After having done four batches on my SS Brewtech mash tun I can give it a fair review. I had been using the same 10 gallon orange cooler for a hell of a long time, over ten years! I had the bulkhead super solid and leak free, and a hard-piped false bottom to avoid suction collapse,… Continue reading SS Brewtech 10 Gallon InfuSsion Mash Tun Review
I’ve had the same Perlick 525SS faucets on my kegerator for years and have done absolutely nothing to them except for the occasional soak ‘n scrub. Over the last few kegs though I’ve noticed that the handles moved with some stiffness, and they had to be pushed closed a bit. In fact I lost a… Continue reading Lubricating a Sticky Perlick
A few weeks back I brewed the Toasted Coconut Porter that Zymurgy has had around for the last million years. The original was for 2.6 gallons so I simply doubled everything to hit my usual batch target of 5.3 gallons. There’s really nothing interesting about the recipe until you dump in almost a pound of… Continue reading Toasted Coconut Porter
I had been using a racking cane holder for this purpose but it dash always awkward. This little clamp works much better!
Two coat hangers form the frame with the edges of the plate folded over. Precision punctures let water through.
I recently had a really bad stuck mash on a pumpkin beer, 10 pounds of pumpkin meat jammed up my MLT something fierce. Eventually I figured out that the soft vinyl hose between the false bottom and outlet collapsed due to the heat, weight of grain, and the vacuum induced by the hose end being below the… Continue reading Hard Piped MLT False Bottom
I just built this heatstick which uses a thinned-out J.B. Weld to seal the space around the element connections. 1 teaspoon of acetone per both tubes of epoxy worked well to make it pourable, although if I did it again I might up it to 1.5t to make the pouring go a bit faster. An item… Continue reading J.B. Welded Heatstick
Inspired by the Stout episode of Brewing TV, I’ve taken my kegerator to the next level by getting a stout faucet and nitro keg. It’s pretty great but did require some minor reconfiguration of my kegerator. Previously I had a single gas line coming into the fridge with it being split inside to the kegs.… Continue reading Nitrogen Kit
I just invested in a starter keg setup, and I made a batch of carbonator caps for beer transportation. Using this article as a starting point I drilled the requisite hole using standard twist drill bits. The problem with large bits and soft material is that they tend to suddenly “grab” and make large… Continue reading Carbonator Caps & Hole Punch
I brewed a vienna lager today and with it being late summer I knew our tap water wouldn’t cool the wort far enough. Here in Milwaukee we’re fortunate to have cool tap water all year but it does get up to 55-60 in the summer which doesn’t work well for getting the wort down to… Continue reading Cooling Wort to Lager Temps