??Questions??

You've probably got a few questions, so I'll try to anticipate a few. Some of these questions may have been answered in other parts of my webpage. I'll repeat the answers here anyway because so many people have written with the same questions. I have also included a few tips and miscellaneous ramblings from my experiences.

How much did all that junk cost?

Too damned much!!! I didn't exactly keep real good records as I was acquiring all the hardware. This is a rough listing of the parts and costs and doesn't include everything used to build the system. These costs are all approximate.

As you can see I went over $400 (American) quite easily. But if I had purchased a complete "store bought" system the cost would have been much greater.

Hey Rick, do you sell stuff too?

No, I do not sell stuff too. I get a lot of email from people asking if I sell any of the gadgets and equipment I've made. You'll have to make your own or find someone to make them for you.

Where can I get (fill in the blank)?

Other than the pump and burners (described above) and the items I mentioned as being purchased from hardware/home-improvement stores, you are on your own to find a supplier. I've never purchased anything from Grainger or McMaster-Carr although I have admired the stuff in their catalogs. I got my SwageLok fittings from a friend that *WAS* in the supply business and no longer have access to any "sweetheart" deals. I'm afraid you will have to cough up some serious money if you can find a supplier of your own. (Follow the SwageLok link to find a supplier in your area.) And, sad to say, I no longer have access to any great deals on scrap kegs. Again, you will have to find your own supply. I have heard of scrap yards that specialize in stainless steel and other "exotic" metals that can be a gold mine for the homebrewer. I DO NOT RECOMMEND BUYING A KEG OF MEGA-BREW AND FORFEITING THE DEPOSIT! That is ILLEGAL! Also, take a look at the Burners page on this site. I tried to track down some other suppliers for burners suitable for brewing.

How well does it work?

VERY well! Temperature raises are dependent on the size of the grain load in the tun so it is rather hard to nail down how long the raises take. I have mashed as much as 30 pounds of grain with no trouble. In fact I have room to mash about 35 to 40 pounds of grain. Other than milling, 5 gallon batches take about as long to do as 10 gallon batches.

Once I put in flexible Tygon connectors for the pump suction and discharge and the lines between the valves V2 and V3 (see the "How It Works" page) and their associated kegs, a lot of stress on the plumbing was relieved and the system fits together a lot better.

How much wort is stranded in the system when you're done?

This is another little bit of trivia that has often come up. When I am doing my batch calculations I usually calculate the amounts for an 11 gallon batch when I want to get 10 gallons to the fermentor. I'll boil until I have 10½ or 11 gallons (hopefully that will be about an hour) indicated on the level column of the kettle. I'll pump the wort from the kettle to 2 five gallon fermentors. Whatever's left is considered a loss. Since grain is cheap it's no big deal. I probably wouldn't be so cavalier with an extract batch (I don't use the stuff anyway) because of the higher cost. If I plan on doing another batch in the next week or so, I'll try to get some of that leftover wort in the kettle to use as a yeast starter for the next batch. There usually isn't much left over to be pumped out. The keg/kettle bottom has a dome shape and the pickup tube sits off to one side (see the picture).

That copper Chore Boy scrubbie thingy in the bottom of the kettle, does that really work?

Yeah, it works pretty well. There has to be something better though. This thing seems to work best with whole or plug hops. Pellet hop crud really seems to clog it up. Before I caught on to this, I clogged up the Chore Boy and had to use my stirring paddle to knock it off the end of the pickup tube and pump all the pellet crud through the chiller to the fermentor. It was a mess but the batch turned out alright. With the pickup tube of the kettle offset to one side (see the picture) and the dome shape of the bottom of the kettle, I really don't get too much trub in my fermentors. Use of the immersion type chiller has reduced the amount of cold break material pumped to the fermentor. When using the counterflow chiller, that material is formed in the chiller and ends up in the fermentor.

DO NOT use either the K-Mart brand or the cheap brand of copper scrubbies that Wal-Mart sells! At least don't buy them for this purpose. They are not 100% copper. I think they may be copper plated carbon steel because they rust like crazy. I learned my lesson about these the hard way. (Use your imagination here folks. It does involve ruined beer.) From now on I only buy Chore Boy brand copper scrubbies. Since I don't know squat about economics, I'm only guessing that is why these store-brands are so much cheaper than the brand name.

