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bottlebomber said:
Yes, and what's more they often come with a gimmicky price tag as well. I just can't justify spending $15 on a 4 ounce bottle of hot sauce.

This bottle was $18. I told him he was insane. He quickly pointed out that I often will spend $20 on a single bottle of beer. He claims bottle will last years because you use so little in every day use. I know it's a macho thing.
 
There are certain activities that can be, uh, well, shall we say "memorable" when you have both been eating the really spicy stuff.
 
I agree that horse is amazing.

You been eating meatballs from Ikea?

Hubby just got back home from the hospital and he is on the phone ordering chickens still in their eggs. Now we must go check the incubator and brooder thing. Wonderful!! :cross:

What kind of chics are you going to be hatching? Nothing beats a good homegrown broiler!

For reference, Tapatio is 3,000 Scoville Heat Units.

Also makes a nice spicy bloody mary, about 50/50 Tapatio and vodka on ice.

I love me some spicy food. I used to buy habeneros and eat 3 or 4 of them raw with my meals.

My wife put a end to that so now I have to use hot sauce.

No more meals?

There are certain activities that can be, uh, well, shall we say "memorable" when you have both been eating the really spicy stuff.

Like peeing if you forgot to wash your hands first.
 
Busy night. Bottled a batch of Cabernet, cleaned the equipment and then bottled the RIS I bottled at the end of October. That ended up at 1.015 with an ABV of 11+% - and more importantly already tastes great. After 2nd clean-up I threw an ounce of Kent Goldings into my English IPA to dry hop. I feel great now but know when I have to get up in 4 1/2 hours it will be much different.

Quit smoking years ago (thankfully) but I still love this song from those days!


 
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Oh man I was going to mill my grain for my next batch last night but decided to wait a week or so. Having a pipeline is a wonderful thing but having it so full it is bursting at the seams kind of sucks because I do not brew as often.
 
I've bottled four batches in the last couple of weeks, but now I'm looking at the empty fermenters and Carboy and having the itch to keep brewing :D For me the problem would be the DIY projects getting in the way.
 
I hear you. I hate seeing a empty fermenter but dang I got nowhere to put the stuff anymore. For some reason the last few months I just have not been drinking as much. Not that I have been busy or anything I just have not been drinking very much.

Weird huh
 
I'm in brewery rebuild mode. I keep finding excuses to wait until I finish (insert cool new DIY here) before the next batch. Picking up a keg tomorrow for my bottom draining recirculating RIMS tun. Still waiting on a few pieces. I suppose I could brew on my system the way it is, but where's the fun in that?
 
I'm in brewery rebuild mode. I keep finding excuses to wait until I finish (insert cool new DIY here) before the next batch. Picking up a keg tomorrow for my bottom draining recirculating RIMS tun. Still waiting on a few pieces. I suppose I could brew on my system the way it is, but where's the fun in that?

I built a new mash tun that is calling me. I have only used it twice once with my mill and once with my local brew store mill. When I did my mill I ended up with pretty much flour and through the roof efficiencies but a almost stuck sparge. I want to tweak my mill a little and see if I can keep the efficiency but speed up the drain a little.

Sigh but I got no room for the beer so I am going to put it off for a bit :eek:
 
Like I said before, just send it all to me and it'll clear up some room. :)

I'm really hoping this design in working on works out ok. It'll be a lot of time and headache wastes if it doesn't. I'm putting an electric element hooked up to a dimmer after the temp control. That way I theoretically can adjust the amperage of the element manually while still retaining temp control. I'm putting my heating element into my mash tun, under a full width false bottom I'm building. People keep saying it won't work, but noone can tell me why, so I'm going to give it a try.
 
Like I said before, just send it all to me and it'll clear up some room. :)

I'm really hoping this design in working on works out ok. It'll be a lot of time and headache wastes if it doesn't. I'm putting an electric element hooked up to a dimmer after the temp control. That way I theoretically can adjust the amperage of the element manually while still retaining temp control. I'm putting my heating element into my mash tun, under a full width false bottom I'm building. People keep saying it won't work, but noone can tell me why, so I'm going to give it a try.

Was just running this through my head and I am guessing you are doing this to lengthen the run times on your element hopefully decreasing your temp swings?

I would think that it would work but dialing in the fan control would be difficult I think. If I remember right they do not change the amperage but the voltage and when you drop the voltage a little the amperage drops way more.

Hmm I would wonder about the rheostat that you are using as well. Most fans do not use much power at all and so do not have a very robust rheostat. Using a 1500 watt element for instance with a 100 watt rheostat sounds like a bad thing to me.

Mind you I have not tinkered with anything like that for years and years so I might be wrong. I am trying to remember how we controlled the 100 horse motors on the spud pit fans and it seems like we used a inverter that modified the sine wave. Heck to many years ago :D
 
I ordered a 120v 20a dimmer on eBay. I'm putting in an ammeter so I can watch the amperage. I want the ability to heat fast, but also be able to stretch out heating during the mash as well. I'll keep the tun recirculating to keep temps steady as well. If it doesn't work perfect, no big loss. I want to stay away from HERMS because I'm going for a 2 vessel.
 
