All Grain Setup

[Gym_]

Ok well I got a bit of time on my hands so I’m getting together I all grain brewing setup
There’s just 2 things I’m having probs with ..

1st one is I can’t find a boil pot bigger then 19L

Solution? ( I have a old keg under my house that’s been there for 20 odd yrs (that’s if its still there ) was thinking of taking to it with the angel grinder and removing the top and using the 50litter keg as a large ass boiler ? )
Thoughts ??

2nd prob ..
I’ve searched every dame were I can’t get a esky at a decent price 25L esky cheapest is like 80 bucks ( Ive seen them half the price before so I really don’t want to pay that much to use for mash.

Solution ? mmm I could use some other kind of container that’s like 30 litters or something but its not going to be insulated so I’m guessing the temp is going to drop to fast ..
Thoughts ??

[Tourist]

Solution? ( I have a old keg under my house that’s been there for 20 odd yrs (that’s if its still there ) was thinking of taking to it with the angel grinder and removing the top and using the 50litter keg as a large ass boiler ? )
Thoughts ??

People do this all the time (but I never have). Seems to work out fine.

2nd prob ..
I’ve searched every dame were I can’t get a esky at a decent price 25L esky cheapest is like 80 bucks ( Ive seen them half the price before so I really don’t want to pay that much to use for mash.

I see heaps of eskys at our local second-hand markets and op-shops for 5-20 bucks that will work just as well as a new one. There are other options, but I think eskys are the way to go for the beginner.

Are you going to ditch the sugar?

[warra48]

Kegs work fine as your boil kettle. I have one I use as my HLT, but I also use a 40 litre aluminium stockpot for my boil kettle.

The one thing to make sure is that you have some holes in the lower lip at the bottom of the kettle to allow the hot gases some escape path. Otherwise you'll have a devil of a time to get it up to a boil. What happens is that you get a gas blanket under the keg, and the flames can't get at the kettle.

If you have a mate or are friendly with a panel beating shop, you might investigate plasma cutting the hole in the top. It will be much quicker than doing it yourself with an angle grinder.
You'll also need to have a tap outlet welded in towards the bottom of the keg. You need someone who can weld stainless steel so that it doesn't rust. You might get away with a hole big enough for a ½inch threaded pipe, some silicone washers and a nut on each side. Don't have the tap hard up against the kettle, as you don't want to directly heat your tap when boiling.

An esky or like cooler is the preferred option for a mash tun for most people. A 25 litre esky is just big enought to do a standard 23 litre batch up to about 1.060 SG. Any bigger than that and you run into capacity problems (I'm speaking from experience here). A 35 litre job will give you more options. Having said that, I see a 25 litre Willow jobs at my local Coles supermarket all the time, at about $40 to $45. Tourist suggestions for where to look for one is good. You might also try garage sales.

[Gym_]

Yer thanks for that Warra
This is not going to be as easy as I thought it would be ..
I thought I had a 50 liter CUB keg but I’ve got no idea what this one is ..
Not sure whether to weld a plate on the center of this and then put a tap in the bottom, or see if the local pluming suppliers have a bung to fit it..
Weather to bother putting a tap in it
In fact I don’t even know what size it is ?
Anyone want to take bets on how many liters or gallons it is before I fill it up to find out ?
And has anyone got any idea about its history..?
My father owned a pub 35yrs ago I’m guessing it’s from then.

[warra48]

Geez, that looks like an ancient keg.

From the look of it, and this is working from memory now, I'd say it was a 9 gallon job. The bung about halfway is the filling bung. It is not built like modern kegs, and some of what I said in my earlier post will not apply to this one. The bottom looks quite small, so to get it onto a burner might not be easy.

They used to be sold for parties and functions and the like. They were pressurised. You need a special fitting to get a beer line on to them, and the line ran through a coil in a coolbox full of ice.

I still have memories of a party at my flat in 1973 when we demolished an 18 gallon keg in one weekend.

The other thing is a corny. Which one do you plan to use for your kettle???? LOL

[Gym_]

LOL.. yer just sat that there so you could gage the size of the keg,, wired bugger hey ?
My mate is a good welder he said if I buy him a roll of stainless Mig wire he will do whatever I want with it ..
So ill spend the night thinking about whether to weld a cap over the bung hole,,, and whether to make handles on it whether to even weld a flat bottom on it,,
Just lopped off the top of it then ..
Got me,, any ideas ??

