Chumby

Fwd: filter

Filtering a lager with the new filter.

New Two Pressure Regulator for Christmas

The old Andale regulator was getting a bit long in the tooth and will be part of a portable setup.
Got a very nice two pressure reg from kegsonline.

Mill in action

Finally got the mill drive doing an 11kg batch - went well.

Crankandstein meets pasta machine

Just a quick pic of the new drive for my crankandstein. An electrical engineer's dodgy solution to a mechanical problem....

It has been cobbled together from a dead cordless drill head, some Selleys Kneadit, a pasta machine drive plus some wood and screws.The pasta machine drive does about 60rpm so is slower than using the drill but pulls grain through a treat. A video is at Youtube.

New fridge cabinet

Well work was clearing out the old bar in the grounds and was throwing stuff out including a bar fridge cabinet.
Can't beat the price. Free delivered to my door because it was on the way to the dump. Now I just need to work out what to do with it.

I found a convenient stainless pot with handles and set about converting it to a temp controled HLT.Bought a mashmate from mashmaster, an immersion heater from Beerbelly, a 22mm bimetal hole saw and some fittings from Bunny's. Oh and a 20mm thick camp mat for $12 from the reject shop.

The only particularly cute note is the sight gauge to make it harder to run it dry with the heater on. And the result:

Who's a happy boy then?

The Whirlpool Chiller

Took a video of the Jamil recirculation whirlpool chiller in action with the new pot.
Certainly spins the wort a lot more effectively.

Updating the Brewery

As a birthday present the Bucket of Death has been replaced by a new 100 litre ali pot, italian spiral burner and medium pressure regulator. All bought from beerbelly.

I have also redone all of the bulkhead fittings using flanged nuts in the inside which hopefully will get rid of the slow drips from every damn fitting.
Th aim is to do 55-60 litre brews with plenty of boilover room.

I have also bought an immersion heater and ordered a mashmate temp controller to take the hot liquor tank into the 21st century. New vessel will be a converted scrap %$#.

Should be able to put it on a timer to heat the strike water in the morning.

A youtube video of the burner in action is available

What the mash looks like

Crankandstein in action

A video of the crank chewing through some malt.

Xmas Presents...

Have finally arrived.

Starting to feel a lot like Christmas...

The two on the right - fianally a home for the lager I am converted to.
and a drip tray.

The Pilsner

Is going a treat - hopefully have a chance to celebrate next weekend...

Losing track of the brews I've done this year

Just realised I hadn't entered the brews tat had happened in yonks.

Thoughts on a cheap RIMS Chamber - Kettle

Have been thinking about a cheap RIMS chamber using a plastic kettle which remains open at the top. More for doing step mashes rather than RIMS per se.

Would a 1/2 inch bulkhead fitting near the bottom as an input for wort coming from the MLT via a pump and a 3/4 fitting near the top which would gravity flow back into the top of the MLT.

Would need the larger fitting on the top to make sure the kettle didn't overflow. May make the spout of the kettle hang over edge of MLT to take any runoff.

I bought a new toy...

Mine is the 3 roller mill on the right.

The payback should occur over the next how many years?