I'm flooded in after all that rain, 10.5 inches the last couple days. Finally stopped, but the creek is like a river now and flowing right over the driveway, looks deep and current looks strong. By tomorrow it should have receded if the rain stays away. Lots of waterways for it to make it's way to.

I'm like v-man here, running out of room. But I have a small fermenter that I've been storing sanitizer in. I'll move the sanitizer into something else, or dump it, probably re-used it enough. Gonna do a 3 gallon batch while I'm flooded in. A simple IPA. Just got the mash started.

Snaps, don't let them tell you in won't work!!

Not sure what kind of chickens hubby ordered. 2 dozen eggs. They said up to 95% will hatch in the right conditions. And, lucky me, hubby says we are keeping them in the house. I hope he just means while they are still just eggs. He cleaned off a table for them. I'll have to ask him what kind when he gets up and around. I think he said red-something-hens.
 
I ordered a 120v 20a dimmer on eBay. I'm putting in an ammeter so I can watch the amperage. I want the ability to heat fast, but also be able to stretch out heating during the mash as well. I'll keep the tun recirculating to keep temps steady as well. If it doesn't work perfect, no big loss. I want to stay away from HERMS because I'm going for a 2 vessel.

Be interesting to see if it works. Myself I think it will work as long as 20 amps will heat it up fast enough.

Oh my in my camp trailer I wired a ammeter just because I wanted to know what I was drawing from the batteries all the time. I hate running the generator to charge the batteries so I tend to try and limit any load when on the batteries.
 
I'm flooded in after all that rain, 10.5 inches the last couple days. Finally stopped, but the creek is like a river now and flowing right over the driveway, looks deep and current looks strong. By tomorrow it should have receded if the rain stays away. Lots of waterways for it to make it's way to.

I'm like v-man here, running out of room. But I have a small fermenter that I've been storing sanitizer in. I'll move the sanitizer into something else, or dump it, probably re-used it enough. Gonna do a 3 gallon batch while I'm flooded in. A simple IPA. Just got the mash started.

Snaps, don't let them tell you in won't work!!

Not sure what kind of chickens hubby ordered. 2 dozen eggs. They said up to 95% will hatch in the right conditions. And, lucky me, hubby says we are keeping them in the house. I hope he just means while they are still just eggs. He cleaned off a table for them. I'll have to ask him what kind when he gets up and around. I think he said red-something-hens.

Stay dry Bobbi. Been watching the weather and it looks downright miserable in FL to me.

By the way chicken is foul meat :D...But I do enjoy eggs every morning
 
Well, ran of room in my kettle. I'm maybe 1.5 inches from the top and attempting a slow rolling boil. Was going to add a couple pounds of LME to make up for the shortage of grain, but only ended up with room for maybe one pound. If I warm up LME to use, with hot tap water, then can't use it all, am I supposed to refrigerate the rest of the jar? I haven't been refrigerating it. Getting away from using extract, but nice to have if the wort doesn't seem thick enough or sweet enough. I'll do a gravity reading this time too. Out of curiosity. But now I'm planning to add some extra fermentables, maybe honey at the end after it boils down.

Well, I planned a straight forward IPA, but looking like it'll turn into something else now.
 
Like I said before, just send it all to me and it'll clear up some room. :)

I'm really hoping this design in working on works out ok. It'll be a lot of time and headache wastes if it doesn't. I'm putting an electric element hooked up to a dimmer after the temp control. That way I theoretically can adjust the amperage of the element manually while still retaining temp control. I'm putting my heating element into my mash tun, under a full width false bottom I'm building. People keep saying it won't work, but noone can tell me why, so I'm going to give it a try.

I have a 2-vessel RIMS system with a bottom-draining keg for a mash tun. I run everything through a RIMS tube fired by a PID. If I understand your design correctly, you want to manually control your heating element AFTER your controller to ramp up the temps. I'm not being a naysayer, but I see a few things you might consider. First, the 2352 PID from Auberins allows bumpless switching from automatic to manual. You could theorectically use that function for ramping. I've messed with it a little, but not enough to really test the efficiency. Secondly, instead of a rheostat (dimmer), you might want to look at pulse width modulator (PWM). There are several threads here if you just search on PWM. Many advantages over a rheostat. Lastly, placing your heating element in the mash tun, based on my experience, is not a very good option. A considerable amount of grist makes it's way through the false bottom in a keg mash tun. Having that concentrated slurry in direct contact with the element, even for a very short time, risks scorching. Anyway, just a couple of suggestions you might want to consider. Good luck.
 