[Kevnlis]

Got me,, any ideas ??

Put what you got on eBay and visit the back of your local...

[gregb]

http://www.underpressure.com.au/web-con ... 299&page=1

Pinched from http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... =13&t=8918

Personally I couldn't be stressed converting a keg, so I submit an alternate option.

Cheers,
Greg

[Gym_]

Yer i was looking at that post and that pot .. little out of my budget this week though

[Kevnlis]

http://www.allquip.com.au/home/index.cf ... tartrow=11

Bit cheaper and very good service from what I hear...

[drsmurto]

Is this the same Gym that only a few weeks back was trumpeting the simple idea of K+K brewing (lots of sugar) with no measurement, rocket fuel type brewing who is now building an AG setup.....................

AG is at the other end of the brewing scale to the one you were advocating. Why the change of heart? Always good to see someone take the leap but i am curious as to how you made that decision.

The keg you have looks like an old english ale cask. Doubt it would be good for brewing. Clean it up and it would make a good talking piece in a bar.

The other keg looks like a normal 19L cornelius post-mix keg which most of us use for kegging our beers.

Esky for a mash tun - look for the willow brand. I picked up 55L set which including a 6 can esky and a drink bottle for $80.

[Trough Lolly]

I've converted 2 x sankey kegs - sig block below refers. It's easy to do with an angle grinder and some sandpaper to finish off the lip with. They make great HLT's and Keggles...

Cheers,
TL

[Kevnlis]

Keggles...

Sounds too much like exercise...

[Gym_]

Just bought a 60 liter pot off Ross for 100 bucks .. orderd it yesterday and arived today .. the guy is a legend !!
Im happy as a pig in chit .lol

[Biernut]

Gym I have just completed converting two 60L kegs, one a boiler and the other a HLT for a brew tree set up. I am still using my rubbermaid cooler as a mash tun, but because this wont be suitable for the final setup I will be replacing it further down the track with a 60L insulated keg. My intention is to make 54L batches to fill three corny kegs in one brew day to cut down on brew days as time is my greatest problem due to other commitments. A 60L keg in my IMO is the most economical way to build a mini brewery. In my veiw a mini brewery gives you more control over your brew and therefore better consistency. If I knew how to get photo's out of photo bucket and post them on this site I could show you what can be done.

Cheers.

[dregs]

If I knew how to get photo's out of photo bucket and post them on this site I could show you what can be done.

First get digital camera

[drsmurto]

If I knew how to get photo's out of photo bucket and post them on this site I could show you what can be done.

Cut and paste the IMG code next to each picture.

Like this

[dregs]

If I knew how to get photo's out of photo bucket and post them on this site I could show you what can be done.

First get digital camera

this might help too, from the forum how toos


Can I post images?
Yes, images can be shown in your posts. If the administrator has allowed attachments, you may be able to upload the image to the board. Otherwise, you must link to an image stored on a publicly accessible web server, e.g. http://www.example.com/my-picture.gif. You cannot link to pictures stored on your own PC (unless it is a publicly accessible server) nor images stored behind authentication mechanisms, e.g. hotmail or yahoo mailboxes, password protected sites, etc. To display the image use the BBCode [img] tag.
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If you haven't got somewhere where you can upload your images such as Photobucket, smugmug or Flickr, I can host them for you and send you the link to embed in your post.

[Gym_]

Well I’m stoked with the 60 liter pot i just got off Ross,,
I’ve got everything now
Water filters on their way for nice tasting water ..
60 liter esky with a copper pipe with 50 holes drilled in it and stainless braiding over the top and hooked up to a tap
60 litter alum pot (thanks Ross)
Cast iron twin ring burner
digital scale 1g to 3kg to weigh hops ect
1/4 ' copper pipe in coil connected to garden hose for wort chiller

Got the grain 5kg
Hops
liquid yeast
And some LDME for yeast starter

Ripped of one of docs recipes ok well a veneration on it anyway..

Amarillo Hops
Ale Malt (Barrett Burston) 2 Kgs
Ale - Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcett Floor Malted) 1 Kgs
Munich I Malt (Weyermann) 1 Kgs
Wheat Malt Pale (Weyermann) 1 Kgs
American Ale liquid Yeast

And I'm all ready to go whooooo

[Biernut]

If I knew how to get photo's out of photo bucket and post them on this site I could show you what can be done.

Cut and paste the IMG code next to each picture.

Like this

Thanks doc I will have another play around with this over the weekend.