Are You In Love With A Bit Of Gear Or Equipment?

[PistolPatch]

Has anyone else realised that they've fallen in love with some of their brewing gear? If so, I'd love to see a collection of things under one thread.

[If posting, to conserve your upload quota, it may be an idea to link to existing pics if you have them or use ImageShack (thanks Lucas)]

I'm actually carrying on a string of multiple affairs with several bits of gear but for now, I just want to give special mention to one of my oldest mistresses - my 65 litre Esky Ice King on Wheels. We've been together a year now and she's served through some tough times filling many roles. She's not just an esky.

She's a mash tun and can certainly take the heat.

She's also kept her cool while providing a constant and secure environment for many a yeast cell as a fermenting fridge (sometimes with the help of other mistresses)...

She has a heart of gold...



She's also the life of the party. Young blokes covet her...



But she always comes back to me and I reckon she gets better looking every day...




Pat

 

[PistolPatch]

Yeah I know. And this is only one mistress! Possibly my next girlfriend is overdue

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

Pat,

That tapped Esky idea is great :super:

Hmmm, I've got a couple of 9L kegs...I might have to steal that idea..........even though I have my suspicions about what might have inspired it anyway h34r:

PZ.

*edit* - Oh, and where did the yellow-shirted guy in the third pic beam in from? Looks like he's been kidnapped from the 1980's...those shorts are hilarious......shit, the more I look the more I see...with that colour-co-ordinated sock/shirt combo he should be in an "LA Gear" advertisment! :lol:

 

[poppa joe]

Whats the good of that??????????
You probably sleep with it and RAISE the temperature.... :lol:
Cheers
PJ

 

[PistolPatch]

what inspired it?

The inspiration for any use that requires my above mistress to be in an upright position was definitely due to a single pic posted on AHB. Fingerlickin, posted a pic of an esky standing on its end and I can't remember why he did so. That one pic opened up a whole new world of benefits/possibilities.

This is not the only time Finger has benefited me either. Toasting you now :super:

What's your favourite bit of gear Blake? You must have heaps.

Pat

And PJ - go to bed! In the morning I want to see you posting your favourite bit of equip! You are the master of free gear so I'd love to see what your favourite is

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

What's your favourite bit of gear Blake? You must have heaps.

Sadly, I don't have heaps of brewing gear, just ideas...but I love my immersion heater...so very versatile and makes a brew day with only rudimentary equipment that much easier :super:

PZ.

 

[randyrob]

She's also the life of the party. Young blokes covet her...

that guy on the right has a emu export can in his hand....wtf!

 

[milpod]

Thanks for ideas PP,i'm running with mash tun,brew fridge,party esky as well, with my 60lt coolboy.

Versatility is sweet

 

[Screwtop]

Definitely my Mashmaster HLT controller. Wake up at 5.30, down to the brewery and mash in, then she looks after temps to follow and monitors the sparge temp also. Makes my brewday easy!

 

[warrenlw63]

Definitely my Mashmaster HLT controller. Wake up at 5.30, down to the brewery and mash in, then she looks after temps to follow and monitors the sparge temp also. Makes my brewday easy!

Same here screwtop. Set mine up on a timer. Walked out to the garage 5am this morning to lovely 82 degree water. That big red LED is like meeting an old friend.

Oh, I also can't do without my no chill hopback these days. :super:

Warren -

 

[Jye]

I really love my pump :wub:

 

[PistolPatch]

You know what I'm like so I'm going to restrain myself from replying to anyone - for all our sakes!

We've just seen a few high-ticket items (love 'em) but here's one of my favourite girls who only cost me $8.



I've been searching for someone like her for years but have found them (you know the normal trigger sprays) to break down in a very short period of time.

This girl is brilliant - makes no rinse sanitising a breeze. No more useless trigger pumps. With this girl, you just pressurise with a few pumps and it keeps spraying for ages.

You can find plenty of her sisters (all 1 litre) at hardwares or nurseries from $8-$12.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

It's hard to single one out.

I am very happy with the under-stair cellar I built and what it has done to conditioning my beers - so much better than taking over cupboards around the house.

I love my drug-dealer electronic scales, but...

I really liked my 2400W electric immersion heater I bought after perusing the bbq/natural gas versus electrics on AHB.

This week, I got a second one. I fell in love.

Doubling the amount of power you throw at boiling water doesn't halve the time it takes - it takes less!

With two of these things drawing a total of 20Amps, my wort went from mash temp to boil in a seriously short period of time (I didn't measure it, but I think it was about 15-20 mins) and generated a boil you couldn't get if you tapped into the earth's mantle!

I liked my first immersion heater, but I *love* my second one.

My favourite bit of kit is still my beer glass. It is this thing that brings together all the other bits of kit, technique, ingredients and the occassional cuss and delivers beer to where it is needed and most appreciated.

 

[Screwtop]

You know what I'm like so I'm going to restrain myself from replying to anyone - for all our sakes!

We've just seen a few high-ticket items (love 'em) but here's one of my favourite girls who only cost me $8.



I've been searching for someone like her for years but have found them (you know the normal trigger sprays) to break down in a very short period of time.

This girl is brilliant - makes no rinse sanitising a breeze. No more useless trigger pumps. With this girl, you just pressurise with a few pumps and it keeps spraying for ages.

You can find plenty of her sisters (all 1 litre) at hardwares or nurseries from $8-$12.

Tried the pressure sprayer Pat, but stopped using it when I heard that pressure breaks down Iodophor and Phos acid in a similar way to light.

 

[PistolPatch]

OMG Screwtop!

I'm using some stuff, HySan (1ml per litre), that Rossco gave me - the silver ion stuff. I also use a bleach solution in my second bottle. Do you reckon these would be OK?

If not, couldn't I just relieve the pressure once done spraying?

Very shocked,
Pat

 

[razz]

Only one way to make sure your sanitiser is still working, check its pH.

 

[Screwtop]

Only one way to make sure your sanitiser is still working, check its pH.

What PH sould it be

 

[browndog]

If I had to name the most time saving, easy to use and simple piece of equipment, it would be my refractometer.


cheers

Browndog

 

[razz]

What PH sould it be

G'day Screwtop. I believe Idophor should be pH 3. Does that sound reasonable to you ?

 

[Screwtop]

G'day Screwtop. I believe Idophor should be pH 3. Does that sound reasonable to you ?

Have no idea razz,

The problem with Iodophor type sanitisers is that light etc reduces the effectiveness of the Iodine component (why brown bottles are used to store Iodine). Suppose it's possible that the PH of the Phosphoric Acid component may alter due to changes in the Iodine. For acid washing yeast, Phos Acid is added to reduce the PH of the medium to 2.2 so I immagine the PH of the PA would be lower than that.