Soldered fittings! How well can they work?

VERY well, thank you. I thought I'd try it and see how it works for myself. I have heard from other brewers that have used this technique with equal success. I did leave enough metal at all the penetrations just in case it didn't work and I needed to have stainless fittings welded in. I found the fittings at a local home improvement store. For the 2 kegs that have burners under them, I used male garden hose/female 1/2" NPT mated to female garden hose/female 1/2" NPT. A hole was drilled in the keg wall and the garden hose ends were mated together. I used garden hose fittings because they would screw together tightly on the keg wall. The fitting on the bottom of the mash/lauter tun is a male garden hose/female 1/2" NPT placed through a hole in the bottom of the tun, soldered and the excess fitting inside the tun was cut off with the Dremel tool.

Before fitting together, I cleaned the fittings and keg wall that were to be soldered THOROUGHLY and followed the directions that came with the silver solder and flux. Make sure you check all your soldered joints before your first brew day. Leaks can be a real pain.

Here are some simple diagrams of how the fittings were soldered to the kegs.

The soldered fittings have served me well for the past 3 or so years and may soon be upgraded to welded-in thru-wall stainless steel pipe couplings. There is nothing wrong with the soldered fittings. When I originally built my system I soldered them in because my accountant (wife) thought the Swagelok bulkhead fittings were to expen$ive and rather than push the issue I decided to look for the cheapest method of installing fittings. Well, now it's 4 years later and I think I'll be able to come up with the few extra bucks to have a pro weld in some stainless pipe unions. Of the 3 soldered-in fittings on my kegs, only one has ever broken loose. That was the one on the bottom of my mash/lauter tun. On my second or third batch I set it down quite hard on the bottom fitting while cleaning it out. It did not come completely out but stayed partially attached. This told me that the soldered joints can be quite solid. Since then I've been a bit more careful how I do my cleanup.

Those soldered fittings, do the dissimilar metals corrode?

Not that I'm aware of. Maybe they are corroding as you read this. I don't know. I've never found any evidence of corrosion on the exposed surfaces of the fitted joints. I do keep things pretty clean and scrubbed up with ScotchBrite pads. Could be that I'm scrubbing off any corrosion on the surfaces before it becomes visible. I don't know.

How do you clean this stuff after construction?

After everything was completely assembled the first time, I filled the hot water tank with water and added trisodium phosphate per the label instructions for "heavy cleaning." The solution was heated almost to a boil and flushed through all of the plumbing. Lots of junk (flux, general crud, etc.) was flushed out. The TSP solution was drained and the system rinsed. Next I filled the hot water tank with water and added dishwashing detergent and repeated the flushing. Not much junk flushed out the second time. After draining and rinsing, more water was added to the hot water tank, heated and flushed through the system. This water was drained and the system disassembled. Each component was rinsed before putting away. Looking back on this, it seems like a lot of work but I got some peace of mind in knowing that the system was thoroughly clean of major contaminants. I have also used this process whenever I've made any changes to soldered plumbing.

How do you sanitize this equipment for brewing?

While the wort is boiling, I still have lots of hot water in the HLT (hot liquor tank or hot water tank). I raise the temp of that water to about boiling and rather than pumping it to the fermenter I take the outlet line and put it back into the HLT. I pump this hot water through the CF chiller (if used) and watch the thermometer on the outlet line. Keeping the temp at about 200ºF for about ½ hour will take care of any evil bacteria in the lines. The rest of the system doesn't need to be sanitized, just clean, because it's on the pre-boil side of the system.

Do you have any plans for modifications to the system?

As a matter of fact I do. I've been thinking of making an adjustable collar for the sparge/recirc manifolds. Something that would make it easier to place the manifold right above the grain bed. By having something like this I wouldn't need a bunch of tubes of varying lengths like I have now. I've drawn up a couple quick pictures of what I have in mind. The collar would clamp around the tube rather than run a screw right into the side of the tube since that might crush or poke a hole in it. I'm not quite sure what to make it from. Probably some kind of plastic.

What about fermenting and bottling and the rest of the stuff we homebrewers do to make beer?

I have purposely left out that part of the homebrewing process from this webpage. I figured there were already enough sites devoted to or including those aspects of brewing that I didn't really need to include them here.