Reelale said:
I have a 2-vessel RIMS system with a bottom-draining keg for a mash tun. I run everything through a RIMS tube fired by a PID. If I understand your design correctly, you want to manually control your heating element AFTER your controller to ramp up the temps. I'm not being a naysayer, but I see a few things you might consider. First, the 2352 PID from Auberins allows bumpless switching from automatic to manual. You could theorectically use that function for ramping. I've messed with it a little, but not enough to really test the efficiency. Secondly, instead of a rheostat (dimmer), you might want to look at pulse width modulator (PWM). There are several threads here if you just search on PWM. Many advantages over a rheostat. Lastly, placing your heating element in the mash tun, based on my experience, is not a very good option. A considerable amount of grist makes it's way through the false bottom in a keg mash tun. Having that concentrated slurry in direct contact with the element, even for a very short time, risks scorching. Anyway, just a couple of suggestions you might want to consider. Good luck.

Once the PID is in manual mode I can control it, but when I switch back to controlling does the element not go back to 100%?
I discovered all the threads on PWM after ordering the dimmer, so I figured I was at no loss to try it.
My original plan was for a RIMS tube, and I have a bunch of copper here (I plead the 5th) so I may end up making one if I get too much grist on the element. I'm kind of going for a poor man's system to see just how cheap I can do it. Single 12v Chinese ebay pump, no HLT, no RIMS tube, homemade pizza pan false bottom. I've though about a cover over the element, or perhaps a screen.
 
Once the PID is in manual mode I can control it, but when I switch back to controlling does the element not go back to 100%?
I discovered all the threads on PWM after ordering the dimmer, so I figured I was at no loss to try it.
My original plan was for a RIMS tube, and I have a bunch of copper here (I plead the 5th) so I may end up making one if I get too much grist on the element. I'm kind of going for a poor man's system to see just how cheap I can do it. Single 12v Chinese ebay pump, no HLT, no RIMS tube, homemade pizza pan false bottom. I've though about a cover over the element, or perhaps a screen.

Yeah, that's the drawback of the PID. Power is constant (100%), but the duty cycle is varied. Some dimmers now utilize PWM, just minus all the programmable set-ups, so what you have might work fine. I like the idea of a cover over the element, but you might lose a lot of conducting (heating) power. You never know until you try though. It may work great.
 
I don't understand all that stuff, but good luck!

Hubby is up and around 2 days in a row and life is good. I hope it continues so he can take care of his own chickens. My first thought was, something else for me to take care of. He took the last round of chemo like a champ. He was trying to deny treatment but doctors talked him into a different schedule. So far, so good. The eggs are Rhode Island Reds, he says.
 
Okay, I got the hydrometer floating in a sample, now how do I read it? It's about 4 lines below the 15 on one side and 2 lines below the 60 on the other side, the side that say ABV is about 1.3? See, have no idea if I hit my OG. or whatever I'll end up with. Gravity reading at 80 degrees.
 
I have a 2-vessel RIMS system with a bottom-draining keg for a mash tun. I run everything through a RIMS tube fired by a PID. If I understand your design correctly, you want to manually control your heating element AFTER your controller to ramp up the temps. I'm not being a naysayer, but I see a few things you might consider. First, the 2352 PID from Auberins allows bumpless switching from automatic to manual. You could theorectically use that function for ramping. I've messed with it a little, but not enough to really test the efficiency. Secondly, instead of a rheostat (dimmer), you might want to look at pulse width modulator (PWM). There are several threads here if you just search on PWM. Many advantages over a rheostat. Lastly, placing your heating element in the mash tun, based on my experience, is not a very good option. A considerable amount of grist makes it's way through the false bottom in a keg mash tun. Having that concentrated slurry in direct contact with the element, even for a very short time, risks scorching. Anyway, just a couple of suggestions you might want to consider. Good luck.

Not that I want to do it but I am curious about the PWM. Does that change the sine wave into a modulated sine wave then meaning changing the hertz of the signal. And have they come down in price any. Last one I bought was 8 grand I believe but I was able to go from a DC signal to a modulated AC signal. Dang trying to remember how it did it now but I remember the modified sine wave looked like a series of steps rising and falling at 60 hertz.

Like I said before to many years ago since I tinkered with it. Not even sure where my old RCA oscilloscope is anymore and pretty sure I could not use it with out the books anymore
 
The sample settled to about the 70 line, this was after it settled. No more bothering with that. I'll just see how it turns out.
 
Okay, I got the hydrometer floating in a sample, now how do I read it? It's about 4 lines below the 15 on one side and 2 lines below the 60 on the other side, the side that say ABV is about 1.3? See, have no idea if I hit my OG. or whatever I'll end up with. Gravity reading at 80 degrees.

Wow Bobbi that is going to be way over 3% beer. I do not have the chart in front of me for the temp adjustment but I am betting you are over 1.060 for your starting gravity and if it finishes at 1.015 for instance the beer will be 5.895 %

1.060 - 1.015= .045 * 131 = 5.895 %
 
What about after it settled more then read around the 70 line, that's 1.070? Do I go by the reading before or after it settles?
 
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