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Angry Grimace posted:Don't buy it. The coolers are priced roughly double or more what those coolers cost at Home Depot. Just buy the cooler conversion kits from a brewing shop (NB does have them, as do others, about 30 bucks a piece, and cheaper if you piece together the stuff from the hardware store) and buy the coolers themselves at your local hardware store/home depot. It's not like the NB Mash-tun kits are preassembled anyways. They just send you coolers and a conversion kit. I dig getting the cooler locally (should save on shipping there too), but I don't have any experience with the conversion, so I'm not clear on specifically what to buy and why.
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May 10, 2012 00:03
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Splizwarf posted:I dig getting the cooler locally (should save on shipping there too), but I don't have any experience with the conversion, so I'm not clear on specifically what to buy and why. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Converting_a_cooler_to_a_mash_tun This was a big help when I was looking into converting a cooler. It's the stainless steal braid and not the false bottom though. However, it's not that big of leap to put the false bottom instead of the braid. edit: It's a bitch trying to find those drat fender washers though 
Kelley Geuscaulk fucked around with this message at 00:18 on May 10, 2012 |
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May 10, 2012 00:15
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They appear to be advocating the steel braid for mashing too, instead of a false bottom; their wiki article link for False Bottom redirects to the braid manifold page.
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May 10, 2012 00:34
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I'd like to think that I've saved money brewing, but it's really been through strategic purchases like buying ingredients in bulk, creating a yeast bank, and cloning brews that are more expensive. For example, I made the Midas Touch clone from Extreme brewing and the Founder's Breakfast stout. Both of those retail for about $10 a four pack, but I made them for $50-60. I'm starting to get into sours recently because I've spent too much money on those. I plan to do around 8-10 a year which will save me thousands of dollars a year that I might spend on those.
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May 10, 2012 01:17
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Jo3sh posted:Sure... maybe I have about the same amount of gear you have. Or maybe more, I don't know what your rig is like and I have no idea what all my crap adds up to. But I've also been brewing for about 19 years now. Call it $100/year? That's like $8/batch, so even if you add that in, my house beer goes from $25 to $33 for ten gallons. Yeah, I think after 19 years you can ignore equipment costs, so nevermind
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May 10, 2012 01:34
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Splizwarf posted:I dig getting the cooler locally (should save on shipping there too), but I don't have any experience with the conversion, so I'm not clear on specifically what to buy and why. I bought the conversion kit (minus the cooler itself) from NB and it was nice and easy. I spent an hour at Home Depot staring blankly at bins of washers and plumbing trying to piece one together from internet instructions. Then I decided my time was worth the extra $10 to just buy it from NB. Making your own braid manifold might be worth it, though, if you plan to batch sparge. The stainless false bottom is nice but pretty spendy. Kaiho posted:It also makes me appreciate (or understand/critique) the beer I get commercially or in a pub much more thoroughly. I like being able to go not just "ooh, that's roasty and liquoricey" at a really robust porter, but also "that must be some serious amounts of brown and chocolate malts they've used to get it this thick". This was definitely an unexpected bonus of getting into homebrew. At some point I'd like to take it even further and take the BJCP exam. It's pretty cool to realize how far I've come from "uh, this beer like, sucks" or "this tastes great!" to being able to articulate why. And then as you say, to be able to think about the ingredients or the process that might have produced the beer I'm drinking, and how I might use those flavors in my own home brewery.
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May 10, 2012 01:54
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I used to track my brewing finances carefully, and I figured out that my original starter equipment would pay for itself in 6-7 batches, and my all-grain upgrade would pay for itself in 5 batches. There have been smaller equipment upgrades, but overall, even including equipment, I've gotten more (and better) beer than I would have gotten had I simply bought it. But then, if I hadn't been brewing, I doubt that gallons and gallons and gallons of beer would make its way through my apartment each year, and I doubt that would go around giving out beer to my friends and family like I'm the beer family. So my overall beer costs have gone up, while my total cost per ounce of beer has gone down. But mostly I'm doing it because I like making it, drinking it, and giving it as gifts.
