MartinOC
Insert something suitably witty here
After a 10-year hiaitus from brewing (during which time I've spent WAAY too much on commercial beer) & having copped much badgering from all & sundry that I should get back on the horse, I've completed the build on the "Phoenix Brewery" (rising from the ashes...) & done a grain-less cleaning run this afternoon. 40L of hot PBW went through everything, whilst I made a record of ramp-times to get an idea of what I can expect.
Apart from a couple of minor slow drips (nothing an extra 1/4 turn with a spanner or an extra couple of turns of Teflon-tape can't fix), everything went beautifully.
I could've just thrown shitload of $'s at this, or bought a ready-made setup, but I think there's much more satisfaction in knowing & thinking-through your process, working-out what you want to achieve & then building it yourself. At the same time, I'm embracing the technological advancements on the way I used to do things 10 years ago.
Ignore the mounting of the parts on ghetto pieces of offcut melamine. It's expedient & will get me back up & running, without spending a shitload (total build cost is less than $600). The milk-crates will eventually go & I'll build a replica of my original gravity-fed brew-stand that will give me a 6V, 3-level system with complete flexibility for multiple brews in one day, parti-gyle's & built-in redundancy if power goes-out.
I've done a LOT of reading, questioning, thinking, talking & watching other people's setups, so I'd like to extend a heat-felt thanks to everyone who has inspired me to get this far (especially Yob, who was gracious enough to let me pick his brains at a brew-session & now I've expanded on his ideas/kit). That's what I like about this hobby - you never stop learning.
My favourite bit of this is the LBP on the HLT. Yob has one on his HLT (I almost bought his when it was up for sale), that recirculates the sparge water, preventing stratification & hence providing even temperatures. I took it one step further & added a 12V LED light-controller that allows me to precisely control delivery of sparge water at any one of 8 different speeds from a trickle to full-tilt for fly-sparging (no more constantly juggling ball-valve taps) . I can also use it to transfer water to an "inactive" hot-liquor holding tank, then use the "active" HLT to heat more water as required.
Did I forget to mention that I love this hobby?????
Apart from a couple of minor slow drips (nothing an extra 1/4 turn with a spanner or an extra couple of turns of Teflon-tape can't fix), everything went beautifully.
I could've just thrown shitload of $'s at this, or bought a ready-made setup, but I think there's much more satisfaction in knowing & thinking-through your process, working-out what you want to achieve & then building it yourself. At the same time, I'm embracing the technological advancements on the way I used to do things 10 years ago.
Ignore the mounting of the parts on ghetto pieces of offcut melamine. It's expedient & will get me back up & running, without spending a shitload (total build cost is less than $600). The milk-crates will eventually go & I'll build a replica of my original gravity-fed brew-stand that will give me a 6V, 3-level system with complete flexibility for multiple brews in one day, parti-gyle's & built-in redundancy if power goes-out.
I've done a LOT of reading, questioning, thinking, talking & watching other people's setups, so I'd like to extend a heat-felt thanks to everyone who has inspired me to get this far (especially Yob, who was gracious enough to let me pick his brains at a brew-session & now I've expanded on his ideas/kit). That's what I like about this hobby - you never stop learning.
My favourite bit of this is the LBP on the HLT. Yob has one on his HLT (I almost bought his when it was up for sale), that recirculates the sparge water, preventing stratification & hence providing even temperatures. I took it one step further & added a 12V LED light-controller that allows me to precisely control delivery of sparge water at any one of 8 different speeds from a trickle to full-tilt for fly-sparging (no more constantly juggling ball-valve taps) . I can also use it to transfer water to an "inactive" hot-liquor holding tank, then use the "active" HLT to heat more water as required.
Did I forget to mention that I love this hobby?????
