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Show us your current brewing set-up !


Beer Baron

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The most important tool for any brewer is definitely the chalk. And I'm not talking about milligram calcium carbonate additions:

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(My only other kit of note is a 20l stock pot and handmade muslin bag for stovetop brewing. Does the job!)

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I won't bore people with my brewing setup as it's a yawn (19 litre stock pot, an esky as a biab mash tun, and a hideous old fridge).

But I will share my recent pride and joy (which I've shared before on another thread, but here it is again!). Home-made kegerator, utilising an old countertop drinks fridge, 3 tap font, and plentiful MDF which house 3 10l mini-kegs and a spare inkbird to keep it all steady and energy efficient.

Despite being cobbled together from spare bits it's been surprisingly good! Fits into our tiny bar space and 10 litres is just about the time I'm getting bored of one type of brew anyway!

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 6/25/2018 at 11:12 AM, Worthog said:

My brew fridges. Mostly cold crash in the fridge/freezer. Can fit 2 FV's in left fridge if wanted, but I can always use my insulated/heat controlled Bin which has a Coopers FV inside in this pic.

Also pictured is my internally insulated and heat controlled Bottle Conditioning Toolbox for winter conditioning. It holds up to 80 bottles. I rotate them through after 2-3 weeks. It runs 2 heat mats on their edge separated along the box.

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On 6/25/2018 at 11:12 AM, Worthog said:

Cheers

Hey @Worthog - what did you insulate your bin with?

Just thinking of something similar until the budget committee approves the purchase of a fermentation fridge, and I clean up some space in the shed for said fridge.

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It's foam sandwiched ceiling insulation builders use under tin rooves. It is about 5mm thick with the aluminium outside. Talk to your local building supplier who might give you an off-cut. I got mine from my son who is a chippy. 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Reconfigured my brewery this weekend (aka garage during Hard rubbish week).

Moved the Ferment fridge away from the door and deeper into more stable temps at the back of the brick garage.

The fridge itself is a relic of last hard rubbish period and I had assumed it didn't work (as a fridge) all winter so was only using it as an insulated box with the heat belt.

I plugged it into my temp controller which is a single control aquarium job from ebay:

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Alas, it cools! Gave it a test run over the past 2 days and it will hold temp at 18C easily ( + we've managed some warm days in Melbourne too). Confident I can have reliable Ale temp control over the summer months now. Might even see if I can bump it down to lager temps too. 

Well... that is, until I get my electricity bill. 

If all goes smoothly I may just invest in a dual heat/cool temp controller. Cos you know, those things are very much a considered purchase.

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I don't think you'll notice much difference in the electricity bill actually. A temp controlled fridge is not constantly on, obviously it will vary between situations but mine is only on about a third of the total time (runs for about 6-7mins then sits off for about 14 minutes during active fermentation). It's a very old fridge too, 1950s model Frigidaire. You're probably looking at about 20-30c a day if that.

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After moving house and downsized garage i was concerned i wouldnt be able to have much of a set up. But all seems to fit perfectly nice. Urn i use to heat my sparge for the grainfather below. For double batch day, i20181117_122607.thumb.jpg.2750be403309703b2afb0bdbce641e7f.jpg push the mash tun and kettle into service.

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24 minutes ago, Titan said:

After moving house and downsized garage i was concerned i wouldnt be able to have much of a set up. But all seems to fit perfectly nice. Urn i use to heat my sparge for the grainfather below. For double batch day, i20181117_122607.thumb.jpg.2750be403309703b2afb0bdbce641e7f.jpg push the mash tun and kettle into service.

Nice work. You even have a mattress in there for when you get booted to the doghouse. 

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