Brew day - Aborted! Why me?

[fuji6100]

Well, I am moving to a new apartment in about 3 weeks, so I figured today was my last chance at getting a brew underway before I move (I'm down to only 2 selections of homebrew in my beer fridge). I was all set to brew and was just about to add my sterilizing solution to my conical fermenter when I noticed something. The racking port was hanging at an odd angle... it had partially snapped off!

Apparently the male-to-male plastic nipple that you use to connect the ball-valve to the plastic fermenting part had snapped in half.

So now, I have to go to the hardware store, buy a new nipple, wrap it in teflon tape, put it in, then seal it and it won't be ready to use until tomorrow.

Too bad I WORK the rest of the week.

I think I'll go off and cry in my beer now.

[BenP78]

So I head out to my local homebrew shop yesterday which is about 30-45 minutes away. I pull up and notice their neon signs are not on. I pull the door, but it is locked. There was a large sign saying they'd be closed on Nov. 1st, but nothing explaining why they were closed that day. Now I can't start my next brew for another week!

Damn minor inconveniences! :p

[fuji6100]

Gah! I hear ya!

I wish I actually HAD a LHBS. I'm at the mercy of mail order. I have a good supplier in the next state over, and usually items I order before noon arrive 2 days later.

Is it a bad thing he knows my voice over the phone well enough to know who it is when I order? LOL.

[asciibaron]

TONIGHT I AM BREWING BEER! it has been since May. i had to wait until we moved into the new place and now the wife does not want it to smell like a brewery...

i was going to brew on Sunday. i went to the local odd lots close out store on Saturday and picked up a Turkey fryer setup for $29.95. it came with a 30 quart porcelianized pot, propane burner/stand, tons of things to fry a bird, and a nice LONG STEMMED thermometer. not a bad score for 30 bux!

i was going to pick up a propane tank at Wal-Mart, but i couldn't find anyone to help me. i have all the ingredients ready to go, but no fuel for the fire. DOH!

i'm getting a tank tonight on my way from from work.

-steve

[kevin]

Do turkey fryers really make good brewers?

[michaewa]

Great (http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1022&perpage=15&highlight=turkey%20fryer&pagenumber=1) . I love mine.

[jsmurphy]

Originally posted by kevin
Do turkey fryers really make good brewers?

You bet.

And a quick note on propane tanks. The new tanks that have the overflow valve are required at most filling shops, at least here in CA. They won't fill an older version tank. I was about to pop for a new tank, $28.00, and then pay to fill it, about $8.00. But, then I found out there are supermarkets and other outlets that will let you trade in your old tank for an approved tank, filled with LP for 19.00. And, they dispose of the old tank for you.

[kevin]

I got a $20 gift card from Home Depot guess I better go check them out. How do you cool the wort just run a regular garden hose to your immerson chiller?

[jsmurphy]

I just built an immersion chiller with 50' of copper tubing and clear vinyl hose. I'm brewing tonight and I plan to run water from the garden hose till the temp get's down as far as it will go, and then put the garden hose in a bucket of ice water to drop the temp more if I need to. I ran a test this way and it worked great. Got down to about 74* in 20 minutes.

[vendejp]

Originally posted by kevin
Do turkey fryers really make good brewers?

it sounds like almost everyone here makes 5 gallon batchs.... why wouldnt you just use your kitchen stove (besides the minor stink)?

on another note... has anyone looked into taking 1/2 barrel kegs and cutting the top off to make a very large brew pot or fermentor?

i saw a site on this before but i cant find now. if anyone knows what the link is, let me know.

thanks

[michaewa]

I did my first batch on the stove, and it turned out fine, but there are a few drawbacks.

One, boilovers are a huge mess to clean up on the stove. In the garage I don't worry at all if I splash a little. Second, it took me *forever* to heat up the water on my stove and get it to the right temps. The fryer is like a jet engine, heating up the water quite quickly. Thirdly (and this point may be debated), when you do a partial boil, you then mix with water that (unless you boil it separately, which sounds like a major pain) is not sanitized. When you boil it all together, you know that all your wort has been heated up enough to kill any bugs.

My two cents. I also love sitting outside vs. in the kitchen.

My immersion chiller only gets the wort to about 95F, because the water temp is too high at the house right now. I get it cool as it will go, then switch to the ice bath method for the last mile. Also made a big popsicle once in a martini shaker, and used that to stir the wort to chill it. Worked pretty well.

[jsmurphy]

I agree with michaewa. The burner really gets a good boil going quickly, and I love brewing outdoors. Plus, I got the entire kit for about 1/2 the price of just a brew pot.

I just picked up my grains. Ahhhh. I love the smell of fresh grains...

[sweetwater]

I love the smell of steaping grains, I always use the stove, I'm used to it, thats where I finish Maple syrup too. The Turkey cooker is the way to go for outside cooking, sounds like a good addition towards better brewing too.
Keg brewing stuff at www.keg.com
M