring it to a boil?

 

[Anon]

anyone see some danger here? lol

 

[cgherrington3]

Damn, just burned the garage down. That didn't go to plan.

 

[RobertRGeorge]

Those exposed wires right next to the bucket fitting make me twitchy.

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

Tapping an electric element into a plastic bucket??

These buckets are meant for paint and therefore i believe are not food grade.
Those exposed wires are even less "food grade" with that huge leak from the bottom
Good luck...

 

[cgherrington3]

short video of the boil. 2000w 120v on 20 amp circuit

I cheated at put few drops of fermcap :rockin:

 

[BadNewsBrewery]

The use of the word ghetto here is offensive to the word ghetto. That's terrifying.

 

[cgherrington3]

Brew was a success. Bucket didn't leak a drop. It's in the fermenter now.

Well, not what you would call a fermenter. The bucket is floating in my septic tank. It's nice and cool down there!

 

[BadNewsBrewery]

And... trolled...

 

[Im_Lars]

"wow" is all I can say

 

[phoenixs4r]

You got the nut for the element at Home depot? Is it stainless? I've been wanting to turn my HLT to electric but can't find those nuts without some unreasonable shipping costs.

Edit: in response to the actual build...not sure if those buckets are safe to boil in, but if they are its the perfect 4 gallon extract batch set up. Think about it, brew the beer, attach the lid and let it cool over night, pitch yeast in the morning, ferment in the vessel, rack when done, dump the bucket. Turn hardwired aspect of it into a plug and receptacle to detach and stuff it into the closet. Other than the bucket I really like it.

 

[cgherrington3]

You got the nut for the element at Home depot? Is it stainless? I've been wanting to turn my HLT to electric but can't find those nuts without some unreasonable shipping costs.

Edit: in response to the actual build...not sure if those buckets are safe to boil in, but if they are its the perfect 4 gallon extract batch set up. Think about it, brew the beer, attach the lid and let it cool over night, pitch yeast in the morning, ferment in the vessel, rack when done, dump the bucket. Turn hardwired aspect of it into a plug and receptacle to detach and stuff it into the closet. Other than the bucket I really like it.

Thank you for having the balls to post something positive.

Yeah the stainless ring and O ring kit online is pricey.

1" galvanized rings can be found in the electric department at the depot 2 for $.60.

No O ring on the inside of the homer bucket and didn't leak a drop.

If you hunted the depot I bet you could find a nylon lock ring, if the galvanized bothers you. Can't wait for someone to jump in here and tell me that zinc causes alzheimer's.

The plastic bucket thing has been beaten to death on the web. The orange homer buckets are not "food safe" the white ones supposedly are. The brewsnobs will only use stainless or glass of course. Your call.

I was just fooling around to show what can be done and piss off a few of the brewsnobs around here. Success on both

Good luck with your brews.

 

[RobertRGeorge]

And... trolled...

Yeah, nice touch leaving the ground wire clipped off the rig. Let's hope the next hurricane doesn't flood out your septic tank. The weather can be dicey there in West Palm Beach.

I call fail on pissing off the brew snobs though. Seems to me the commenters were just trying to help you out.

 

[huntingohio]

I know your most likely, screwing with us.

But really man? With an AL 8 gallon pot being something like 10 bucks at walmart, why waste time?

If your serious for ****s sake dont send it to your son. Its not alzhiemers you have to worry about with galvanized its heavy metal poisoning. I threw gal. roffing in a fire once and got sick as hell do to exposure of the vapors, I was outsside. Dont heat that crap up.

 

[cgherrington3]

As you may be aware, some people believe that relatively large doses of zinc protect against and/or cure the rhinoviruses that cause the common cold and similar diseases.

This particular method of brewing my be the cure for the common cold

PM me if you would you like to participate in human trials. I'll send you a bottle.

Maybe I can get some money from the Federal Government to study it?

Believe it or not they did a study on the use of galvanized steel garbage cans as smokers.

Really, throw galvanized roofing material on a fire, and then come on here and call me stupid for boiling it?

I'm going back to my sewer fermenter and troll on in the darkness of ignorance :rockin:

 

[MarcusKillion]

I think that boiling water in a plastic bucket , especially one that is not food grade as I suspect this one is , is probably not good for your health .
does this not put a chemical taste in your beer in the first batch or so ? Perhaps not enough to notice but it is there.

Craigs list .. Look for a turkey deep fryer . Bought me one for 20 bucks . have brewed 2 AG and 2 partial mash kits with one bottle of propane so far . Not enough left to do either again but could boil up a few gallons for a no boil kit .
adds a bit to the beer cost but .. Oh wait that aluminum pot does raise concerns but the issue here in not cancer from plastic chems or alzheimer's from aluminum it is the bad taste and the aluminum does not leave one .

