Post Your Ghetto Gear Thread. The < $2.00 Hopper

[brewologist]

Take a file and file one or two flats on the un-cut sides of that shaft to give the drill jaws something to grip on.

Even if you don't, worse you'll do is scar the shaft a little.

Cool,

Thanks mate. Sounds easy enough. I'll give it a go.

 

[Florian]

BIAB at ALDI !!!

complete System including BAG for $1.49!

 

[Wolfy]

Gherkins, Wolfy, gherkins!
my almost 3yo loves them so we buy them by the carton. Under $2 a jar to keep with the theme.

View attachment 55914

EDIT: At Aldi of course, where else?

... and better than gherkins (bigger jar too) ... berries:

And from Coles (next to the Aldi):
2 for $5 mash paddles:

(Should be fine for single-batches, I find my plastic spoon actually works better than anything bigger).

 

[Yob]

Bit of an upgrade to the HLT.. Previously the Temp sensor just went in the top of the HLT and kind of sat in behind the pick up, I worried that it would come free and get burned by the element.



So I made this from some spare parts I had laying about and tidied the whole thing up.



So now, similar to the HEX, it has the sensor mounted at the outlet of the pump.

Not brewing at the moment (probably for a month ) so I have time to tinker...

Which is almost as much fun in my world

ed: typo

 

[Wolfy]

Take one plastic jug ...

... so 'ghetto' that it broke when dropped on the ground ...

... and you have a specially designed and highly engineered decoction jug:

... ideal for taking the decoction from the thickest part of the mash.

A single static photo can't show how useful and well designed it is, so here is a video of the decoction jug in action:


Also useful for emptying the mash-tun of spent grain ... when you want any left-over wort to stay behind to be flushed out later:

 

[Yob]

One of the things that has caused me alot of grief is the wort return / sparge arm... Ive had several different designs and the last one has been the most effective, however what it was incapable of doing was allowing for different grist sizes.. So yesterday before the brew I decided to fix it.



:beerbang: :icon_drunk:

 

[kymba]

my ghetto malt pipe - a proof of concept thing that worked surprisingly well



consits of: hosetail, elbow, 3/4 to 1/2 reducer to screw into bucket (same thread as fermenter tap), silicon hose, existing lauter manifold


with about 7kg's of malt for a double batch


happily recircing - after drilling holes for the bolts in-situ to keep the lid on

this gets run through the HX to maintain the current step temp. Spiral burner adds heat to get to the next step

sparged with 10L of hot tap water - just raise the bucket, disconnect the recirc pipe and turn the elbow downwards

 

[b0neski]

Ghetto march pump cover - $2.50 @ supercheap from memory.

 

[Edak]

my ghetto malt pipe - a proof of concept thing that worked surprisingly well

View attachment 56409View attachment 56411

consits of: hosetail, elbow, 3/4 to 1/2 reducer to screw into bucket (same thread as fermenter tap), silicon hose, existing lauter manifold

View attachment 56412
with about 7kg's of malt for a double batch

View attachment 56410
happily recircing - after drilling holes for the bolts in-situ to keep the lid on

this gets run through the HX to maintain the current step temp. Spiral burner adds heat to get to the next step

sparged with 10L of hot tap water - just raise the bucket, disconnect the recirc pipe and turn the elbow downwards

I LOVE IT! So simple except for the load of screws is that a 20L bucket?

What efficiency did you get from it?

 

[kymba]

no idea of efficiencies, i was pretty cut by the end of the boil

and yeah the bolts thing pissed me off too. i didn't think i'd need them as the lids on these 25L buckets are extremely difficult to get off - sometimes they need a screwdriver to prise an edge up to get it started

 

[markymoo]

excuse my ignorance, however I am planning on a system much like that Kymba.

how do you drain the wort from the bucket after mashout? i am probably missing something fundamtentally braumeister here so you just sparge until it is clear and have 20L of water in the bucket that just gets chucked and not included in the boil?

markymoo

 

[kymba]

excuse my ignorance, however I am planning on a system much like that Kymba.

how do you drain the wort from the bucket after mashout? i am probably missing something fundamtentally braumeister here so you just sparge until it is clear and have 20L of water in the bucket that just gets chucked and not included in the boil?

markymoo

nah man, all the goodness gets extracted. you'll see in the photos that the hosetail is plumbed into the side of the bucket, and in the bucket is the silicon hose with sparge/lauter manifold - these are all connected

during the mash the kettle outlet is connected to a pump which pushes the wort through the HX and returns back into the malt bucket via the previously mentioned hosetail

when sparging, the return hose is removed from the bucket hosetail. the hosetail (which is attached to the elbow) it is then rotated 180* so it points downwards. if sparging isn't your thing then there is no real need to - just leave it to drain

i can draw an picture if you like?

 

[markymoo]

nah, i get it, i suspected something like that.

I suppose that is why you have the manifold in the bottom of the bucket to filter out any grain bits.

thanks

 

[Desert Brewer]

The bottle stand is an old gate and the brewstand/trolley was scrounged togeather from scrap (treasure) at the local tip shop - total cost about $20.

 

[Lakey]

View attachment 56505View attachment 56506

The bottle stand is an old gate and the brewstand/trolley was scrounged togeather from scrap (treasure) at the local tip shop - total cost about $20.

GHETTO!!!

 

[sp0rk]

Finally got some kegs to make into keggles, so i went and bought an angle grinder, a plank of pine and some cable ties to make a jig up to cut the lids out
i started making a right angled mount for the angle grinder that would pivot in a circle the perfect size for the glass lid i've got, but got bored VERY quickly
Then i came up with this little beauty

the angle grinder wedges between the piece of pine and the lip on the keg, and keeps it in a nice even circle!

 

[Muscovy_333]

Finally got some kegs to make into keggles, so i went and bought an angle grinder, a plank of pine and some cable ties to make a jig up to cut the lids out
i started making a right angled mount for the angle grinder that would pivot in a circle the perfect size for the glass lid i've got, but got bored VERY quickly
Then i came up with this little beauty

the angle grinder wedges between the piece of pine and the lip on the keg, and keeps it in a nice even circle!

For a minute I thought you were using the keyboard...innovative

 

[Edak]

Finally got some kegs to make into keggles, so i went and bought an angle grinder, a plank of pine and some cable ties to make a jig up to cut the lids out
i started making a right angled mount for the angle grinder that would pivot in a circle the perfect size for the glass lid i've got, but got bored VERY quickly
Then i came up with this little beauty

the angle grinder wedges between the piece of pine and the lip on the keg, and keeps it in a nice even circle!

I had to look at it a few times to understand what you were doing, but I get it! nice idea

 

[OneEye]

my ghetto malt pipe - a proof of concept thing that worked surprisingly well

Looking good mate! Very simple, love it. Are you using a pulley to hoist the bucket? Do you hoist it up and let it drain before turning the elbow downwards?? I quickly threw something together tonight and found that when I hoisted the bucket the water wanted to shoot up and out of the hose barb...

 

[kymba]

Looking good mate! Very simple, love it. Are you using a pulley to hoist the bucket? Do you hoist it up and let it drain before turning the elbow downwards??

sorta, i have a tiedown strap looped over my skybeam. i just tie the strap off so the hook is at an appropriate level then lift the malt bucket onto it

I quickly threw something together tonight and found that when I hoisted the bucket the water wanted to shoot up and out of the hose barb...

i get a little bit of the 'shooting' but the wort draining through a grain bed will behave a lot different to unrestricted water