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May 10, 2012 02:34
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So here's a weird question: does anyone have any information on filtering? I've got a few reasons I'd like to filter at least some of my homebrew: one, beer looks nicer; and two, my dad has gout and arthritis so he's not supposed to consume brewer's yeasts, so I'd like to remove as much of it as I can before I give him homebrew. There seems to be two types of filters, plate and canister, but I'm slightly confused about how you filter with multiple filtering levels. Do you just run it through the same filter housing multiple times? I'm not entirely expectant of getting a clear answer though since it seems like it's a fairly uncommon practice among homebrewers. Docjowles posted:I bought the conversion kit (minus the cooler itself) from NB and it was nice and easy. I spent an hour at Home Depot staring blankly at bins of washers and plumbing trying to piece one together from internet instructions. Then I decided my time was worth the extra $10 to just buy it from NB. To the OP who was asking about it: The conversion kit is basically just the plumbing stuff (valves, etc.) you attach to the cooler to make it work as a mash tun. Even if you buy a MT from NB or whatever, it's going to require you to assemble it anyways. They literally just ship you a cooler and the kit in separate boxes, so I don't see the purpose in doubling how much you pay for the cooler from NB. Moreover, you don't necessarily *need* a HLT if you're batch sparging, I just used my spare kettle as a HLT and it worked just fine. Hint: you should batch sparge. Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 20:09 on May 10, 2012 |
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May 10, 2012 20:04
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Well, their kettle screen is about $50, that's the appeal of the braided tube. If it was $14, I'd already have bought it.
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May 10, 2012 20:16
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Splizwarf posted:Well, their kettle screen is about $50, that's the appeal of the braided tube. If it was $14, I'd already have bought it. http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/mash-boil-screen.html It's $17.50
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May 10, 2012 20:47
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My kegs + CO2 kit (this one) are arriving tomorrow. I don't have any beer ready to keg, but I'd like to have all my parts in place before I'm at that point. Is there anyone who could give me a part-by-part breakdown, preferably in order from a perlick-style tap BACK to the corny keg, given what's in the kit linked above? I'm reading about having to buy flare nuts (which I've had bad luck with in the past), barb fittings, and quick change couplers and after having read the instructions that come with the kit they don't cover the connections from the beer line to the tap since the kit's for picnic taps.
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May 10, 2012 20:49
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Angry Grimace posted:http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/mash-boil-screen.html Oh, I was looking at the false bottom that's part of the kit. How well do the little screens work by comparison? The HBT link earlier was recommending a pretty big piece of braided tube in a circle, with a T connection holding both ends. I was assuming surface area of the screen was directly related to the odds of a stuck mash, and as a beginner I was pretty worried about that.
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May 10, 2012 21:02
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wattershed posted:My kegs + CO2 kit (this one) are arriving tomorrow. I don't have any beer ready to keg, but I'd like to have all my parts in place before I'm at that point. I can't give you a breakdown but I just wanted to let you that WestAir will do a CO2 exchange. You bring them in that 5lb CO2 tank and they'll upgrade you to a 10lb for free and charge you for a 5lb fill the first time. You live in San Diego, right? http://westairgases.com/locations/sandiego.html And then the Stone taster room is right down the street.
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May 10, 2012 21:31
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Kelley Geuscaulk posted:I can't give you a breakdown but I just wanted to let you that WestAir will do a CO2 exchange. You bring them in that 5lb CO2 tank and they'll upgrade you to a 10lb for free and charge you for a 5lb fill the first time. You live in San Diego, right? The El Cajon location is about 10 minutes from door to door, which I was aware of. I did NOT know they'll upgrade my tank for me, that's pretty awesome. Thanks for the heads up.
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May 10, 2012 21:44
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Splizwarf posted:Oh, I was looking at the false bottom that's part of the kit. How well do the little screens work by comparison? The HBT link earlier was recommending a pretty big piece of braided tube in a circle, with a T connection holding both ends. I was assuming surface area of the screen was directly related to the odds of a stuck mash, and as a beginner I was pretty worried about that. Yeah, that "screen" looks like a pretty big ripoff, for less money you can get a much longer screen from the water supply line for a toilet or washing machine. I run a loop around the bottom of my mash tun tied together with a T probably much like the instructions you've seen and it works great, even with a 50% wheat mash and no rice hulls I've never gotten a stuck sparge.