Just for the record though...

I do keg some of my beer in 5 gallon Cornelius (cornie or soda pop) kegs (I have 8 kegs) but I bottle most of my brew in 12 oz. bottles. I do have a good sized collection of 7 oz bottles that my parents thoughtfully smuggle back from Mexico when they make a trip each year. Right now I have somewhere around 40 of those bottles. They are great for intense beers like smoked ales and barleywines. A lot of my 12 oz bottles are returnable case bottles that I just haven't gotten around to returning yet. Most of my 12 oz bottles are the non-return Sam Adams type bottles. I do have quite a few odd ball bottles too. A bunch of Grolsch type swing top bottles and a bunch of weird ones from foreign countries. I have some 22 oz bomber bottles that I use for gift bottles. ALL OF THE BOTTLES I CURRENTLY USE ARE BROWN.

When I first started brewing, to keep costs down I used plastic (PET or PETE) soda pop bottles. This worked fine for my first batch as it was consumed rather quickly. The biggest concern with using plastic bottles is that they are oxygen permeable. Oxygen can and will "seep" through the plastic and cause your beer to taste bad. What's that you're saying? Your beer is under pressure and oxygen wouldn't dare try to enter your beer bottles. Wrongo! Here's the way I understand it (and I'm sure that if I'm totally wrong someone will be more than willing to point it out to me). Seems that since there is no free oxygen (O2) in your beer, the free O2 in the atmosphere sees that as a vacuum and will exert the equivalent of full atmospheric pressure trying to put oxygen into that space, your beer. Another down side to using plastic is that they are either clear or green. If not stored properly (in boxes or otherwise removed from light) they allow light to "skunk" your hard earned homebrew. I have also used plastic bottles for my summertime lawnmower beer. Because we are avid Mississippi River boaters and because most of the beaches we frequent have rules against glass bottles, this is something of a necessity if I want to drink any homebrew on the beach. The plus to this is I get a great full flavored beer with the alcohol level controlled by me. BOATING ON THE RIVER IS NO PLACE TO BE LIQUORED UP! I will not lose my boating privileges to alcohol.

Here's a bit of an update to the plastic bottle issue. Seems that Miller Brewing Co. is now selling beer in a lined, brown plastic bottle that doesn't allow light or O2 to ruin the beer. I've never seen one of these animals but if they are really the cat's meow I'm sure I will eventually. If someone has a bit more info on these bottles drop me a line.

Here's a tip for getting those racka-frackin Sam Adams labels off (or any other bottle labels for that matter). Use a strong solution of sudsy household ammonia and hot water. They'll come off in short order. Cold water also works, just not as fast. After a good thorough rinse there is no trace of the label ever being there. If you are a label collector this is probably not the best way of getting them off as the ammonia also removes the ink from the foil type labels. I use the cheap K-Mart brand of ammonia that costs about $1 per half gallon.

Here's a cornie keg tip. When I get a used cornie I replace the o-rings as a matter of course. Who knows where those things have been? I replace the small o-rings for the tubes with new ones from a local brewshop (they're cheaper) and the large one for the lid with one from William's Brewing. I like the ones from William's because they have a thicker cross section and will seal up more readily than those with a standard sized cross section. Used cornies usually are removed from use for a reason and often that reason is that they have leaking lids. This solves that problem.

As for fermenting I use, almost exclusively, Whitbread Ale dry yeast. It's quick, thorough and clean. And CHEAP! Most of the beers I make are British styles and this seems to fit well. I have used many liquid (or wet) yeast cultures. They are great if you have the foresight to plan ahead and get it started and ready for brewday and have all your plans happen at the right time. Generally that's too much work for me. The Whitbread (one 14 gram packet per 5 gallons) has all the population you need for quick starts. All it needs is to be rehydrated and pitched. Great stuff. I do use liquids when I'm experimenting with styles or trying to nail a style "spot on". I have also used other dry yeasts (Edme, Nottingham, etc.) with equal success but Whitbread is what my local brewshop sells. I have also cultured yeast from bottles of store-bought beer. Hoegaarden White was a great success. Chimay was a letdown as was Saisson DuPont. I hope Hoegaarden bottles with their fermentation yeast.

