Winter Makes Me Hate Propane! Convert Equipment or Go GRAINFATHER??

[Soulshine2]

My wife asks for assurance I'm brewing IPA again to make sure that tap doesn't run out.

The Hef I made mine is down to the last 12 pack. She has put in her order for a new batch...

 

[Soulshine2]

We both love beer and enjoy the malt-o-meal smell of brewing. Sometimes she even brews with me, especially if its one of her favorite recipes. Last Saturday she made homemade ice cream with a stout we brewed. Marriage is a lot more pleasant when you have a lot in common and are good friends. We don't tell each other what to do, neither of us are wired like that.

a stout ice cream??? please tell us how that was.
Mine helps me bottle.
Yeah ,Im a Leo , shes an Aries...Neither of us like to "be told" ,but we make a great team.

"Marriage is a lot more pleasant when you have a lot in common and are good friends."
True words right there.

 

[nepatsfan1]

Was brewing late at night and started losing propane with 10 minutes left in the boil. Kept the temp around 208F but I think SG took a hit. So my attention turns to electric. I have yet to explore 220V options

I've been reading a lot of reviews on the Grainfather and more than a few people have commented on low efficiency and poor boil intensity, so that is preventing me from going in on that (and the lack of a current coupon). I'm just used to the plate chiller and batch sparging, lots to learn about chilling and sparging indoors via new methods.

Will the Graincoat or any additional heat rods etc. work to increase to boil?

I do 5 Gallon batches at the moment.

I appreciate everyone's advice on this site, you all have been truly helpful to me as my homebrew store is 30 minutes away and I'm the only one I know that makes beer!

I have had zero issues with boils on my GF 3 brews in. Granted it is not the same intensity but my efficiency is 85% with it. You have to wrap it either with the coat or a refectix coat. I also do not do 60 mins like they state. I mash and boil at 75 and calculate my water for 5.5 gal batches since these is some dead space loss. A heat rod will definitely make the boil more robust and more like propane but can the breaker you have handle it. I only have a 15a breaker for the side of my kitchen I brew on (apartment) and adding the element would trip the breaker. 20a should be good.

 

[Jag75]

I live in kern county California. So our winters here aren't as bad as some of you. I couldnt imaging brewing in 30* or colder with snow outside . A space heater in the garage would be a must .

 

[Jag75]

#respect
most of the cowards on here fear their wives instead of having mutual respect and compromise.

Yup same goes when she has dyed her or my daughters hair . I just deal with the smell as it's their house as well.

 

[Carolina_Matt]

A serious consideration for indoor brewing is ventilation. I've seen recently these boil kettle condenser ideas -- not sure how well that works, but think you do need a plan for the steam. At least with electric you are only dealing with steam from the brew and not steam+combustion products but I know when I brew in the garage in the winter with the garage door 90% closed I condense heavy on every surface in there. Would not want to expose inside of house to that moisture assault without a solid ventilation plan.

If you open the garage door all the way, is there any problem with condensation? I'm in Charlotte where it doesn't get too cold - a little cold to be fully outside, but not as bad in the garage. I'm just not sure if opening the garage door 100% will be enough ventilation, or if something else is needed.

 

[NewJersey]

A lot of guys are just playing around here too... groups of women do the same when gaggling about thier husbands.

I also love brewing indoors, used to do most of my homebrewing in the winter, too much going on in the summer, now that im opening a brewpub I havent had time to homebrew in a long time.

opening a brewpub is a dream of mine.
did you have to buy a full liquor license in NY to do it?

 

[Jayjay1976]

a stout ice cream??? please tell us how that was.

It turned out pretty good, though she couldn't make a reduction with the homebrewed stout the same way she does with Guinness; the residual yeast caused a meaty aroma when it was simmering so she ended up starting over and using the beer straight. It came out really tasty and the beer flavors came across plenty strong. If you google Guinness ice cream there are recipes out there, and I suspect some the simpler non-cooked faux ice cream bases may be more forgiving in terms of adding the beer. This weekend we're going to try a batch with NEIPA, Ninja vs. Unicorn or something similar and replace some of the sugar with DME in the ice cream base to boost the malty flavor. Also might try making a malt simple syrup infused with some fresh hops. Juicy/fruity hops seem like they would be awesome for this, might even add some complimentary fruit juices to the syrup.

