Got All The A.g. Equipment

[SJW]

OK Boys, i called in all my favours yesterday and picked up the last bits of my A.G. Equip. ie-
-my new 50 litre keg came back to me with a S/S 1/2" Socket welded in, also with a nice new S/S ball valve.
- I called into my local Pirtek outlet and the fella there donated a couple of metres of 1" S/S hose braid for my new 55 litre esky mash tun (the esky i did buy) and thanks Andrew in QLD. for the S/S braid tip.
- I made a great copper imersion chiller with hose connections.
- I ordered from QLD one of those 1/2" Ball valve/tap things like on the Brewiki site
- i picked up a h.p. reg to go with my new burner
The only downer was when the bloke down the road welded in the S/S socket it had a male end on it and is flush on the inside. I was hoping for a setup that would allow me to attach some 16mm S/S braid on the inside of the keg to act as a strainer and to get the pickup a bit lower, but he did weld it in very low and there is only 2 litres below the outlet, and a gentle tilt will reduce that after the boil.
Anyway i am very happy and will post some pics soon. I just need to think about where to set it all up on brew day as i dont want to be lifting full eskys & brewpots around.
My question is, after all that, what is the best stuff to run thru the system for a initial clean up? as it is a bit oily & dirty.

 

[sosman]

For SS and oily/fatty type stains, I reckon you can't beat sodium hydroxide for effectiveness. The down side is you really need to take a lot of care handling it and keep it away from aluminium.

If you only have 2 litres dead space in your boiler you are not doing too badly, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Although I have no personal experience with the SS braid in the brewpot (cf mashtun where they work really well), I have heard mixed opinions re clogging with pellet hops. If you whirlpool, then be patient, then drain you should find that you can leave most of the crap behind.

 

[Batz]

SJW , Your hooked man

Welcome , hope you have a Visa card :blink: :blink:

Batz h34r:

 

[SJW]

Thanks Batz,
I must thank all you guys for your help and inspiration in getting me up and running, although i am sure my wife does not share the same appreciation of your help, but you get that!
My thoughts will now turn to making a tiered brew stand/rack/shelves.

 

[SJW]

One thing i will say is, my local HBS Bloke, who Shawn knows very well, he set me back a bit after making a odd comment.
He said that going to A.G. it will take me a bout 12 months to get back up to kit/part mash standards. After that comment i was a little worried and it held me up a couple of months, but i cant see how going A.G. can be a step backwards, especially if i have been doing good part mashs up till now.
Anyway i am glad i pressed on and am all ready to go with my first all grainer, that will be an OATMEAL STOUT.
I will say that this bloke does know his stuff and Newcastle brewers brew far better with him than without.

 

[Asher]

A word of assurance here!

My first ever all grain beer was at least as good as my best ever extract beer..... then my first beer on my new brewery (which was a bit of a stuff up due to missing the mash temp & using a pumped system for the fist time) came out so good I entered it in the SA comp... ;-)

Asher for now

 

[Green Iguana]

SWJ... YOU WILL MAKE AWESOME BEERS IN NO TIME.....

A bit of basic ag knowledge is all u need...sounds like u already have that...any other info can be found on this most excellent forum.....

I have only done 5 full all grain brews.....the first was miles ahead of any extract brew i had made....from there each brew has been even better....

Good luck matey

 

[Gough]

SJ,

Sounds like Mark was having a bit of a brain explosion. There's no reason your AG beers won't be as good as your part mashes. I did my first AG a few weeks ago and am ccing it as we speak. It is tasting good so far and I can't wait to bottle it. Weather permitting I'm going for my second tomorrow. No going back now.

Mark is a very knowledgeable bloke and has helped me a lot. Like a lot of real enthusiasts he can be a bit domineering at times. 'His way or the highway' type of vibe. Stick with it, he probably didn't mean anything by his comments.

Best of luck with it all. Maybe we should get together and have a Novo AHB day in the not too distant future?

Shawn.