My Simple Ag Setup

[Chris]

Fents that CFC looks about twice the length of mine, should work like a charm.

 

[bconnery]

Also can someone word me up so i can put my fermenter in the fridge in summer to ferment? It sitting at 24c today and im scared, i used safale US-56 and its only meant to brew at 18-20..

For a quick and easy solution until you get this sorted you can simply stand your fermenter in a plastic container of cold water and for preference drape a wet towel over it dipped into the water.

I haven't even done the towel step and it has cooled my current brew down to a nice level. 4 or so degrees would be easily achievable.

If you are slighly over with the US56 it won't be the end of the world. While difference in flavours from fermenting above the range aren't ideal yeasts are more forgiving than the specs let on I find...

 

[Steve]

Fents
Buy a 100 can cooler bag from Kmart = $30 odd bucks
4 x 2 litre coke bottles with frozen water.
Put fermenter in bag with 2 bottles and circulate bottles as they melt.
Keeps your fermenter around 16-18 degrees. (depending on where you live and where you keep your fermenter though of course - im in canberra and they ferment in a cool laundry with no windows).

Cheers
Steve

 

[razz]

Another question for everyone - CHILLING the wort...

I spent $80 on this -

And i hate it, cant get it to work...

I like to pitch yeast on brew day, whats the cheapest and easiest way to cool a wort (apart from cold water in a sink - wastes water)...

Steve - i read ur thread? whats that copper u use? How much, can u post pics and how it works?

Also can someone word me up so i can put my fermenter in the fridge in summer to ferment? It sitting at 24c today and im scared, i used safale US-56 and its only meant to brew at 18-20..

Afternoon Fents. I had the same problem when I first constructed mine. I could only put it down to too much resistance in the copper, I had the wort running through a cfc then post chiller to the fermenter. I purchased a syphon bulb from a marine shop, sanitised the end, pushed it into a piece of tube on the end of my plumbing and gave it 5 pumps. Presto ! flowing wort. Hope this helps.
PS. Don't forget to pull the bulb of before the wort flows through.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Nothing wrong with that setup... I still use square plastic containers that look very much like milk crates..( Ross, Pumpy...you missed a great opportunaty at Tamworth....)
And the good thing is it is easy to pack up and put away...




http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...amp;hl=chillers

 

[barfridge]

My 3 tier setup consists of an old filing cabinet, a chair and the ground. The only issue I have is transfering the 30 or so litres of sparged wort in the boiler back up to the top so I can boil it. After one badly burnt arm I always get some help for this now.

 

[Bigfella]

Another question for everyone - CHILLING the wort...

I spent $80 on this -

And i hate it, cant get it to work...

I like to pitch yeast on brew day, whats the cheapest and easiest way to cool a wort (apart from cold water in a sink - wastes water)...

Steve - i read ur thread? whats that copper u use? How much, can u post pics and how it works?

Also can someone word me up so i can put my fermenter in the fridge in summer to ferment? It sitting at 24c today and im scared, i used safale US-56 and its only meant to brew at 18-20..

Hey Fents where did you get this from just out of interest. I use the same thing and it works real well.

 

[PistolPatch]

3. Buy a 70-80lt pot and Brew in a bag...boil either on stove or 3 ring burner...

Comments and suggestions are WELCOME! :beer:

Howdy Fents,

For the BIAB, go the 3 ring burner. Stoves don't ever seem to have enough oomph though you can always do a test run.

I started with batch-sparging but will never go back to it since brewing in the bag unless a beer crops up that for some reason needs to be batch-sparged. I love the simplicity of it and it's a bit quicker as well. (Doing a brew right now which I started at an hour and a half ago.)

I also enjoy gadgetry but I think I will apply this to BIAB and more so, to other areas of my brewing (temp control, kegging, filtering etc) when I move out of this tiny apartment.

vjval1974 is also looking at giving up the batch in favour of the BIAB. FNQBunyip had great plans for a 3 tier brewery but has delayed this since BIAB. One guy has thrown the towell in on BIAB as the stitching on his bag was a bit dodgy and it broke on his first brew. I'm not aware of anyone else being dissapointed.

There's no way I'd be starting a brew at 5pm any other way!

Cheers
Pat

 

[Whistlingjack]

I have moved up from stacks of old tyres to a purpose-built brewstand.