Sorry for the OT discussion!

 

[augiedoggy]

opening a brewpub is a dream of mine.
did you have to buy a full liquor license in NY to do it?

We had to purchase a couple licenses since we are not a farm brewery and we want to serve wine and cider as well.

 

[NewJersey]

We had to purchase a couple licenses since we are not a farm brewery and we want to serve wine and cider as well.

in NJ you have to buy a license from an existing bar and it has to be a full license.
if you open full on brewery you can have a tasting room, but the state pretty heavily restricts you from operating as a bar.

where is your brewpub? I'd love to visit a hbt member's business! cool to see someone come up from homebrewing!

 

[Genuine]

I finally built my system last spring. I was tired of using propane and was using a 240v 5500w Kettle Rims with a buddy and loved 4 hour brew days. I built a bit simpler of a controller and haven't looked back. I brew in my basement, takes all of 4 hours with clean up, sometimes 3.5 hours. It was a bit more of an upfront cost but, I'm not worrying about having enough propane and it's much more efficient. I have my washer/dryer close by so I tapped into my washer's cold water supply for my chiller. No more freezing my schnuts off with propane or having the hose freeze when you're ready to chill.

 

[carrsgarage]

After almost running out of propane last winter, I decided to go electric and never worry about it again. I built my own 3 vessel eHERMS system using one tri-clamp heating element in the HLT and one Hot Rod I'm the boil kettle (I wanted to be able to remove everything from the boil kettle at the end of the boil for an unobstructed whirlpool). I ran a bunch of water through the system to check for leaks and make sure everything operated properly and was able to bring 7 gallons of water from mash temp to boil in 15 minutes.
My recommendation, for what it's worth, is to buy a Hot Rod or two and a Hosehead brewery controller and run CraftbeerPi. You can also use the Hosehead controller to run a fermentation chamber, so it's a great investment.

 

[augiedoggy]

in NJ you have to buy a license from an existing bar and it has to be a full license.
if you open full on brewery you can have a tasting room, but the state pretty heavily restricts you from operating as a bar.

where is your brewpub? I'd love to visit a hbt member's business! cool to see someone come up from homebrewing!

We are actually not open yet.. almost. We are just north of buffalo right wher the Erie canal meets the niagara river in north tonawanda

 

[Goowa]

We are actually not open yet.. almost. We are just north of buffalo right wher the Erie canal meets the niagara river in north tonawanda

Sweet! Im in Rochester! You'll have to let me know when you open, I'll definitely come out! Whats the name?

 

[carrsgarage]

Heck, I'll make the trip from the other side of the state (Hudson Valley)! Definitely let is know when you're up and running.

 

[augiedoggy]

Ok thanks guys but I dont want to hijack this thread Its Prosper brewing llc hopefully we will be opening within a few weeks.
Goowa, thats kind of funny, im leaving to finish a service call in Webster in about 30 mins.. Small world

 

[madscientist451]

To all you guys (and gals) that have spouses that don't want the beer smell in the kitchen...
Provide a cost estimate to you spouse for putting in an exhaust fan and the electrical and plumbing connections in the basement or the garage. If she agrees, go for it.
If she doesn't agree, offer to giver her half of the money you would have spent for the inside brewery, to spend on whatever she wants, in exchange for being able to brew in the kitchen when the weather is bad.
There's nothing wrong with negotiation in a relationship.
I don't brew in the summer, its too hot and I have other things to do, but I'll brew 4-6 kegs of different beers in the spring to get me through. I don't see why you couldn't reverse that and brew enough beer in the fall to get through the winter.
Its probably cheaper to get an extra freezer, a temp controller. and some used kegs than it is set up an indoor brewery.

 

[NewJersey]

Creating and having an indoor brewery is fun tho

 

[Jayjay1976]

Might also look into one of those kettle condensers that reduce/eliminate the steam coming out of the kettle during boiling. I'd think you could also use it during mash to drastically reduce the strong malty aromas when brewing indoors.

