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Home brewing

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    #16
    I used to homebrew until I dropped a full 5 gallon carboy. Ripped my legs to shreds and that's when my homebrewing ended

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    • jfmorris
      jfmorris commented
      Editing a comment
      So sorry to hear this, and a fear I've always had. I've had a 7.5 gallon and 5 gallon carboy since the 90's, and thankfully they've never broken. But I do most of my brewing the past few years using a Spiedel plastic fermenter, which is just easier to use and clean, and definitely safer.

    #17
    I wish I could make some whiskey but I understand that it is illegal. Oh well.

    Comment


    • Richard Chrz
      Richard Chrz commented
      Editing a comment
      Forgiveness, not permission. It’s one of the motto’s I’ve lived

    • rickgregory
      rickgregory commented
      Editing a comment
      Not only that, but unless you a) really know what you're doing you can kill yourself (think methanol) and b) it's just moonshine unless you age it for years.

      I looked at doing it before I figured out the illegality and it just doesn't make sense as an individual for one's own consumption unless you just want to play around with it.

    • Richard Chrz
      Richard Chrz commented
      Editing a comment
      rickgregory for me, most of this stuff, I am in for the learning,

    #18
    Warning Micro Brews will ruin you for quality beer such as PBR, Hams, Bush, Budweiser, Coors, Millers, Lone Star, and the list goes on and on.

    Comment


    • Red Man
      Red Man commented
      Editing a comment
      That’s it…we need a dislike button 👎🏻😂

    • bbqLuv
      bbqLuv commented
      Editing a comment
      We do not need a dislike button. Wait a minute, a picture is worth a thousand words. But if you don't have anything nice to say . . . 👎 in a thousand words.
      Red Man like the way you think.

    #19
    Richard Chrz you asked some questions yesterday that require much more than I can fit into a comment, so here goes.

    First - I'll take some photos of my brewing setup tonight, or dig through my iPhone, so you can get an idea of what I am doing. A question for you is this: Are you using malt extract (liquid or dried) and steeping grains for these small batches? A second question: how are you cooling them? Putting a kettle in a sink of ice water maybe?

    Anyway, here goes. I brew all grain batches, currently using a propane setup and two "keggles". A keggle is the term for a 15.5 gallon commercial keg with the top cut out, used as a large pot. I use one for heating water for mashing and sparging (rinsing the grain after the mash), and a second one is my "boil" kettle. I use a 60 quart Igloo Ice-Cube cooler with a manifold in the bottom as my mash tun to hold the grain bill. Both pots and the mash tun have ball valves and quick connect fittings, as does my brewing pump. This lets me use several high temp silicone hoses to drain pots, pump wort from the mash tun to the brew kettle, and even recirculate hot wort at the end of the boil to create what is called a "whirlpool" chiller, using an immersion chiller (75 foot of copper coils that I drop into the pot and run cold water through at the end of the boil).

    All that takes some space, obviously, and the heaviest thing right now to lift are the two fermenters - I usually do 10 gallon batches split into 2 fermenters. So there is about 5.5 gallons in each, and 5 gallons of finished beer to fill two 5 gallon Pepsi kegs.

    Anyway, the pump looks like this. I found a picture on my phone from the day I first got the hoses and fittings and was testing the pump. It's just a pump on the floor, plugged into a cord. I was just testing recirculation of water and not actually doing anything else at this point.

    Click image for larger version

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    Anyway, if I were buying a brewing pump today, rather than my old March pump, I would go for the Blichman Riptide brewing pump.

    The very first pump designed specifically for home brewers that includes a valve and base. Extremely durable, featuring a stable built in base and linear valve for ultimate control. The tri-clamp head connection quickly disassembles for easy cleaning.


    Not sure it makes any sense whatsoever for 1 gallon batches though. If you move to 2-3 gallon batches, maybe it would.

    Here are the electric brewing systems I think are the best bang for the buck, over at morebeer.com:

    BrewZilla previously called Robobrew all grain brewing systems In Stock & Ready to ship! Take advantage of our Fast & Free Shipping and Excellent Customer service today!


    They have systems for 120V (110V) and 240/220V, for both 5 and 10 gallon capacities. These systems basically recirculate during the mash stage using a built in pump, and have an inner metal liner, much like one of those shrimp boil pots, that lifts out at the end of the mashing stage. I know folks that cannot lift much that use these type systems with a winch, and just hoist it up and then swing it out of the way for disposal of the wet grain. You then run your boil, add your hops as needed, and the pot has a immersion chiller and pretty much all you need included. Not bad for $399 for the basic one, which can brew up to 5-6 gallons of beer. And you can certainly run less in it.

    Other similar systems include the "Grainfather" but I feel this is more bang for the buck for an all in one system. No separate mash tun needed, and you can jump right into all-grain brewing.

    I feel like in your shoes, I would look at something like these type electric brewing rigs, and rig up some type of hoist or lift that could lift the basket of wet grain out. Maybe even put the Robobrew on a table with casters, and roll it out from under the grain basket once it is lifted out. And if you do make a 5 gallon batch you can split it into two smaller fermenters, to make them easier to lift and move around.

    I have this fermenter, and REALLY like it compared to my glass carboys, and feel it is much safer too:

    Speidel fermenters are made of heavy duty plastic, feature wide openings, are offered in many sizes, and qualify for free shipping!


    They have a smaller 3.2 gallon version which would be ideal for fermenting 2 or 2.5 gallon batches. You need headspace, so you would never put 3 gallons in there:

    Speidel fermenters are made of heavy duty plastic, feature wide openings, are offered in many sizes, and qualify for free shipping!



    Just my 2 cents, so take it for what its worth. Feel free to hit me up privately if you want and we can move the discussion to email, phone, whatever.

    Jim

    Comment


    • STEbbq
      STEbbq commented
      Editing a comment
      I mean, I’m not interested in brewing my own beer but dang, that is a hell of a educational post Jim! Enjoyed it!

    • Richard Chrz
      Richard Chrz commented
      Editing a comment
      STEbbq , right?! I love the depth of knowledge on this page, it’s deep and so broad

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