Ahhh, The Dark Side Is Sooo Near..

[Pollux]

Well, my urn arrived this morning, less than 20hours since I ordered it.

As I said earlier this week, I am happy to post many pics......

Here's the ones from today's testing of the urn (ingredients should be here tomorrow)

Just out of the box

Test fitting the bag

With it's $4.99 jacket, comes with a matching hat..... I just did a "test mash" 30L of water heated to 66deg and left for 90mins with the lid on and a sleeping bag over the top, end temp 64deg....



So close, so very close.....

 

[chappo1970]

Looks great Pollux! When is the big day planned?
I got the same urn from CB's you won't be disappointed.

 

[razE]

Yeah looks good mate! You wont go back to making beer any other way. Good luck with it!

 

[boingk]

You maniac! :angry:

Haha, nah just messing with you - thats a good looking setup. I'm sure the first mash will run a charm with only a 2'C drop over 90min. Have you got a grain bill and hopping schedule yet?

- boingk

 

[smollocks]

Since you're advertising your new urn, I'll throw a few questions your way

- Did you make or buy the insulating jacket?
- Are you going to use the built-in tap for transferring wort, or will you siphon / add a ball valve?
- How long did it take to get 30L of water to strike temp?

It looks like you're in an apartment so I'm interested in how you go as I have similar restrictions.

 

[Muggus]

Dunno why people keeping refering to AG as the dark side...Was Darth Vader a AGer?

Looking good there Pollux. I should really aquire myself an urn like that, would be very handy!

 

[MarkBastard]

Can you take more internal pics without the bag?

 

[Pollux]

Right to answer all the above...

BoingK, I have one based upon an extract recipe I have previously enjoyed..

Batch Size: 20.00 L
Boil Size: 27.06 L
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 17.1 EBC
Estimated IBU: 28.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 kg Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) (5.Grain 67.42 %
1.00 kg Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) (3.5 EBGrain 22.47 %
0.30 kg Crystal Malt -Bairds (110.0 EBC) Grain 6.74 %
0.15 kg Carared (Weyermann) (47.3 EBC) Grain 3.37 %
25.00 gm Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 16.6 IBU
15.00 gm Williamette [5.50 %] (20 min) Hops 6.0 IBU
15.00 gm Cascade [5.50 %] (20 min) Hops 6.0 IBU
15.00 gm Williamette [5.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
15.00 gm Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 30.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Safale US-05 (DCL Yeast #US-05) [Cultured]Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: !-BIAB Single Infusion, Medium body, No MO
Total Grain Weight: 4.45 kg
----------------------------
!-BIAB Single Infusion, Medium body, No MO
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
90 min Infusion Add 30.00 L of water at 69.6 C 67.0 C

smollocks:

1. Thats 4.99 camping mat from golo, I simply taped one end near the sight tube, then ran it around tightly and used a stanley knife to make the handles poke through, then I cut off the extra, from that I made the round piece for the lid.
2.For now I intend to use the inbuilt tap, I really want to find a way to pull it apart for cleaning, if that fails I may get a ballvalve in the future.
3.Honestly, I wasn't really paying attention, between cooking dinner and singing "twinkle twinkle little star" (my wife returned to work recently, I am currently off work on leave to allow her to settle in).......I tried earlier in the arvo before it got it's jacket, and it seemed to take ages, with the jacket I'd estimate 20-30 mins...

And yes, I am in an apartment, the kitchen is the technical brew zone, all fermenting and bottling occurs in the garage however....that reminds me, i need to set up the PC down there with all my MP3s.....


I am so anxious.......I almost want to buy a cigar for Saturday night, and I gave up smoking nearly a year ago....

 

[Pollux]

Mark *******....

Like this??

hehe, you can see my new chrome dome haircut in that one....

 

[MarkBastard]

Any reason the insulation doesn't go all the way to the bottom? It is because the bottom is solid or something?

 

[MarkBastard]

damn that's shiny, i can see your mug haha.

What's that little bar with the holes in it?

 

[Ross]

damn that's shiny, i can see your mug haha.

What's that little bar with the holes in it?

Mark,

Thats the cover over the temperature probe. clips off for easy cleaning if required.

cheers Ross

 

[Pollux]

Insulation is not quite to the bottom as the urn is taller than the mat is wide....and I figure why insulate the electronics.......

And yes, uber shiny, I have no idea with the bar is, has a rod under it with a wire that goes under the base, I presume it to be the thermostat sensor or similar....EDIT, beaten by Ross...

Just getting it cranking now to do a test boil so I can get my boil off rate sorted. and for those that want to know, 2L is the volume to the base of the tap outlet.

And while Ross is being mentioned, dude seriously awesome customer service, and the fact that my door buzzer went off at 9:05 this morning.....I love Fastway Couriers...

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

Hi Pollux,

What are the bits of tube with holes in the bottom of the urn for? Does this allow liquid to go through the bottom to the element?

If so how will you clean it?




Farside.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

Mark,

Thats the cover over the temperature probe. clips off for easy cleaning if required.

cheers Ross

questions coming in very quick, and so are the answers!!

 

[MarkBastard]

Nice, so does it have its own thermostat then? Can you set it for strike temp?

 

[Pollux]

I could, but I won't rely on it's accuracy....

It has a dial marked 30-110...in 5deg increments.

It's currently boiling away with it set at 110 with 30L in it, quite a vigorous boil too, I want to get my evap % right before I actually brew in it...

 

[MarkBastard]

Even though I've got a 70L stainless pot I'm thinking about going this urn option, just because it's compact and 'all in one' and I would rather just do single batches on a 10amp circuit to make it easier. So please keep me in the loop with regards to any problems you may have etc with BIAB.

 

[MarkBastard]

I could, but I won't rely on it's accuracy....

It has a dial marked 30-110...in 5deg increments.

Nice. Be good to for example set it at 70 on a timer for when you wake up so its already preheated, then you can measure and let it get hotter or cooler if you want before mashing. Good nice to have feature. That site window thing looks handy too, better than shoving a ruler in there to work out volume.

 

[Pollux]

I'll be sure to provide a full run down of brew day, the laptop will be with me in the kitchen so expect many updates...

As for the sight glass, it comes unmarked but I busted out the 1L jug today to calibrate it with a permanent marker..

As for sticking it on a timer, if I got to brew during the day I'd do so, but most of my brewing is this time of night when the little assistant has gone to bed...