 

[RobertRGeorge]

This particular method of brewing my be the cure for the common cold

From what I read the lead content of the air down there in Florida has similar properties

 

[WileECoyote]

I have to say this is Brilliant (with some tweaking) as others have harshly stated.

You have to start somewhere on any idea, I could see this working great, as a cheap electric brewing build, by adding a pot, temp controller and a shut off switch.

Thinking outside the box is a Great thing! If every inventor let the nay sayers stop them, we would still be living in caves, Keep it up.

Cheers

 

[huntingohio]

As you may be aware, some people believe that relatively large doses of zinc protect against and/or cure the rhinoviruses that cause the common cold and similar diseases.

This particular method of brewing my be the cure for the common cold

PM me if you would you like to participate in human trials. I'll send you a bottle.

Maybe I can get some money from the Federal Government to study it?

Believe it or not they did a study on the use of galvanized steel garbage cans as smokers.

Really, throw galvanized roofing material on a fire, and then come on here and call me stupid for boiling it?

I'm going back to my sewer fermenter and troll on in the darkness of ignorance :rockin:

I have an excuse, I was 15 at the time. I assume your an adult.
but for now im outta troll food


I may actually do this in an alluminum pot if i can find the right fittings. wrap it with insulation and do biab, thanks for some insperation atleast

 

[cgherrington3]

I may actually do this in an alluminum pot if i can find the right fittings. wrap it with insulation and do biab, thanks for some insperation atleast

That's cool. You'll be amazed at the beer you can make with just a pot and a paint strainer.

Hmmmm....I wonder if I really need the paint strainer?

Good luck with your brews

 

[WileECoyote]

That's cool. You'll be amazed at the beer you can make with just a pot and a paint strainer.

Hmmmm....I wonder if I really need the paint strainer?

Good luck with your brews

Paint strainer is not necessary if you have a big colander and transfer to another pot for the boil. Been there done that.

Cheers

 

[cgherrington3]

Yeah for the permanent setup

I'm thinking of putting the 2000w/120v in the turkey pot to cook rice for american beers

And the 5500w/240v in the keggle for BIAB

Buying propane is bringing me down.

Cheers!

 

[toolmantoo]

Looks like an accident waiting to happen. Could you at least include a portable GFCI? $20 bucks at Lowes

 

[jerrodm]

I want to go on the record as saying this is awesome.

Could you fancy it up? (By which I mean, make it safe and reliable?) Of course. But what would be the fun in that? The challenge was to make a brew rig as cheaply as possible and this is pretty much as cheap as it gets.

Now, will it give your son cancer, or diabetes or glaucoma? Hell, I don't know, probably. But it's still cool as hell, and you know after a few batches he's going to start upgrading stuff anyway, as we all do. I say go for it. Unless it kills him, in which case I thought it was a bad idea all along.

Cheers!

 

[MarcusKillion]

As you may be aware, some people believe that relatively large doses of zinc protect against and/or cure the rhinoviruses that cause the common cold and similar diseases.

This particular method of brewing my be the cure for the common cold

PM me if you would you like to participate in human trials. I'll send you a bottle.

Maybe I can get some money from the Federal Government to study it?

Believe it or not they did a study on the use of galvanized steel garbage cans as smokers.

Really, throw galvanized roofing material on a fire, and then come on here and call me stupid for boiling it?

I'm going back to my sewer fermenter and troll on in the darkness of ignorance :rockin:

Zinc seems to be very bad news . Noticed it is frowned upon in denture adhesives and other things .
Galvanized steel sure does put off a bad smell when burned .
You may have something here. Let me know as soon as you get that batch of zinc supplemented burnt galvanized smoke infused beer done as I would sure like some . Who needs smokey flavors from expensive barley when you can just pick up some old trash cans from the dump and burn them .

 

[MarcusKillion]

I have to say this is Brilliant (with some tweaking) as others have harshly stated.

You have to start somewhere on any idea, I could see this working great, as a cheap electric brewing build, by adding a pot, temp controller and a shut off switch.

Thinking outside the box is a Great thing! If every inventor let the nay sayers stop them, we would still be living in caves, Keep it up.

Cheers

Adding pot is the main thing here . Although it was a thinking outside the box moment and useful to one who had little money to work with the bucket is just not good . Even a food grade bucket is probably not good to boil in . but sometimes you just got to do what you got to do to get it done .

 

[cgherrington3]

Can I send some water to a lab to see if there's any zinc in it? I'll have to send a control sample as well.