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May 11, 2012 00:14
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Super Rad posted:Yeah, that "screen" looks like a pretty big ripoff, for less money you can get a much longer screen from the water supply line for a toilet or washing machine. I'm not even sure what you guys are referring to. The link on this page (and the vast majority of toilet braid MLT's I've seen) just has a straight line toilet braid and the screen you're referring to is longer than the length of the 10g coolers 
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May 11, 2012 00:37
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I'm on vacation at the end of the month and I'd love to finally get back into homebrewing. A few years ago I did some extract brewing and it turned out really good. I've been reading Palmer's Homebrew book and I think I'm ready to do a all-grain or partial grain batch. Does anybody have any recipes for an english barleywine? While I like hoppy beers, I'd prefer something a little more mellow than something like an American Barleywine.
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May 11, 2012 03:24
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I have a question about bottling: I sterilized some bottles with Star San (first time using it) this morning and left them to air dry. There were webs of bubbles inside the bottles when I left them upside down (like when you pour out soapy water from a bottle)...if any of those bubbles are still in the bottles when I get home, would it be OK to bottle the brew? The Star San directions say not to rinse but I want to be sure.
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May 11, 2012 15:28
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krushgroove posted:I have a question about bottling: I sterilized some bottles with Star San (first time using it) this morning and left them to air dry. There were webs of bubbles inside the bottles when I left them upside down (like when you pour out soapy water from a bottle)...if any of those bubbles are still in the bottles when I get home, would it be OK to bottle the brew? The Star San directions say not to rinse but I want to be sure. Totally fine.
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May 11, 2012 15:35
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I'm about to order some Star-San, actually; it's not the most commonly used sanitiser here in the UK. Do you guys handle it with gloves on?
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May 11, 2012 15:38
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I have not used gloves historically. Wash your hands after you use the stuff, especially if you get the concentrate on your skin. I've repeatedly submerged my hands in a bucket of the solution over the period of a couple of hours (bottling), and it dried my skin out, but a good wash and some hand cream took care of that.
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May 11, 2012 15:49
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I'm in the UK also and I ordered it from a US site...the shipping wasn't hugely expensive, it's probably cheaper to get it that way than to buy it from a UK site, but at the time I hadn't found anywhere in the UK that had it. Anyway, I'd googled about your question before and it seems that properly diluted there's no need to wear gloves for normal handling. There's even a homebrewing podcast that covered the proper use of Star San a few years ago with the owner of the company that makes Star San (found during my search): http://hw.libsyn.com/p/3/9/0/390da9...02841727d4c44ed (skip to about 10:30 for the interview)
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May 11, 2012 15:54
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Jo3sh posted:it dried my skin out, but a good wash and some hand cream took care of that. For what it's worth, this is how it works when you submerge your hands in kerosene too, but that's pretty bad for you, and salt water, which isn't. Not trying to be a dick but this is not a good indicator of safety. Here's the Material Safety Data Sheet for Star-San: http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/wp-content/uploads/StarSanMSDS.pdf Note that this refers to the stuff as-is in the bottle, not diluted the way it'd normally be employed, so the Health Hazard Data portion is a little scarier than you should experience during normal use (unless you spill the bottle etc). Most of the "corrosive/irritating/burns" stuff is because the pH is 1 (strong acid), and you're meant to dilute the hell out of it with water. Looks like it's just acids, so it's probably fine to handle with bare hands when it's in the recommended solution; use gloves if you spill it or the bottle's leaking. Also, don't leave it sitting in the sun or in your car in the summer, the flash point is only 121F (  ).Today I learned not to measure Star San with a metal measuring spoon.
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May 11, 2012 16:05
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Another question: Doing some more reading just now I realize I'm a dumbass and didn't dilute the Star San enough (did 1 ounce per gallon instead of 1 ounce per 5 gallons - I blame converting to metric for this) - so I suppose I was using it as 10x strength, this probably explains the suds, I guess. So should I rinse out the bottles with boiling water before filling them? I realize it's probably not necessary but don't want to affect any flavors.
