Equipment Needed

[DandyMason]

Hey guys, A few of the last things I need to pick up are...

Wort Chiller
Grain Mill
Brew Pot

For the wort chiller I have been looking at a 3/8 inch by 25 foot copper immersion chiller...

http://www.nybrewsupply.com/products/wo ... ersion.php

... Is a 25 foot chiller long enough or should I go with 50 foot? I will be brewing 5 gallon batches. I e-mailed NY Brew Supply to find out about shipping and apparently shipping for the 25 foot chiller is $29 and the 50 foot is $36.


As for the grain mill I have really only looked into Hop Dawgs...

http://www.hopdawgs.ca/index.php/equipm ... rain-mill/


And for the brew pot....

http://www.walmart.ca/Outdoor-Living/Ga ... rkey-Fryer

... once in a while something like this will be on sale at wal mart or canadian tire. Thought this might work okay.



Anyways just trying to get a good idea of what would work best. Let me know what you guys think... if you have some other sources that are cheaper/ better... please let me know! Thanks!

[Dave Savoie]

Home hardware carries 10 Gallon stainless pots for $80

[Kyle]

go with the 50 foot chiller, the grain mill is the one I have and It's a good product. As for the pot, aluminum is fine, just make sure its at least 7.5 gallons for 5 gallon batches.

[DandyMason]

Sounds good. There are some nice SS pots at home hardware too... Was just looking at the one above because it comes with the burner... Is a propane burner any faster in bringing 5 gallons of wort to a boil?

[Jake]

I'd suggest the barley crusher and 50ft chiller from hopdawgs. Pretty reasonably priced. For the pot, homehardware 10gal pots look to be your best bet. You can fit them with some weldless fittings if you want, or just use a siphon for the time being.

Propane is good if you have a garage to brew in the colder months (or have a rediculous ventilation system). I wanted to use propane in my basement but my better half flat out said no ... can't really blame her.  I don't have the luxury of a garage so I'm stuck using the range in my kitchen ... shitty and can hardly bring 6 gallons to boil, but gets the job done.

[fakr]

Check this out...50L SS pot at homehardware.ca for 69.99 .  VERY good deal.

http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/index ... 7?Ntt=pot#

From what I've heard, the barley crusher at hopdawgs is good quality.  I'll be getting one myself.

Canadian Tire has the 30QT aluminum pots with burners for $69.99.  They even come with a 12"+ thermometer. You could buy one of those and use it for sparge water for your mash tun and use the burner for either pot.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/2 ... ?locale=en

[DandyMason]

Yeah I was actually just looking at that SS pot on the home hardware website... I would definitely go with that. But I had the same concern as what you just mentioned Jake.. about bringing the 6 gallons to a boil on the stove. Would a propane burner be quicker? I don't have a garage either... Just a tiny shed, so would be chilly in the winter months.

[Jake]

My burner can just barely get the wort to 212F. They say that it is supposed to get to a rolling boil, but I would hardly consider my boils "rolling" lol. But so far I haven't had any problems with taste, knock on wood. There is no question that propane will bring it to a quicker boil than electric. My suggestion would be to get 6 gallons of water on your stove and see if it can get it to boil without the lid on ... that'd be a starting point.

I know that you're not supposed to have the lid on when bringing the wort up to boil, but I tend to cheat by having it on 3/4 of the way (if not more) to retain some of the heat. I find it takes FOREVER if I don't do it this way. Once it's at 212F, I'll take off the lid and it will stay at this temp. Oh FYI where you are new to this, you don't want the lid on during boil or while bringing up to boil because you want to burn off DMS (dimethyl sulfide I believe it is), and if you keep the lid on your pot, it does not escape and you can taste that shit in your beer.

[DandyMason]

Good to know... and Good thinking, I will test my stove at some point with 6 gallons of water and see how long it takes to bring to a boil..

[DandyMason]

I may be way off with this... But think this would ever work for a brew pot?

http://www.walmart.ca/Outdoor-Living/Ga ... rkey-Fryer

[Jake]

Something like that may work, but I'm not sure whether it could bring the wort to boil. 7.5 gallons would likely be large enough, but at that size you don't have much head space if it were to boil over. Another concern is that it is aluminium. I think I was told by some people in the group that aluminium is ok to use as long as it is treated first with some sort of solution ... possibly a mix of peroxide and white vinegar? That's what I used to treat a couple brass parts I was using, it removes any lead that could harm beer (and yourself I'm assuming).

If that could bring 6 gallons of wort to a boil, it'd be pretty cool. Any thoughts from others on this?

[fakr]

that electric kettle would be perfect for sparge water!  keep your water at a constant 170.

[Kyle]

It was a 7.5g pot, so size is minimum, but okay.

I use an aluminum pot and the myth of off-taste is just that, to treat it, you just need to build an oxide layer, which is done by filling with water and bringing to a boil. I just put a gallon or so of water in mine, put lid on, and let the steam do that.

Its actually a really cool idea, but I'm thinking its 120 volts since it does not mention any special power requirements, so it will take a Loooooonnnnggg time to come to a boil. I'd buy a 220v 15 gal version of this if it exists!

[DandyMason]

Yeah Im thinking you guys are right in that the thing would have hard time with 6 gallons... Here is the owners manual...

http://www.cajuninjector.com/Electric%2 ... 08corr.pdf

... I dont see much about voltage though

I just like the idea of being able to boil in my basement. Could one of those portable electric burners ever be able to boil 6 gallons?

[Dave Savoie]

It could is you built a heat stick to go along with it Howah has built one and used it without being dead