1st go at the all grain

[Euro]

Tales from the shed. All the grain ,mashed,sparged and now on the boil for 60 minutes with challenger hops added. Wish I had smelly vision as my shed smells awesome.Bass ale come in at 1.042 Pleased with thar enjoyed it . Chilled out in the shed music on and reading forums.the mash temp was 67 deg and I made the hop dropper and just cable tied the muslin bag to it.Hobgoblin clone for the next brew, gotta say really enjoyed it much more than just chucking a can in and adding water, nice just chill in the shed while it done it's thing. Thanks to all for the advice and check sheets they did help.

 

[Dutto]

Ooooh! I want a Hop Dropper!!! :thumb:

It will save on Hop Bags AND allow multiple hop additions using my favourite Hop Bag system. :thumb:

Now where the heck did I put the stainless steel tube from an outboard motor bracket that I removed fifteen years ago ...

... and the two foot long length of 8mm studding left over from putting a new roof on the garage back in 2009?

They've got to be "out there somewhere"!

 

[Euro]

Probably a better picture of the extra nuts to stop any movement locking on to the sides:)

 

[Doglaner]

Here's a free tip, make sure that your water boiler can maintain a rolling boil. Fill it with some water and test it. I had to re jig the wiring in mine. You don't want it cutting out with 5 gallons of hot wort inside.

I have the same urn as a boiler and have now done 9 brews with it. It holds the rolling boil fine, so far at least. Won't hurt to test it, though.

Longest boil so far is 1h 15m.

Also, I use it for heating the liquor for the mash, and 3.75 on my dial is 75-78c.

I heat the mash tun up first with a couple of kettles of boiling water, and also, also, get the grain to room temp before mashing, and also, also, also, boil in the garage or outside, as 1.5-2l of water as steam in your house will make the windows look like those on a car parked in a back lane somewhere quiet, late at night!!

EDIT : The above words are somewhat redundant as I've just read the rest of your post! Doh!

 

[Dutto]

Here's todays effort. I decided to use some of the pipe off the rejected Coil Cooler. (Couldn't find the studding, plus it won't corrode.)

Just one question. After looking at the photograph of the Hop Dropper I noticed that the bag is more or less on the surface. I was thinking of putting a couple of 10mm SS nuts inside the bag to sink it down into the wort.

Do you thing that sinking the bottom of the bag will improve the uptake of hop flavour?

 

[Robin54]

agggrrrrr....copper strips
thats where I went wrong

 

[Dutto]

It's an improvement on this! :lol: :lol:

BTW copper gets harder and more brittle the more it is worked so, after flattening it out and drilling it, I recommend that you heat it to cherry red and let it cool before bending. This will stop it from cracking along the bend. :thumb:

 

[Robin54]

It's an improvement on this! :lol: :lol:

BTW copper gets harder and more brittle the more it is worked so, after flattening it out and drilling it, I recommend that you heat it to cherry red and let it cool before bending. This will stop it from cracking along the bend. :thumb:

No thanks, though I admire your efforts :mrgreen:

 

[Euro]

Here's todays effort. I decided to use some of the pipe off the rejected Coil Cooler. (Couldn't find the studding, plus it won't corrode.)

Just one question. After looking at the photograph of the Hop Dropper I noticed that the bag is more or less on the surface. I was thinking of putting a couple of 10mm SS nuts inside the bag to sink it down into the wort.

Do you thing that sinking the bottom of the bag will improve the uptake of hop flavour?

Good idea with the nuts but I found that once you dunk the hops they stay wet enough and the bag stays down enough in the wort

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi Dutto,
A thing of beauty, sir.

 

[Doglaner]

And boiling wort is not really where you want to be dunking your nuts.

 

[Dutto]

I didn't use the nuts in the end and the bag just wandered about as per normal.

Actually, when I opened the vacuum package I found an almond nut in with the Styrian Hops but decided not to put it in the Hop Dropper. (What a wonderful name that is!) :thumb:

 

[Brew_DD2]

Hop spider is the best homebrew diy project I've done. Takes no time, reduces sediment and makes clean up a doddle.

 

[private4587]

just please amuse an ignorant beginner but what is this made of, is the centre piece a bit of plastic drain pipe and where does the filter part come from.

Thanks
Peter

 

[Brew_DD2]

Yeah just a pipe from b&q. Well it's like a pipe connector. You can buy nylon stainer bags and secure it with a jubilee clip. 3 carriage bolts through the plastic. Simple as that.