Another Disasterous Brew Day!

[chappo1970]

So do sensible people ahve two gas bottles?

Braufrau,
If it make ya feel better I have 4 bottles around the place and I still manage to run out of gas. Generally what happens is as one appliance, say the BBQ, runs out of gas I just grab another form say another appliance, say the outdoor gas heater, to solve the problem immediately. The problem is I forget to refill the blown gas bottle so the cycle starts again next time I use something so eventually I run out of gas bottles to steal leaving me with no gas.

So I can sympathise with your day but hey the up side is at least you found the thermometer problem so now you can brew those championship beers. :icon_cheers:

 

[clarkey7]

Friendly Neighbours Brafrau?

Very handy if you've been given the OK to borrow a gas bottle from them.

Now I have a spare bottle of my own that has saved my you know what a couple of times (not just in the brewery - visualize gas running out 2 mins after steaks go on attempting to impress guests with cooking prowess).

Anyway, did you get your boil finished?
Did you end of with beer in cube or chilled and fermenting at the end of your crappy day?

If you did then don't worry so much. Last night I taste tested a stout that was made from a similar bad day about a month ago.. It was awesome. :icon_cheers:

I wasn't happy on the day - but I'm more than happy now.

I hope you have a similar experience,

Cheers for sharing.....we all have these days.

PB

 

[braufrau]

Yes I did end up with beer in the fermenter. Exactly 23 litres, so I go something right, even if it was just my evaporation rate!
The neighbours would prolly lend me their gas bottle but they keep their yard locked up like fort knox. I think we should have a stile over the fence but they probably will not agree.

Anyway, to cap matters off, the chooks have decided to camp out tonight. Sigh!

 

[clarkey7]

Anyway, to cap matters off, the chooks have decided to camp out tonight. Sigh!

Sounds like Beer O Clock to me .....

PB

 

[flattop]

I have a digital thermometer with wireless, the probe is in the water links by wire to the base station and i can walk around the house with the mobile receiver and it beeps at target temp, about $25 at Mitre 10 and it has a timer as well.....fantastic!

 

[hairyson]

So do sensible people ahve two gas bottles?

We have 2 gas bottles in our brew house, a very wise investment I reckon.

Back to the thermometers... don't some multimeters have thermometers built-in? If I remember right, my old man used to have one. If you get a thermocouple type, then they can be accurate to better than half a degree, over a really wide range of temps. No idea what they cost though.

 

[flattop]

They used to be really expensive, i have a couple of Fluke meters laying around, i remember investigating a thermocouple probe about 10 years ago and it was really pricey, no idea what they go for now. In the end the cheaper stuff will do well enough and then you feel less worried if you break it, it's just important to check and test it now and again.

 

[jlm]

I had a multimeter with temp probe (no longer have it due to ******* apprentice leaving it and pot of conduit glue not quite shut left in a bucket together. *******. Must make him dig a hole tomorrow. Oh thats right back to the point at hand....) which I used to calibrate my dial thermo along with an old fashioned alcohol thermometer, and the readout from the multimeter would generally fluctuate +/- 3 deg. of the alc. thermo at around 50 degrees. Never really trusted it.

 

[Cocko]

2 gas bottles are a must.

I use to have one and ran out 25 minutes into the boil... What do I do from here?

Now I brew with out the stress of gas running out! B)


Ahh, the mistakes - make them once!

 

[coe-crl]

Got a thermo on my DMM, was a $50 special from Dicksmith a few years ago. I'll be buying a couple of other thermometers too as I don't like trusting a single device. Never sure if I'm picking up hot spots or if the thing's playing sillybuggers with me.

 

[Brewbloke]

I had a multimeter with temp probe (no longer have it due to ******* apprentice leaving it and pot of conduit glue not quite shut left in a bucket together. *******. Must make him dig a hole tomorrow.

Hahaha bloody apprentices, I had an expensive fluke with temp probes, it was left in the reservoir of a huge Evaporative cooler we where working on....commissioned unit and drowned my poor innocent meter, unfortunatley no soil around to make him dig a hole.

I find that there a multitude of accurate temp probes available on the market, best places to go are your local HVAC/R wholesalers (Actrol, Heatcraft etc.) They have catalog's full of different probes and temp controllers that can be easily adapted for brewing.