My economic AG equipment for 5 gal brew

[pennyloaf]

I did some searching, made a couple posts but I didn't seem to get much back so I did some research and ended up spending $330 (including shipping) for a new set of home brew equipment. I don't plan on doing more than 5 gal batches so this may not be for you:

www.homebrewing.org $108.52

• 2 welded ports, 9 gal brew pot (18 gauge, does not have tri-ply bottom)
• Thermometer with 2" probe

http://www.bargainfittings.com/ $68.17

• 2 - 3 piece ball valves
• 1 - hex nipple (ball valve to pot)
• 1 - cooler bulkhead with washer (no internal standard coupling)

www.nybrewsupply.com $110.41

• 3/8" x 50' stainless immersion chiller
• 5' x 1/2" high temp silicone tubing
• 2 - 1/2" hose barbs
• 28" plastic mash paddle
• corny keg o-ring set
• 6 - stainless hose clamps

Home Depot $12.37

• cpvc cement
• 10' x 1/2" pipe
• 8 elbows and T's
• 1/2" to 1/2" NTP connection

Walmart $30

• 50 qt coleman extreme cooler

For a full set of equipment all you need is a burner ($50), some better bottles/airlocks/siphen hoses/funnel/bottle equip (essentially a starter kit at any number of the home brew shops).

I will get the equipment this week and put it together. Plan on some some cleaning/treating with hot water and then my first AG brew day this weekend to brew a Kolsch

I thought about getting the 8.5 gal pot off morebeer.org? but I figured for the ~$10 difference I would rather have a half gal extra space. This one also had more reviews.

Search terms: brew kettle, cheap pot

 

[Espkelly]

I would be interested in seeing pics of the final setup, looking the go AG at some point this summer. Thanks for the info.

 

[pennyloaf]

The pot seems thick enough (single ply bottom) but I will find out this weekend. The welded connections to the pot look nice - with everything assembled they stick out further than I thought they would but do not seem to thread all the way in - the threads tighten up before the end. I did not put the tubing on the immersion chiller yet - I think I will have to heat it up to get it on there. I am in the middle of a couple projects now but plan on finishing the manifold by this weekend and brewing a Kolsch for the summer heat.

I will update and let everyone know how this system did.

So far I think I could get by with 3-4' of silicone tubing but wanted extra for transfer from the pot to the carboy as I will likely go uphill (carboy is taller then burner) first until the pot is light enough to lift onto the work table. I went with the 50" IC because it was about $14? different from the 25' and I wanted to ensure good water efficiency. Everything looks pretty good in the limited time I had had it (about an hour or 2). I did not pay extra for the hose connectors because I was concerned about leaks near the wort (my hoses always seem to leak) - I am hoping for better luck with the hose clamps. The lid is rather flimsy but I am not sure if I will even use it for brewing.

I went with the dual connection pot for a thermometer because: ease of heating mash water and monitoring chill after boil





Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[pennyloaf]

OK, I finally got around to brewing, made: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/neals-kolsch-119739/

The equipment worked quite well.

Brew Pot (9 gal 2 vertical welded fittings): Didn't see any scalding or anything. The thermometer was a bit too high for the ~3.5 gal mash I was supposed to use so I bumped it up to a little over 4. This shouldn't be a problem with more than a 10# grain bill. No leaks but its not a very thick pot - could see a little flex when operating ball valve. The 9 gal was plenty enough to do a 5 gal boil with no risk of boilover. The valve was nice, I just used a better bottle and angled it under the stand. Drained about 4 gal in and then stopped, lifted the pot and finished draining. Didn't seem worth it to swap silicone hose (and sterilize) vs do it that way. In the end I only had to life the pot with ~1.5 gal water @ 90F.

I also added volume marking and it was very helpful!! No real need for a sight glass as I could clearly see it.

Cooler (50qt maxcool?): Very efficient. I built a small CPVC manifold with 3 12" runs (maybe 12"x 8" rectangle) it drained almost every drop. Flow rate was quite well but had to use a coffee pot to recirculate first runnings (thought about it last minute). The temps held almost too well. The recipe said 3.5 gal @ 165F for a 155 mash - I used 4 gal @ 160F and the mash just stayed at 160 the whole hour. Beforehand I brought some water to a boil and tossed the manifold in to clean it - that pot now has a bunch of white spots all over it... make sure and do something similar if you make your own. The manifold stays together well without glue, but mine is low profile and 1/2" - All glued parts have a straight run with a 90 on one side and fits together like 4 "L"s with a straight line in the middle with the T for connection to the valve.
I wish the cooler had straight walls - with wheeled cooler with the valve at an angle makes the valve stick out below the cooler. I can rest it on the valve (I didn't) or have the edge slightly off the table.

Immersion chiller (50' x 3/8" SS): This didn't seem to use a whole lot of water. It worked really well bringing the temp down to 110F with some moderate stirring. Dropped it down to 90 then tossed it in the fermentation chamber to chill before adding yeast. When I pulled it out of the brew, the coils were a little bit slanted (think leaning tower of piza) but I think its going to hold up well. I don't think the 1/2" is useful for 5 gal batches (based on outlet temp) but 50' was definitely nice as wort temps dropped to <150F


The wort tasted a bit hoppy (bitter) at this point. Did not detect any artificial (plastic) or burnt off flavors. and yielded ~5.5 gal, 1.052 SG @ 90F using about 4 gal mash and 4 gal sparge with about 7 gal in the pot.

 

[Sether]

You mentioned that you added volume markings to the boil kettle. I didn't see them in the pics and was curious what method you used.

I'm starting to upgrade my equipment to AG, and am looking at a very similar setup to what you listed. I keep going back and forth between the 9gal and the 14gal version of that boil kettle. I keep reading how people say it's common to want to do 10 gallon batches, even if you don't see yourself doing it at this point.