 

[Genuine]

Luckily my wife likes the aroma of brewing and asks when I'm going to throw in the first hop addition, haha!

 

[G-Ro]

head over to the biab section of the forums and look at people's electric biab setups.
you won't consider a grainfather or convoluted 3V system anymore.

Always hearing from the loyal BIAB people brought me to researching it and the Grainfather. The GF appealed to me due to digital aspect and all in one , sparging, pump and chilling. I used to think a three vessel system was the superior option for serious Homebrewers but after several batches I realized there are more important factors to improve upon.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Always hearing from the loyal BIAB people brought me to researching it and the Grainfather. The GF appealed to me due to digital aspect and all in one , sparging, pump and chilling. I used to think a three vessel system was the superior option for serious Homebrewers but after several batches I realized there are more important factors to improve upon.

I've only ever brewed on my single vessel elec. BIAB system, and I don't even know how to operate a 3V setup, but I do suspect that the inability to vorlauf and filter the wort through the grain bed leads to an unpleasant graininess and a lingering 'green' flavor that takes some extra time to age out of the beer. I love BIAB and have no plans to switch, but I do think there are tradeoffs for the simplicity, ease, and convenience that elec. BIAB offers. Disclaimer: I may be crushing too fine.

 

[carrsgarage]

My isdue with BIAB I'd lifting the grain bag out. For a regular 5 gallon batch, I'm sure it's fine. However, that's got to be pretty heavy if youryo doing a 10 gallon batch or more or a big beer. I know I could rig some pulleys up if it came to that, but it seemed like too much work so I went 3 vessel.

 

[Cato1507]

My isdue with BIAB I'd lifting the grain bag out. For a regular 5 gallon batch, I'm sure it's fine. However, that's got to be pretty heavy if youryo doing a 10 gallon batch or more or a big beer. I know I could rig some pulleys up if it came to that, but it seemed like too much work so I went 3 vessel.

Lol, I was kitchen brewing at first but as I started moving from partial mash to more grain with BIAB the bag draining got awkward.
Made a switch to the garage workshop with 3500w induction burner set up.
Love the simplicity and ease of brew day and clean up.

 

[carrsgarage]

Lol, I was kitchen brewing at first but as I started moving from partial mash to more grain with BIAB the bag draining got awkward.
Made a switch to the garage workshop with 3500w induction burner set up.
Love the simplicity and ease of brew day and clean up.View attachment 607046 View attachment 607047 View attachment 607048

How many gallons can you brew?

I REALLY like your fermentation setup!

 

[Cato1507]

How many gallons can you brew?

I REALLY like your fermentation setup!

Thanks, I moved everything close together as I have a worn out knee. I only have to lift the gallon jugs of spring water to fill the kettle.
I could probably get away with 6 gal in my 7 gal brew bucket, but typically 5 gal is my largest batch.
I do like pumping straight into the fermenter in the fridge and then just opening the door to bottle. That's my 3.5 mini brew bucket in the picture, and I use that one a lot cause it leaves enough room for a Mr. Beer fermenter as well.
I may not do too many of their partial mashes anymore, but the little kegs are great for 2.25 gal batches. Gives me a lot of variety, so I don't get tired of the same beer.

 

[eric19312]

If you open the garage door all the way, is there any problem with condensation? I'm in Charlotte where it doesn't get too cold - a little cold to be fully outside, but not as bad in the garage. I'm just not sure if opening the garage door 100% will be enough ventilation, or if something else is needed.

I expect you will have no problem with condensation with open garage door in Charlotte. Plus garages are designed to take on a little water - what if you drive your car in there when it is raining. The little bit of water carried in will dry up just fine.

 

[Lax coach]

Ok thanks guys but I dont want to hijack this thread Its Prosper brewing llc hopefully we will be opening within a few weeks.
Goowa, thats kind of funny, im leaving to finish a service call in Webster in about 30 mins.. Small world

This is hilarious. I’ll be in Webster the first week in March, but I’m flying into Buffalo because fares out of Rochester are insane late Friday/early Saturday. If you’re open by then, I’ll definitely stop by Friday night (staying in Buffalo that night for an early Saturday flight).