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May 11, 2012 16:13
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Angry Grimace posted:I'm not even sure what you guys are referring to. The link on this page (and the vast majority of toilet braid MLT's I've seen) just has a straight line toilet braid and the screen you're referring to is longer than the length of the 10g coolers Well I guess it's long enough for the cylindrical coolers, but if you're buying a steel braid instead of a full false bottom, why the hell would you buy one of those overpriced coolers when the rectangular ones are much cheaper? That 1' screen would only go halfway into my rectangular cooler. Instead, for $10 I bought 4' of steel braid and I actually run it as a loop around the bottom edges of my cooler - both ends of the loop are hooked up to a T which goes to the ball valve. Like so: pre:|-----| | | | | |--T--| |
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May 11, 2012 16:14
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Splizwarf posted:Also, don't leave it sitting in the sun or in your car in the summer, the flash point is only 121F. Ok now I really want to test this.  krushgroove posted:this probably explains the suds, I guess. StarSan will always create suds if its still viable, this is not a bad thing but a great thing. Home Brewing Thread III: Five Star sponsorship pending j3rkstore fucked around with this message at 16:18 on May 11, 2012 |
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May 11, 2012 16:16
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Splizwarf posted:For what it's worth, this is how it works when you submerge your hands in kerosene too, but that's pretty bad for you, and salt water, which isn't. Not trying to be a dick but this is not a good indicator of safety. Phosphoric acid and a surfactant. The surfactant is common and harmless. The acid is corrosive, but fairly harmless (when dilute). Safer than using bleach, probably.
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May 11, 2012 16:21
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krushgroove posted:Another question: Doing some more reading just now I realize I'm a dumbass and didn't dilute the Star San enough (did 1 ounce per gallon instead of 1 ounce per 5 gallons - I blame converting to metric for this) - so I suppose I was using it as 10x strength, this probably explains the suds, I guess. So should I rinse out the bottles with boiling water before filling them? I realize it's probably not necessary but don't want to affect any flavors. Suds are normal (and awesome) regardless of the dilution. What I would do is just sanitize them all over again with properly diluted star san and then bottle while there's still plenty of foam in the bottles. All of that foam probably amounts to a few drops which will not be noticeable at all (will actually turn into yeast nutrient when diluted that far), and it's a great way to ensure that the bottle is fully sanitary. Waiting for the bottles to air dry is really only inviting wild bugs to creep in slowly, star san when diluted enough is totally safe to ingest and doesn't lead to any off flavors, it was designed specifically for brewing after all. Rack on foam, bottle on foam, and the chance on infection goes way down.
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May 11, 2012 16:21
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Alright, good stuff! Thanks for the info.
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May 11, 2012 16:27
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Super Rad posted:Well I guess it's long enough for the cylindrical coolers, but if you're buying a steel braid instead of a full false bottom, why the hell would you buy one of those overpriced coolers when the rectangular ones are much cheaper? The only one that's even comparably cheap is that one basic blue Coleman cooler that most super-cheap college students buy and people recommended I not use that one because it doesn't hold temps very well (since the insulation is super thin?) Even if I had decided to get it, I've never actually seen it at a price that was particularly competitive in a brick and mortar store, it's usually like 35 bucks or something. Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 17:06 on May 11, 2012 |
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May 11, 2012 17:00
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If you want to get Star-san in the Uk, they sell it at http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/ Shipping is a little pricey at £6.50, but that's a flat rate so it's pretty cheap if you order other stuff. If you can make it down to the store they're pretty helpful too.
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May 11, 2012 17:08
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Regardless, I'm going with a 10-gallon Rubbermaid because they hold heat really well, and it will fill multiple roles (alongside the 10 5-gallon ones and 5 or so 2.5 gallon ones we have, for events). It'll store well because of the other coolers, and they're a lot easier to lift, full, than the rectangular ones. I'm not sure if I really got an answer, though: people run 5 or 6 gallon high-gravity mashes fine with those $18 screens? Buying one tonight if so.