All my fermentation vessels are glass carboys. I used to use plastic pails and other plastic fermentors but gave them up after a couple of infected batches. The infections may not have been caused by the plastic being not sanitary enough or maybe that wasn't the problem at all. Anyway, I haven't had an infected batch since going entirely to glass. I have two seven gallon carboys (primary fermentors) and two 5 gallon carboys (secondary fermentors). I've always used stoppers and "inverted bucket" type airlocks for the ventilation. No real reason for using those type airlocks, I've just never bought a "gooseneck" or "triple ripple" type.

DO NOT primary ferment huge beers like barleywines in a stopper/airlock vessel. When that stuff takes off, the kraeusen builds up real thick and will plug up the airlock. Once the airlock plugs up you've got a glass bomb that WILL detonate. This has happened to me. Fortunately it was during the time I was using plastic pail fermentors. The plastic fermentor looked like a big ball when I finally saw it. The lid was making squeaking noises. I touched the airlock to pull it out and KABLOOEY! The foam left a silhouette of me on the wall behind me. I was covered head-to-toe with sticky Krause foam. I was able to salvage 2½ gallons of that 5 gallon batch. Lesson learned.

I sanitize my glass fermentors and stainless cornie kegs with an iodine based dairy equipment sanitizer. The stuff is called DINE-O-TEX and costs about $10.00 per gallon. A gallon will last a very very long time. I bought a gallon 2 years ago at a store called Fleet-Farm (a farm supply/hardware store in our area) and have about half a gallon left. If you go to buy this type of sanitizer, make sure you get one that is LANOLIN-FREE or your beer will have no head at all.

Hey Rick! Whatever happened to that fridge you were going to convert for dispensing kegged beer?

Well... I did get a fridge that I had every intention of using for just that purpose. I was going to mount a faucet on the door and have draft homebrew available at all times. The fridge I got was one of those ancient General Electrics with the rounded corners and semi-rounded top. It was in pretty rough shape when I got it home. I thought that the least I should do is give it a fresh coat of paint and make an attempt at repairing the seals. I washed it down with soap and water and gave it a quick rub with a scotch-brite pad and enamel thinner. It cleaned up real nicely. I asked my wife and kids what color it ought to be painted. At this point they were totally disinterested and said that they didn't really care. I chose a nice bright fire engine red color of Rustoleum spray paint for the main part and a brush-on semi-gloss black for the lower kick panel. I took the time to carefully mask off the logo plate and removed any removable pieces (I even fixed the light switch). I spent a couple afternoons on the painting and it turned out pretty nice. Immediately my wife took an interest in the fridge and thought that it was "too cute to go punching holes in". It works great for keeping bottles and cans of drinks cold in our back porch all summer long. Maybe one day I'll realize my dream of having draft homebrew available all year around.

Hey Rick! Why are you getting so uppity about the email you receive?

*RANT MODE ON* I guess the emails that have discouraged me the most are the ones that go like this...

Dude,
Me and the buds at the dorm are looking for a cheap buzz. Tell us how to make beer.

(Most of the spelling has been corrected and the words assembled into a coherent order.) I'm not in this because it's cheap. And it's a lot easier to go out and buy good beer these days than it was just a few years ago. I do it because it's a fun hobby and I enjoy discussion with other hobbyists. In addition to not wanting to be responsible for someone getting hurt building a system like this I don't want to be responsible for someone getting hurt consuming the product that they make with a system like this. Especially if they are under the age of 21 years. I do receive a lot of email like this and I ignore each and every one.

Other questions like "Do you sell these systems?", "Do you sell beer?", and probably the most common question of all "Where can I get kegs and Swage-Loks?" have been answered too many times in this webpage. I don't sell stuff and YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN TO FIND A PLACE TO BUY THESE THINGS! I have included links to many places that sell these items and even a few links to their home offices so that you can ask them who sells their product.

Here's another one that really ticks me off. Do you other folks with webpages get crap in your email that reads something like this...

Increase business traffic through your webpage by accepting all kinds of credit cards....

Now, obviously, this spammer hasn't taken the time to actually read this webpage (like you apparently are doing right now) or he would know that I don't sell stuff.

*RANT MODE OFF* There, I'm better now :-)

Got any more questions?

Send me some e-mail! rcalley@charter.net