What are you doing with homebrew today?

Zambi said:
You can also use "no chill"
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I keep hearing and reading some about this "no chill" method. I guess I'm skeptical about it, but it sounds pretty easy, so maybe I'll give it a go sometime.
 
Prairie Dog said:
Nice, I know people make these at home, but I thought it might be a little out of my wheelhouse. If it saves me $ and isn't too hard, I might try it in the future. I have a few brewing books, but this is one of the most recommended that I do not have yet. Sounds like I should pick it up.
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I have a counterflow chiller I used on the 10-15 gallon batches I used to do. i have returned to 5 gallon batches and now use my immersion chiller with a simple ice bath. Just easier with my setup. But the counterflow is better for larger batches hands down
 
Prairie Dog said:
I keep hearing and reading some about this "no chill" method. I guess I'm skeptical about it, but it sounds pretty easy, so maybe I'll give it a go sometime.
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You could do a combo. Ive done no chill. I'd fill a bin with cold water and some frozen blocks and just leave it overnight and pitch in the morning. The key is good sanitation and cover it. Ive also made saisons and left the fermenter outside and open overnight with no ill effects.
 
It is a very good book to learn.
I saw some wort chillers on Amazon that weren't too bad, but you have to look at the options. I actually like my stainless one better than my copper one. I bought the copper when I started brewing, and one of the brewery owners gave me the stainless steel one when he was getting rid of the pilot system for something much bigger.
 
Prairie Dog said:
Nice, I know people make these at home, but I thought it might be a little out of my wheelhouse. If it saves me $ and isn't too hard, I might try it in the future. I have a few brewing books, but this is one of the most recommended that I do not have yet. Sounds like I should pick it up.
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Worth the price.

His version needs to be soldered, if that’s not easy a neighbor will likely be able. Or it can be made with PEX pipe and fittings, no soldering required. Or (of course) nice ones are not that expensive.
 
I made a DIY copper wort chiller without any soldering. I simply used screw clamps to attach the hoses (hi-temp) to the chiller ends and a garden hose connector to attach to the outdoor spigot. I rolled the copper coil around a paint can. The only tricky part was bending the ends without kinking. The ends hang over the edge of the kettle so I don't have to worry about a leak dripping water into the cooling wort.
 
Current brew setup. Moved a TV to the dining room so I could watch and brew lol
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Prairie Dog said:
Brewed my first all-grain BIAB oatmeal stout today. Things went pretty well, although I ended up maybe .02-.03 off of my intended target of 1.053. Hydrometer seemed to be hovering right bw 1.050-1.051. My refractometer, however, read 1.052, so I guess I'm in the ballpark. My new electronic probe thermometer made it easier to dial in my mash temp, and I'm much more confident with the overall process. I'm really sick of using my bathroom tub full of ice water to cool down the wort, so my next purchase is definitely going to be a wort chiller. I also feel like I need to get off the stove soon and start using a propane burner, which will change my whole system, but it will make things much smoother. All in all, a good brew day!
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If you’re set on using a propane burner, there is a thing called too big. I bought one that’s entirely too big which makes it hard to reduce the flame enough for mashing without scorching. I call it the Dragon. I have to be careful how fast I go from mash to boil for the same reason. The only thing I can do with that burner is constantly stirring the batch to prevent scorching.

I finally bought a RIMS tube for mashing temperature control. If temperature control is your goal I highly recommend getting something electric. I still prefer propane for preheating and boiling, but anything that requires tight temperature control is better done with electric heat.

If you plan to brew more than a couple gallons in the future, you can’t go wrong with a pump. A pump opens up a lot of quality enhancements to your process. You do you with hoses and connectors but I highly recommend quick disconnect couplings for easy cleaning. A pump makes hot side handling a lot safer and easier than trying to pour hot wort into a kettle or transfer it to the fermenter without lifting heavy vessels. It lets you work smarter, not harder.

I since found a much smaller burner from a turkey fryer. I had to replace the orifice and overtemp shutoff and buy a regulator, but that was a lot cheaper than a new burner

Sadly, though, my LHBS closed down and I haven’t brewed in a while so gonna have a lot of cleaning and tweaking to do to get back into it.
 
Prairie Dog said:
Nice, I know people make these at home, but I thought it might be a little out of my wheelhouse. If it saves me $ and isn't too hard, I might try it in the future. I have a few brewing books, but this is one of the most recommended that I do not have yet. Sounds like I should pick it up.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, I made a simple immersion chiller with 50’ of 3/8 copper tubing and a couple hose adapters to connect cooling water. It works well until late summer when water temperature is forward of 75F. Then it usually makes me chill the wort overnight in my fermentation fridge before I can pitch.

I started with a very crude system and changed it as little as possible along the way to see what the pros and cons were of each piece of hardware. It’s still pretty crude, but light years ahead of where I started.
 
Prepping for a pretty much, Yoopers oatmeal stout. Motivation is not strong though.
 
I'm just trying to get the Canadians to come down here and get their weather. We've been sub-freezing for 3 days now. I've had enough. Wouldn't have much need for a wort chiller yesterday. The high was 28F here. I had to go out to the chicken pen every two hours to thaw the water dispensers. Supposed to hit a balmy 40F today, but back down to about 25 tonight. Warming trend toward the weekend, and hopefully no more of this blistering cold weather. Been one of the coldest winters I can remember in a long time. I'm ready for some spring time.
 
RoadRoach said:
I'm just trying to get the Canadians to come down here and get their weather. We've been sub-freezing for 3 days now. I've had enough. Wouldn't have much need for a wort chiller yesterday. The high was 28F here. I had to go out to the chicken pen every two hours to thaw the water dispensers. Supposed to hit a balmy 40F today, but back down to about 25 tonight. Warming trend toward the weekend, and hopefully no more of this blistering cold weather. Been one of the coldest winters I can remember in a long time. I'm ready for some spring time.
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Well when I brewed outside in winter here would put my kettle in a bin of water and add snow to keep ot slushy the lay the hose goes to my chiller in the snow. Chilled the wort very quickly.
 
RoadRoach said:
I'm just trying to get the Canadians to come down here and get their weather. We've been sub-freezing for 3 days now. I've had enough. Wouldn't have much need for a wort chiller yesterday. The high was 28F here. I had to go out to the chicken pen every two hours to thaw the water dispensers. Supposed to hit a balmy 40F today, but back down to about 25 tonight. Warming trend toward the weekend, and hopefully no more of this blistering cold weather. Been one of the coldest winters I can remember in a long time. I'm ready for some spring time.
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-5F this morning here
 
I would NOT have been motivated to brew outside today. I had to check my surroundings as I thought I was up north today LOL.
 
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