Equipment

Howtos, where to buy, and other stuff.

See also:

Contents

Contents

  1. Equipment
  2. Contents
    1. Links
    2. Two Handy Gadgets
    3. Magnetic Stirrer
    4. The Aerator
    5. The Floater
    6. Carbonator
    7. Immersion Chillers
    8. Counterflow Wort Chillers
    9. Hydrometer Calibration
    10. Plastic Quick Disconnect Line Couplers
    11. Brew Pot
    12. Taps
    13. Gas Burners
    14. Connecting Chiller to Hose
    15. Food Grade Lubricant
    16. Kegs are for Pussies

Links

Please note, I am not endorsing these companies.

Two Handy Gadgets

Not patent pending!

Here are two gadgets that are pretty ornery looking but get lots of use in my brewery:

This might look like a garden hose joiner but it actually goes between a garden hose click-on connector and a liquid QD. How boring is that I hear you say. You would only say that if you have never tried to clean a CounterPressureBottleFiller with QD's. Same goes for pluto gun, just click the liquid QD to garden hose and squirt.

This is a standard trigger hose to which I adapted a click-on connector. I don't know if you have noticed but you can force a click on connector onto both gas and liquid QD posts. They are not a perfect fit and you need to hold them down but with this gadget you can force clean water (reverse flush) your QD posts.

Magnetic Stirrer

Here is a magnetic stirrer I acquired from an old piece of equipment. I was hoping just to use the stepper-moter/magnetic-drive just to turn my stir bar in starters. On further reflection, I thought it might be possible to use in the mashtun and/or fermenter.

For something with a little more general appeal, see StirPlate, a mag stirrer made from a PC fan.

The Aerator

This device is a simple venturi that mixes air with fluid (eg wort).

Wort comes in at the top, say directly from CFC and comes out at left. The 3/16" copper tube sucks air and could be attached to an air filter to minimise risk of infection.

What I have in mind is a combined stirring/aeration action after the wort is in the fermenter by just recirculating wort through the device. I figure if a stir plate + air can help starters, then why not the brew? (something tells me I am going to find out soon).

This model just uses parts from the hardware, I am hoping to make something more venturi like when I have time.

The Floater

No not one of those unwelcome things you might find in your swimming pool.

This is a floating pickup tube for brew pot. The idea is to suck the clear wort from the top into the fermenter. I haven't made one yet but I have some ideas.

Carbonator

The carbonator is really just a way of carbonating beer in PET bottles on the cheap with a car tyre valve and a slight mod to the CO2 side of my keg hose. I borrowed an idea I read here and adapted it to equipment I had laying around in the garage.

The cap and valve idea is pretty much the same as the one described in the link.

I just inserted a regular air coupling (in my case CEJN style) which makes it compatible with my compressed air tools.

/!\ I found later that chrome valves, although nice and shiny when new, corrode after a while. You should either source some stainless steel ones or even opt for the rubber (which I have never tried personally). If you have the equipment, you can also try making one with a quick disconnect (see CounterPressureBottleFiller).

This way, I can charge up my PET bottles with CO2 and also connect compressed air to the keg-in to force cleaning solution through the beer lines without wasting CO2.

Immersion Chillers

Some pics here.

Counterflow Wort Chillers

Some pics here.

Hydrometer Calibration

Hydrometers are calibrated for a specific temperature (eg mine is calibrated for 20°C. If you are attempting to read the specific gravity of something that isn't close to the calibration temperature then you may want to compensate. I have created a also have a SG temperature adjustment calculator online.

Plastic Quick Disconnect Line Couplers

I have found a source for quick disconnect couplers. I used this one in my mash tun (see PartialMash/3):

This variety has a built in stop valve or you can just get them straight through.

All up that cost me a smidgeon over $30 so they are not your "dime a dozen" variety but hey it fits my esky.

You can find them at Victoria Fittings and Valves, 11 Thornton Crescent, Mitcham, 03 9873 1400. Talk to Russ and tell him sosman the homebrewer sent you.

Brew Pot

I just bought a 40L aluminium brew pot from Hotel Agencies in Fitzroy. It cost me $109 inc GST and if it had not been for the fact that Allquip were renovating at the time I would have gone for one of their stockpots (eg the 36L WSS36 Stainless Steel for $127). I have also seen 50 L stainless steel pots for $115 at larger Asian grocery stores and if you want to go bigger, up to 100 L for $245.

The outside tap arrangement is like so (see taps).

The pickup tube:

The flange nut (Bunnings) simply wedges a fibre washer against the inside of the pot. I also taped the threaded brass tube that everything screws onto with teflon all the way along, someone told me that avoiding direct contact between dissimilar metals reduced the galvanic effect.

The pickup tube is intended to:

  1. Pickup mimimum trub. After whirlpooling, the theory is that there is a cone of muck in the centre of the pot, the end of the pickup tube is as far away from that as you can get.
  2. Allow me to drain almost to the bottom without the need to tilt the pot. The end of the pickup tube is a few centimetres lower than the tap flange.

Taps

I have bought a couple of these taps:

from Industrial Fittings Sales, Unit 1/17 Tower Crt Noble Park 3174, 9706 3133 for $10. They also have lots of other fittings and taps, including stainless steel.

To attach this I use teflon tape on the thread, a flanged brass nut (Bunnings) and a single fibre washer on the inside (bunnings have blister packs of these). If you can't get the flanged brass nut, get a 20mm stainless steel washer (I found some at Cost Less Nuts and Bolts - Ringwood). The flanged nut is the key, a) it has more thread length so it works well with teflon tap, and b) the flange stops the fibre washer from getting chewed up. It would probably even work with an o-ring.

Gas Burners

See HeatSources and BrewPotStand.

Connecting Chiller to Hose

If you made your chiller out of 3/8" copper tubing like me, you might have found it difficult to source 3/8" copper fittings1 so you can step up to a garden hose fitting. One easy alternative is a brass click "hose joiner", for a couple of bucks at bunnings. It is just two male hose click connectors end to end. Saw it in half and solder (or braze) it directly onto the 3/8" copper pipe. At least this works for Aussie hose connectors.

Far be it for me to state the obvious, but please remove the o-ring before soldering.

At a pinch you can use plastic ones (I did for a while) but you need to choose your glue carefully (eg don't use hotmelt style).

Regular inspection of the rubber o-ring is recommended, the heat makes them go brittle fairly quickly.

You can also just use a length of garden hose and a hose clamp.

Food Grade Lubricant

When brewing beer, especially when kegging, there are lots of o-rings that need to seal but you don't want to break your wrist getting the QD off the post. Some food grade lube I have found is really good (and economical is) inox mx6:

Kegs are for Pussies

paul sorenson

  • 1 A poster on craftbrewer.org tracked one down at Reeces.

Equipment (last edited 2005-12-07 05:20:00 by )