Hey everyone, thought I'd start off by saying how amazing this forum is. Such a wealth of information here. I've been doing a lot of reading over the last few months and at this stage I think I'm almost ready to attempt my first AG batch.
I thought I'd make this thread just to list down all the gear I've acquired, and just to see if there's anything else I need or any suggestions you guys can make. I hope this thread can also kick my ass into gear and get cracking.
I purchased a few items off members of this forum actually, saved me a bit of cash which has been great.
Going for a 2-vessel system with the following:
- spiral burner with adjustable medium pressure regulator
- copper immersion coil
- 2x 70L s/s pots (mash tun + kettle)
- 12" s/s BB false bottom
- 2x 1/2" ball valves
- STC 1000 for controllling an old fridge I've scored, will probably place a heat belt or something in the fridge as well to maintain temps in the cold.
That's all the gear I have at the moment.
I purchased the pots and the false bottom from craft brewer who were great. Luckily the pots came with 1/2" holes drilled in the bottom, for use with ball valves.
My first question is what sort of plumbing equipment do I need to attach this false bottom to a ball valve?? I've seen on the Beer Belly site they stock S/S weldless bulkheads. I'm hoping I can get something like this from my local Bunnings? Also what sort of stuff do I need for inside the pot? Do people usually use silicone hosing of some sort? Does that connect from the false bottom outlet, directly to the bulkhead? The false bottom itself seems so small in my giant pots. Will this be a problem? Here's a pic:
My next question is in regards to the false bottom. I'm struggling to understand how I get the wort out of the mash-tun....Obviously with the false bottom being curved, the elbow on top sits about 5-6cm above the bottom of the pot. When I release the ball-valve and the liquid starts coming out, won't there be a heap of liquid left at the bottom?? Is there some form of siphoning involved in this process?
As far as brewing goes, my plan is to expel the wort from the mash-tun into a bucket of some sort with measurements. Use this bucket to then put everything (after sparging etc) back into the kettle for the boil. This is a pretty standard method yeh?
Insulating my mash-tun. I've decided I'm going to try and insulate my mash-tun pot with a camping mat, and perhaps some rubber overlay of some sort. What do people suggest for this? Will my pot be ok at maintaining temps?
One final question actually. With this being my first run, I think I'm going to go with Dr Smurto's golden ale. This seems to be well recommended around here. And the PDF I found of the recipe makes a 20L batch. This sounds great for my first go.
Now, I've got 70L pots, only producing 20L in these pots, will this be an issue? Or is it fine making small batches in these giant pots? I plan to step up to larger batches once I have my technique dialed in.
I'll post up a few more pics of all the gear when I set it all up at my mates place. I'll be brewing in his garage as I don't really have the room at my place.
That's it for now guys. Thanks for reading. I'll try to keep my questions in this thread to avoid creating new threads every time I need to ask something :lol:
Cheers!!!
I thought I'd make this thread just to list down all the gear I've acquired, and just to see if there's anything else I need or any suggestions you guys can make. I hope this thread can also kick my ass into gear and get cracking.
I purchased a few items off members of this forum actually, saved me a bit of cash which has been great.
Going for a 2-vessel system with the following:
- spiral burner with adjustable medium pressure regulator
- copper immersion coil
- 2x 70L s/s pots (mash tun + kettle)
- 12" s/s BB false bottom
- 2x 1/2" ball valves
- STC 1000 for controllling an old fridge I've scored, will probably place a heat belt or something in the fridge as well to maintain temps in the cold.
That's all the gear I have at the moment.
I purchased the pots and the false bottom from craft brewer who were great. Luckily the pots came with 1/2" holes drilled in the bottom, for use with ball valves.
My first question is what sort of plumbing equipment do I need to attach this false bottom to a ball valve?? I've seen on the Beer Belly site they stock S/S weldless bulkheads. I'm hoping I can get something like this from my local Bunnings? Also what sort of stuff do I need for inside the pot? Do people usually use silicone hosing of some sort? Does that connect from the false bottom outlet, directly to the bulkhead? The false bottom itself seems so small in my giant pots. Will this be a problem? Here's a pic:
My next question is in regards to the false bottom. I'm struggling to understand how I get the wort out of the mash-tun....Obviously with the false bottom being curved, the elbow on top sits about 5-6cm above the bottom of the pot. When I release the ball-valve and the liquid starts coming out, won't there be a heap of liquid left at the bottom?? Is there some form of siphoning involved in this process?
As far as brewing goes, my plan is to expel the wort from the mash-tun into a bucket of some sort with measurements. Use this bucket to then put everything (after sparging etc) back into the kettle for the boil. This is a pretty standard method yeh?
Insulating my mash-tun. I've decided I'm going to try and insulate my mash-tun pot with a camping mat, and perhaps some rubber overlay of some sort. What do people suggest for this? Will my pot be ok at maintaining temps?
One final question actually. With this being my first run, I think I'm going to go with Dr Smurto's golden ale. This seems to be well recommended around here. And the PDF I found of the recipe makes a 20L batch. This sounds great for my first go.
Now, I've got 70L pots, only producing 20L in these pots, will this be an issue? Or is it fine making small batches in these giant pots? I plan to step up to larger batches once I have my technique dialed in.
I'll post up a few more pics of all the gear when I set it all up at my mates place. I'll be brewing in his garage as I don't really have the room at my place.
That's it for now guys. Thanks for reading. I'll try to keep my questions in this thread to avoid creating new threads every time I need to ask something :lol:
Cheers!!!