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May 11, 2012 17:20
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Angry Grimace posted:I found it to kind of be an urban legend that the rectangular coolers are cheaper these days Didn't know I found a legend at a Kmart! I got one of the higher quality 50QT Coleman ones on sale for $32. It's never lost more than a couple *F on cooler windy days and that's almost certainly just due to my ritual of stirring the mash every 20 minutes. The cooler advertised that it can keep ice freezing cold for 5 days at 90* ambient - I'm not sure how true that is but it's definitely not the basic 50QT blue cooler those were right next to the one I bought and were also on sale for ~$20. The one thing that initially disappointed me about the cooler is that the drain is on the short side contrary to the DIY instructions I saw, but in the end I actually think that worked out for the best, if it were in the middle of the long side it would actually complicate things for us the way we mash. Just prior to going to that Kmart I went to Lowes where all they had were the 48QT Igloos for ~$60. I'm very happy with the mileage I've gotten and will continue to get out of my rectangular cooler.
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May 11, 2012 18:21
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I hate my cooler mash tun if only because it leaks and no matter what combination of random washers or o-rings or teflon tape or whatever I try it still loving leaks. I bought some aquarium sealant and hopefully that fixes things once and for all, but I like the idea of being able to remove the spigot.
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May 11, 2012 18:33
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Super Rad posted:Didn't know I found a legend at a Kmart! I got one of the higher quality 50QT Coleman ones on sale for $32. It's never lost more than a couple *F on cooler windy days and that's almost certainly just due to my ritual of stirring the mash every 20 minutes. The cooler advertised that it can keep ice freezing cold for 5 days at 90* ambient - I'm not sure how true that is but it's definitely not the basic 50QT blue cooler those were right next to the one I bought and were also on sale for ~$20.  and 
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May 11, 2012 18:48
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crazyfish posted:I hate my cooler mash tun if only because it leaks and no matter what combination of random washers or o-rings or teflon tape or whatever I try it still loving leaks. I bought some aquarium sealant and hopefully that fixes things once and for all, but I like the idea of being able to remove the spigot. I have a Teflon oring, in addition to the tape on the threads and so forth. I can turn the valve to new orientations and it reseals after a couple drips. I am not entirely sure where the best place to get one is as I got mine from my dad's work. For that matter I am only mostly confident it is Teflon. Do they sell sheets of Teflon at the hardware store? It wouldn't be out of the realm of possible to just xacto yourself one if that's the case. E. Oh also an easy mistake to make: did you wrap your Teflon tape in the right direction? zedprime fucked around with this message at 21:21 on May 11, 2012 |
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May 11, 2012 21:14
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I went overboard with teflon tape myself, yet after several brews I finally noticed a little dried wort around the bottom of my valve, but it quickly sealed itself. It's by no means an ideal reality and it definitely wasn't as I had hoped, but it basically leaked for 1 brew (not even enough to drip off the cooler) and hasn't since. I've never had a need to take the valve off and honestly I hope I never have to.
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May 11, 2012 21:38
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zedprime posted:I have a Teflon oring, in addition to the tape on the threads and so forth. I can turn the valve to new orientations and it reseals after a couple drips. The leak isn't at the valve itself, I should clarify. The leak is at the pipe nipple where it enters the cooler, right at the wall. Water dribbles out the bottom of the hole fairly slowly (though at least enough to make a paper towel noticeably wet within a half hour) no matter what random o-rings/etc I wind up putting up against the hole.
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May 11, 2012 22:16
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crazyfish posted:The leak isn't at the valve itself, I should clarify. The leak is at the pipe nipple where it enters the cooler, right at the wall. Water dribbles out the bottom of the hole fairly slowly (though at least enough to make a paper towel noticeably wet within a half hour) no matter what random o-rings/etc I wind up putting up against the hole.
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May 11, 2012 22:26
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I'm currently doing my best to ignore a Facebook discussion that includes, "why are you waiting two weeks to bottle beer? I only let me meads ferment that long."
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May 11, 2012 22:30
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