How about an Equipment Thread?!

[Chris Alvey]

I borrow the water too.

[Don]

For your Potty Porters that sounds right.

[DoubleVision]

I found these guys while looking for a thermowell. Check out their stir plate.

http://www.stirplates.com/

This is the stir plate that I bought and I find that it does a pretty good job with a 1000ml flask. Sometimes you have to shake the flask a little to get the magnet to start spinning. I'm not sure that it would work well with a 2000ml flask; although they say it does. It seems like there would be too much flask hanging over the sides.

[BREWsmith]

I got my stir plate from this vendor. For the money, it seems to work fairly well.

http://www.homebrewing.org/The-Stirstar ... _1306.html

[Michael Erwin]

I'm chilling down below 65F in less than 10 minutes now. Cool. I'm using this pump to send ice water through my immersion chiller...



For the whole sordid story, read...

http://anidiotstale.blogspot.com/2009/1 ... -pump.html

[BREWsmith]

My wife, who has been so supportive of this brewing obsession, bought me a really nice cordless impact driver for Christmas. It has massive torque. Like most other impact driver's, it accepts a 1/4 inch hex shank. The question is how do I connect it to my Barley Crusher?

[sirgiovanni]

1. Take the handle off
2. Insert shank from crusher into drill.
3. Pull the trigger.

[BREWsmith]

1. Take the handle off
2. Insert shank from crusher into drill.
3. Pull the trigger.

The shank is too big. An impact driver only accepts a 1/4 inch hex shank. Any other ideas?

[Don]

Barley Crusher has a 3/8" shaft. You need a drill with a bigger (3/8") chuck.
Some drills you can buy a bigger chuck or you might return it and get one with a 3/8" chuck.

I use an Electric Makita # 6405 with variable speed control and a 3/8" chuck.

I like the electric drill ( I have a battery Dewalt but always forget to keep it charged)

[Chris Norrick]

File down the shaft into a hex shape.

[BREWsmith]

I appreciate everyone's input. I ended up finding a Dewalt 3/8" keyless chuck with a 1/4" hex shank for use with a impact driver. What's another $30 anyway?

[BREWsmith]

I appreciate everyone's input. I ended up finding a Dewalt 3/8" keyless chuck with a 1/4" hex shank for use with a impact driver. What's another $30 anyway?

Followup: I advise against using an impact driver, at least one with a keyless chuck, with your Barley Crusher. The pulsating action of an impact driver tends to wear down the Barley Crusher shaft.

[BREWsmith]

A couple OVHA members asked that I post this web site address for conicals and brew kettles. I purchased the 7.3 gallon conical w/o the thermowell. They're Chinese made, but seem very solid. The stainless is the same grade as the Blichman and Morebeer versions. They don't have all the bells and whistles of the Fermenator, but then again they're half the price.

http://conical-fermenter.com/

[sirgiovanni]

You would buy Chinese when you can buy something made in Indiana!

[BREWsmith]

You would buy Chinese when you can buy something made in Indiana!

There goes my union card.