What piece of equipment has become invaluable that you wouldn’t expect?

[Brew_DD2]

Yep. Brew in a bag with the lid to heat the water, up the mash temp when it needed it and then do the boil. It means I could insulate the fermenter with foam and bungie cords and not have to change anything for the entire run.

I did try leaving the induciton on at 100 watts but it was actually raising the temperature. I'd love to be able to do some recirculation but I don't have a pump yet.

So I finally got around to giving this a go. It seems to work very well. Any tips on keeping my stainless steel plate still when it is coming up to a boil. It's flapping about all over the place.

 

[Drunkula]

Any tips on keeping my stainless steel plate still when it is coming up to a boil. It's flapping about all over the place.

Lob a pyrex jug on it on its side. With my setup I've got a stainless expandable steamer then on top as a false bottom so use that for the mash. If I'm heating water alone with the crappy poundland dish the jug but my main boil saucepan lid is slightly curved which means you don't get problems.

 

[Brew_DD2]

Lob a pyrex jug on it on its side. With my setup I've got a stainless expandable steamer then on top as a false bottom so use that for the mash. If I'm heating water alone with the crappy poundland dish the jug but my main boil saucepan lid is slightly curved which means you don't get problems.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000FSBVH8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_iLUnFb77VY77Q
I'm using that. Maybe the shape isn't optimal but it seemed to heat up well.

 

[jof]

An old steamer.
As I brew with partial mashes (between 1 & 1.5Kg grain)
I split the mash between the 2 steamer pans and use it for sparging.

 

[AdeDunn]

My big outdoor work site lights, beats the heck out of a torch when bottling.... More POWER!



My wife insists that I also add her to the list, although I will refrain from pointing out that she is basically calling herself a tool there............

 

[uDicko]

Closed transfer tubing.

Amazing for fermzilla to keg, keg to keg, keg to PET bottles generally transfer everything without oxygen from fermentation to packaging.

 

[Kveik Freak]

Big 5L and 4L jugs.

Measure with them, ferment in them, use them to hold sanitiser, the list goes on. The 4L ones are great for sanitising long things.

I'm fermenting tiny 3-4L SMaSH batches in them. They are great for this. Sturdy enough to pour the wort into while it's still boiling.

If they are going to be somewhere contamination might be a problem, such as cold crashing in a fridge, you can cover them with clingfilm and/or tin foil. Elsewhere I've just been using folded tea towels.

A basin of water and an aquarium heater are brilliant for maintaining a constant fermentation temperature. I should mention that I use kveik yeast exclusively, so I need warmer temperatures. This set up handles up to 33 degrees perfectly. Just put the jug in the basin and make sure the towel's not touching the water and the heater's not touching the jug. If you have two heaters, one each side gives more even heating.

I'm considering upgrading to a pool heater or similar paired with a reptile keeper's thermostat for the strains that like it even hotter.

 

[Brew_DD2]

Zero sign of it so far. I'm getting a very slight mineral build up that I just rub off with a scrubby pad. And I've been heating the mash, too, where the sugar density would be of course much higher. I think the surface area of the lid is far, far more than a low density heating element.

Before using that lid I was using a stainless dish from the pound shop, a real super flimsy one and I had to weigh it down a bit because it would move about. I wondered if I could improve the coupling using two lids together but the coupling went down, not up. And I used a steamer - the kind that stack and are part of a saucepan set- that worked really well, too, but of course you've basically got a saucepan in there at that point and I didn't want the handles to rub the sides of the fermenter, that's why I settled on that lid. It's absolutely pefect.

Basically you can turn any fermenter into a big old boil kettle for a quid and you don't have to go cutting no holes for elements and eletromecuting yourself AND I can completely cover the fermenter in insulation with bungee cords and it won't catch fire... like maybe it did when I used to do my 'bain marie' thing on the gas cooker.

So I had a go today and had to abandon the brew day on the ramp up to the boil. Stainless steel plate badly scorched. No joy for me on this one unfortunately.

 

[Drunkula]

So I had a go today and had to abandon the brew day on the ramp up to the boil. Stainless steel plate badly scorched.

It scorched under the wort? Was there a particular pattern? Could you try out a test run in just water. I'm interested to see how it's different. Factory coating on the dish?

 

[Brew_DD2]

It scorched under the wort? Was there a particular pattern? Could you try out a test run in just water. I'm interested to see how it's different. Factory coating on the dish?

Below and above the plate. Test run in water worked nicely. Under 22 litres of wort, not so much

Looks like it was roughly where the pyrex jug was.

 

[Drunkula]

Test run in water worked nicely. Under 22 litres of wort, not so much

oOoh, this intrigues me - what diameter is the dish and what is the induction cooker you're using. The pan lid I use is pretty hefty and because of the the curve it means stuff can flow around it. Because it's big I think it disperses the heat really well.

 

[Brew_DD2]

oOoh, this intrigues me - what diameter is the dish and what is the induction cooker you're using. The pan lid I use is pretty hefty and because of the the curve it means stuff can flow around it. Because it's big I think it disperses the heat really well.

23cm in diameter. Curved at the edges. I have the Tefal Everyday Slim 2100w hob.

Full extent of the damage. Melted bucket. Yikes!

 

[Drunkula]

Wow - bad luck on that. Reckon you could use something to lift it just 1mm or something to create a flow underneath? It depends on where your induction unit gives up on coupling. The heating pattern on mine is a ring that's about, pffft, 8cm wide and I can use a traditional wok on it without problems so when I'm using the pan lid the heating zone is actually not touching the bottom. I want this to work for you!

 

[Brew_DD2]

Wow - bad luck on that. Reckon you could use something to lift it just 1mm or something to create a flow underneath? It depends on where your induction unit gives up on coupling. The heating pattern on mine is a ring that's about, pffft, 8cm wide and I can use a traditional wok on it without problems so when I'm using the pan lid the heating zone is actually not touching the bottom. I want this to work for you!

Underneath the plate and on top of the plate (under the jug) is where all the scorching was.

I'm just going to chalk it up as a loss and go back to my old system, I think. I love the premise, but it's already more hassle than I can be bothered with.

 

[chopps]

Gorilla Tape. Holds tubes in place, fixes thermometers to things, temporary leak fixer, fixes brew plan to wall, keeps lids closed.

 

[Henders]

When I was brewing in the garage this pulley (replaced cord with paracord) was invaluable. I need to replicate it somehow for my outside brewing.

 

[AXW123]

Sous vide stick - keeps my mash at a constant temperature.

 

[MickDundee]

PTFE tape. I was tearing my hair out at a leak somewhere in my gas line (after already having lost most of the tank from the regulator not having been screwed on tight enough) that I couldn’t locate. By spending £1.80 on a roll of plastic from B&Q, I got the gas line holding pressure with the gas off for over a week.

 

[St00]

A £30 trub trapper - after faffing about with false bottoms for ages and finding them more of a hindrance the trub trapper plus a whirlpool does a lovely job.

Also, whilst not a gadget per se, wall mounting my counterflow chiller saved a fair amount of space and made my brew process moderately more straightforward.

Oh an this for the bottom of my GF Conical, meant pressure transfers using standard beer line straight to the keg became much easier

 

[Brew_DD2]

PTFE tape. I was tearing my hair out at a leak somewhere in my gas line (after already having lost most of the tank from the regulator not having been screwed on tight enough) that I couldn’t locate. By spending £1.80 on a roll of plastic from B&Q, I got the gas line holding pressure with the gas off for over a week.

I have rolls of the stuff dotted all around my house. I'm convinced that all things plumbing can be solved with PTFE tape.