OVHA Chat

Brewing equipment thread. A place to ask; Where to get it, how make it, how to use it, type of thread and any links you like to share related.

This is my first attempt at a natural gas brew stand. It's work in progress. Click pix for lager pix.

Is that an aluminum brewpot?

No, it's a 10 gallon stainless Eagleware stockpot. bought it downtown at Bruckens. It's a good place to check out. Large stock pots, lids, scales and a lot of neat stuff worth a look. Web page needs help but does have a map to where it's located.

http://www.bruckens.com/about.html

As he rises to the podium..........................
I picked up a 10gal. Aluminum pot at Brucken's a year or so ago for under $40. I did a lot of research before my purchase on the pros and cons of aluminum as a brewpot. All of the negative press proved to be anecdotal at best.

People kept referring to an old study that linked aluminum with Alzheimer

Aluminum Is new for the most part. before the early 60's it was mostly used by the military and industry. Between the 60's and the 70's it Boomed in the food industry becoming common placed. So in a matter of 10 year millions of people became exposed to aluminum on a regular bases. If aluminum caused Alzheimer's it would have hit like epidemic. I've not seen any thing subjecting Alzheimer's has increased in the population.

If Aluminum causes bad flavors in beer, maybe that will explain the off flavors associated with Busch Light, and the memory loss with Nascar fans.

Links that might be of intrest.

http://www.toledometalspinning.com/prod ... ceList.asp


http://users.adelphia.net/~aken75/Ferme ... 20Lid.html

http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php

I'm currently making a fermenter out of keg to do Lager.

I had been looking into a way to better control my fermentation temp. My last beer was a Heff that had, in my opinion, a bit too much bannanna flavor too it. Had I been able to control the temp a bit better, I might have had better results. Chris made a nice control box out of a 70qt (i think) Igloo cooler that he bought from Wal-Mart. I had planned to duplicate this, but they were out of the same cooloer, so this is what I came up with....


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It uses 2 fairly large coolers, hinged together with the origanal parts, and a bit of weather stripping. It is easily able to hold 3 5gal carboys or 2 5gal and a 6.5. It is large enough that you will not have to cut open the coolers to make room for air locks and such. Also, since non of the parts were modified, it can be used for their original purpose again in the future.

I have filled it with a some water and I have been using the small cold packs that come with yeast if you request it and it seems to be working out well. It doesn't seem to take much to hold temp. I am hoping that I will be able to get this down to lager temp with larger amts of ice and hold temp. fairly well???? I guess we'll see.

Now that's a very original design. Beats the wash tub, wet t-shirt and fan combo. Whats the inside height?

Very clever! Just rotate and use their own latches!

I received this email today so I'll pass it on:

Hello Ohio Valley Homebrewers Association,

Are you looking to improve your current home brewing system? Well
let me introduce you to Brewmation Incorporated. Brewmation has been
established to give home brewers like you the ability to add
automation to any brewing process. We provide the equipment and the
tools that are found in most commercial breweries that provide
consistency and control over the brewing session.

If you are like most home brewers, you are constantly looking at ways
to improve your system in order to make consistent and predictable
batches of beer time after time. Check out our temperature logger,
or the automated hot liquor tank. We also have a mash sparge system
that will eliminate the guesswork on liquid flow and liquid level.

Perhaps you are brewing with extract and have been holding off on
making the move to all grain batches because it is too labor
intensive. Perhaps brewing outdoors has turned you away from the all
grain process. Our completely automated, all electric system allows
you to brew indoors, year round! It is also completely automated so
all you have to do is enter your recipe parameters, add your
ingredients, and the system does the rest! The only labor involved
is adding hops.....You don't even have to worry about boiling over,
so the process already has one less step then an extract session!

Please visit us at www.brewmation.com to see our line of equipment:

Brewmation Products:

Fully automated, all electric, home micro-brewery:
http://www.brewmation.com/Brewery.html

Temperature Data Logger: http://www.brewmation.com/DataBrewery.html

Fully automated Hot Liquor Tank:
http://www.brewmation.com/HLT.html

Mash Pumps & Mash Pump Systems:
http://www.brewmation.com/MashPumps.html

Norprene Tubing:
http://www.brewmation.com/Tubing.html

Polypropylene Universal Tanks & Heating Elements:
http://www.brewmation.com/Tanks.html


Once you visit our site, feel free to contact us with any comments,
questions, or suggestions. We will be adding more products
throughout the summer and into the fall and are always looking for
input on what to design. Please feel free to respond to this e-mail,
or contact us via our web site. We are looking forward to hearing
from you.


Sincerely,

Kevin Weaver
President
Brewmation Incorporated
www.brewmation.com

I made a temperature controlled cooler, but it's not Nearly as cool as Ryan's.

I just built up a stirplate ... it works !

Ryan also built a hose water filtration system that filters hose water into the brew kettle. Works on quick disconnects and is heaven to use.

Now that's a very original design. Beats the wash tub, wet t-shirt and fan combo. Whats the inside height?

It is a little over 2 feet inside. I'd say close to 27". Perfect height for any standard carboy and airlock.

Looks big enough for a couple kegs, 5 pound CO2 tank and a bag of ice. Just thinking. I need a make something to haul around a couple kegs of beer for parties.