What unorthodox item have you repurposed for brewing?

[gingerdawg]

Nice build! Do you have access to a machine shop? How did you knurl the pipe?

I have a ghetto wood lathe converted with a tool holder. The knurls leave a little to be desired, and are a little fine. The larger diameter of the rollers helps the feed, but it takes quite a bit of power. I use a 1/2" drill.

 

[cockybitz]

I use a 2oz catheter tip syringe to start my siphons.

 

[cockybitz]

When I used to vorlauf, I think some of the returning wort would disturb the grain bed unless I was very careful when pouring it back into the mash. I remedied this by slicing notches into a Maxwell House coffee lid. Now I just float this lid on the mash and pour the returning vorlauf fluid onto it.

I use aluminum pie tins

 

[Rivenin]

Bed frames as my brew stand.. but thats just angle iron.

nothing too interesting though!

maybe left over water jug for extra wort i had?

 

[edmanster]

I use a 2oz catheter tip syringe to start my siphons.

used a turkey baster with mine untill I got a auto siphon

 

[duckmanco]

Hand held flour mixer or maybe it's just a mixer...you know, the thing you your Mom used to mix brownies and you licked the 2 metal stirrers clean...

I suspend one over the hot wort in the kettle with just one of the stirrers spinning at low speed to create a whirpool around the immersion chiller. It worked unbelievably well, saved me at least $200.00 (kettle valve + march pump) and gets my 5.5 gallon batches chilled super quick.

I've been meaning to post a picture of it, but it's so trashy I dare not.... yet.

 

[barrooze]

I suspend one over the hot wort in the kettle with just one of the stirrers spinning at low speed to create a whirpool around the immersion chiller. It worked unbelievably well

What do you mean by "worked"? Do you not use it anymore? I think this sounds fantastic, and will definitely be trying this on my next brew!!! Thanks!

BTW, I think we'd all like to see a picture...

 

[duckredbeard]

Now we are seeing some inspirational ingenuity. The mixer has got me thinking of a similar setup for a mash mixer. Wonder if it has enough torque.

 

[Proboscidea]

Well, this isn't going to win the award for Most Unusual Awesomest Re-Purposing Ever, but I keep a selection of used plastic yogurt container lids around for measuring out hops and other additions before the boil.

And I don't have a pic, but I devised a system that automatically takes a gravity reading in the fermenter when one of my three cats steps onto the litter box. Okay, not really, but I was just feeling kind of inadequate about this lackluster post of mine. :hs:

 

[msa8967]

When I used to vorlauf, I think some of the returning wort would disturb the grain bed unless I was very careful when pouring it back into the mash. I remedied this by slicing notches into a Maxwell House coffee lid. Now I just float this lid on the mash and pour the returning vorlauf fluid onto it.

I think I am going to try this out as well as wrap my ss hosebraid with volie cloth to cut down on the number of small grain pieces that make it through the filter.

 

[Proboscidea]

After making a CPVC manifold for my mash contraption, I had a few feet of pipe left over. My boil pot doesn't have any kind of volume markings, so I got out a permanent marker and constructed this sophisticated measuring device.

Behold: Ol' Brewie The Brewstick!

 

[jpc]

Little leg hair has never hurt a beer

I was thinking more of a yeast issue...

...the thing you your Mom used to mix brownies and you licked the 2 metal stirrers clean...

Hopefully not at the same time...

 

[passedpawn]

A pool, a pool noodle, and some duct tape: wort chiller. I wouldn't recommend this folks. Worked well until one day when it started raining and the pot had floated out into the middle of the pool. I bought a plate chiller right after that.

 

[tom_gamer]

A pool, a pool noodle, and some duct tape: wort chiller. I wouldn't recommend this folks. Worked well until one day when it started raining and the pot had floated out into the middle of the pool. I bought a plate chiller right after that.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8CAyasNwag

You are awesome! I hoping that the video you posted was of you standing at the side of the pool with your Wort in the middle of the pool.

 

[Stauffbier]

A pool, a pool noodle, and some duct tape: wort chiller. I wouldn't recommend this folks. Worked well until one day when it started raining and the pot had floated out into the middle of the pool. I bought a plate chiller right after that.

I like the soundtrack in that video.

 

[duckmanco]

What do you mean by "worked"? Do you not use it anymore? I think this sounds fantastic, and will definitely be trying this on my next brew!!! Thanks!

BTW, I think we'd all like to see a picture...

Guess I miss typed, because it absolutely still works. Next brew day, which should be next mid week or so, I'll snap a picture and post it up here.

 

[h4mmy86]

Best thread ever!

I've got a round standing rack that once held bags of potato chips in a convenience store that I plan to turn into a bottle rack, and if the bottle rack doesn't pan out, I'm just gonna drill the base full of holes and make a carboy drier out of it.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

I haven't done this yet, but if I don't get a chiller soon, I'm going to fill the ice cream container with water, freeze it, then set it in my brew pot with the motor resting on the top of the pot. Plug it in and the motor will slowly turn the ice in the wort.

 

[barrooze]

Guess I miss typed, because it absolutely still works. Next brew day, which should be next mid week or so, I'll snap a picture and post it up here.

I've already been conjuring up rigs I can make to hold the mixer in place while I'm cleaning things up... I've also been wanting a pump, primarily for wort recirc, but this may just be the solution I needed! We never use our hand mixer anyways!!!

 

[passedpawn]

Paper shredder works as mill.

 

[onthekeg]

That would take 2 lifetimes to roll 25lbs!

 

[Stauffbier]

Paper shredder works as mill.

I've read about doing this before. Did you modify the blades in any way? Does it actually do a consistant crush?

 

[DPBISME]

Coffee Urns... ya know the kind that they use at large functions... when I extract-brewed I used two... they stayed at a constent 170 after reaching temprature. so I would turn them on and when the light came on; I added my grains, up to 2 Lbs in one.... It usually stopped in the right range for steeping... I would check it and if needed plug it back in... the other one I would use for sparging water....

NEW PLAN: I just bought a 60 cup one and I am going to try to use in as the heater for a RIMS system.... I have already tested it and it also "sets" at about 170 degrees... I now need to build my copper coil and see if it will actually work...

 

[TyTanium]

This is one of my favorites.

Degassing wand for wine/mead:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/de-gassing-wand-98364/

 

[passedpawn]

I've read about doing this before. Did you modify the blades in any way? Does it actually do a consistant crush?

No modifications. Much more here. I had do 2 passes but the "shred" was beautifiul.

 

[Stauffbier]

No modifications. Much more here. I had do 2 passes but the "shred" was beautifiul.

Interesting! If I hadn't recently bought a Corona I'd consider this!

 

[tre9er]

I've already been conjuring up rigs I can make to hold the mixer in place while I'm cleaning things up... I've also been wanting a pump, primarily for wort recirc, but this may just be the solution I needed! We never use our hand mixer anyways!!!

I used the wand-blender/stick-blender type deal last brew. Whips up some serious froth in the wort before pitching. Started further down but once you get it near the surface it really starts injecting O2 in there.

 

[tre9er]

No modifications. Much more here. I had do 2 passes but the "shred" was beautifiul.

You're on a roll lately, dude.

 

[November]

I use my son's red wagon to move my fermenters. It holds two of the large vittle vaults perfectly. Great way to move around 20g batches.

 

[Revvy]

You missed the obvious. Sounds like you ferment in Vittle's Vaults.