I dismantled some dexon shelving and cut the slotted angle to size. A couple of 4X2 lengths added and I had my sculpture. No pics, just imagine it....

 

[Murray]

Without a pump for the cfc the easiest way to chill is with a good immersion chiller. They aren't hard to make yourself, plenty of info about for them. Grain and Grape are also selling immersion chillers for not much more than the price of the equivalent copper, especially with the 20% off for mail order this week (no affiliation).

 

[delboy]

fents thats great keep it simple and enjoy as all have said the gear can be upgraded as you go if needs be but ross and pistol patch have hit the nail on the head .

ross i would like a set of your plans so i can build a no frills set up and pistol would like to see more on the BIAB set up?
sorry did not mean to hijact this thread ,

delboy

 

[mhan7073]

I had to cool a wort too and was messing around with ice cubes in a sink. Then I figured I could just put it in the first step of the pool (completely sealed). Did the job in about 5 minutes. no water wasted.

Only works if you've got a pool though...

Mic

 

[Fents]

Another question for everyone - CHILLING the wort...

I spent $80 on this -

And i hate it, cant get it to work...

I like to pitch yeast on brew day, whats the cheapest and easiest way to cool a wort (apart from cold water in a sink - wastes water)...

Steve - i read ur thread? whats that copper u use? How much, can u post pics and how it works?

Also can someone word me up so i can put my fermenter in the fridge in summer to ferment? It sitting at 24c today and im scared, i used safale US-56 and its only meant to brew at 18-20..

Hey Fents where did you get this from just out of interest. I use the same thing and it works real well.

Grrensborough HBS mate, i'll go see dave'o on the weekend and see what he reckons..

 

[Fents]

That pool idea is gold mate, absolute gold. Now all i gotta do is build a pool!

 

[Bigfella]

Another question for everyone - CHILLING the wort...

I spent $80 on this -


And i hate it, cant get it to work...

I like to pitch yeast on brew day, whats the cheapest and easiest way to cool a wort (apart from cold water in a sink - wastes water)...

Steve - i read ur thread? whats that copper u use? How much, can u post pics and how it works?

Also can someone word me up so i can put my fermenter in the fridge in summer to ferment? It sitting at 24c today and im scared, i used safale US-56 and its only meant to brew at 18-20..

Hey Fents where did you get this from just out of interest. I use the same thing and it works real well.

Grrensborough HBS mate, i'll go see dave'o on the weekend and see what he reckons..

I thought so. I made them for Dave.

I use the same one but with a pump. It will chill to pitch temp in about 10 mins there abouts.
Make sure you are running the water the right direction. It should work under gravity but I havn't used mine that way. Check the water coming out it should be pretty hot.

 

[Fents]

Ahhhh no way! Well rather than hassle dave'o i'll hassle the maker haha

So...what i do is hook up the blue hose end to the kettle and tighten the screw clamp's...I connect my hose to the connection nearset the kettle and turn the hose on and water comes out the oppisite hose connection...all good up until this point...I turn the tap open on my kettle but no wort comes through ?????? Whats these pupms u speak off? Maybe im just better off with an immersion chiller? Can you make one for me ?

 

[Bigfella]

Ahhhh no way! Well rather than hassle dave'o i'll hassle the maker haha

So...what i do is hook up the blue hose end to the kettle and tighten the screw clamp's...I connect my hose to the connection nearset the kettle and turn the hose on and water comes out the oppisite hose connection...all good up until this point...I turn the tap open on my kettle but no wort comes through ?????? Whats these pupms u speak off? Maybe im just better off with an immersion chiller? Can you make one for me ?

You need to put the garden hose on the opposite end, The end that the wort is or should be coming out of. so the water runs the opposite way up the hose. I think that makes sense. I used to use and aquarium pump before I got my march pump. that's a whole new discussion. I used an IDRA Pump. Do a search on the forum there was a lot of talk about them a while back.


It's not really cost effective for me to make an immersion chillier. I can't get the copper as cheap as I used to. in my own opinion go for a cheap pump. It was the best move forward I made but then you can't stop. What next!!!

 

[Bigfella]

God forgive you could always cut the hose of your CFC and use it as an immersion chillier there should be enough copper there.

 

[Fents]

Well seems like i may have just had the hose connected to the wrong end!

Thanks B_Fella i'll try it on my next brew.

 

[Bigfella]

I hope this helps..