I made a DIY CO2 system for my fish tank. I use fermentation for the CO2. 2 and a half weeks ago I filled a 2ltr soda bottle with water, 2 cups of demerara sugar and a tsp of bakers yeast. This wasnt intended for drinking (no sanitisation first etc) just for producing co2 as cheaply as possible. I came to change my mixture today and rather than just throw away whatever it is i'd fermented I thought i'd try …

I'm trying to build a bunch of tap handles, and am a little confused on what I need. Do I need both of these: Hangar Bolt and Ferrule or just this: Tap Handle Insert Or something else / other things entirely?

I'm running a 5 cubic feet Magic Chef keezer with 2x6s for a collar so I can get an additional keg on the ledge. I cut the corners at 45 degrees and sealed off the collar with caulk, weather stripping, etc etc. I have two recirculation fans and a bag of Damp Rid and within 2 hours of starting it up there's condensation pooling in the bottom corner. I have the temp set to 37 degrees F. Any tips or …

I am in the process of building a fermentation temperature controller (in the same spirit as the grainfather glycol chiller), the process is mostly done and I am testing the system with water. The heat exchange is made through a hand-bent copper tubing plunged in the fermentation vessel; the problem is, after a day or two, the water inside the vessel takes a light yellow tint and there is a rust spot at the bottom of the vessel (the chiller …

Been reading around for some answers with no luck. I am in the UK and maintaining heat is an issue, all articles I read are y'all Americans trying to keep liquid cool. So I have a flat arround 17/18 celsius on average, I believe this is fluctuation from 16-20 in reality with heating and overnight temperature drops. Should i insulate my primary FV? I am worried temperatures will be too high when heat is generate by yeast. I was thinking …

I'm new to the home-brewing process and I am attempting an experiment in which brewing yeast is added directly into juice for a period no longer than a week so that the yeast converts glucose into ethanol. All of the tutorials I've seen documenting their process on DIY juice home-brew (Linked from Life Hacker) don't seem to mention any sort of sanitation process, yet most of the actual home-brewing guides like the one from the American Homebrewers Association put a …

I'm planning on build one cooler based dispensing system for my kegs. My previous experience was with a box with 2 aluminium coils (~15m long) and 2 faucets. It holds a 20 Kg ice pack. And the beer pour is just fine when the carbonation and settings are OK. But, I've found that for a period of a party/beer session, that amount of ice is overshoot. If full of ice, the box let you drink cold beer for about 3 …

I'm planning on build a cooler-based jockey box to drink my kegged beers. And was thinking what's the different things in a beer tap/faucet? I'm having trouble to find one with reasonable price in my town. I understand that some faucets have 'cream function', or 'flow control' diferences, material finishes (stainless, chrome plated, brass, plastic..) but the standard/basic type just allow you to on/off your flow of beer. Rigth? Can I simple choose other kind of tap to put on …

Ok, i've see so much people here advising the use of PBW - Powdered Brewery Washer. I've seen some videos, and it seems to be a very good thing for cleaning everything in homebrew stuff. But I live in Brasil, and it can be difficult or expensive to export some of this magic powder. The same situation is there for StarSan sanitizer. Here I use a solution of peracetic acid (peroxyacetic acid), but since i've lost my dealer i'm having …

I have a built in kegerator in my kitchen, under the counter style. It is connected to a three tap handle tower and the lines are about 3 feet long. The noise from the compressor/fan is louder than I would like, and I am considering moving the unit to my basement, which sits directly under the kitchen counter. This would increase the run of my beer lines to something closer to 15 feet. The lines would drop down about 3 …

From a thermodynamics perspective, I realize that a TEC-based fermentation chamber is not the most efficient type of cooler due to very inefficient heat transfer, but, alas, I want to build one as I have most of the parts lying around. I haven't done the all the math, but I believe that I can achieve acceptable cooling for lagering using a 48W TEC as long as I can efficiently dissipate the waste heat from the hot side of the TEC. …

I'm putting together my first all grain system. I'm converting a 44qt SS stockpot to be used as a boil kettle using a weldless bulkhead and SS ball valve. I automatically assumed that I needed to install this as low on the side as would provide a tight seal (i.e. not below the top of the 'roll' at the bottom) but then I started thinking that there might be a reason why I should leave a minimum depth, although I …

I'm a software engineer who just bought a Johnson A419. I have a Nest thermostat. Naturally, if I can control and monitor my house temps with my iDevices, why not my fermentation? I'd like to hack together an Arduino (BLE, Wi-Fi, or otherwise) to allow me to monitor/record my fermentation temps remotely, via some manner of connection to the A419. I think I need more hardware info on the unit than just this PDF to do it, though. Has anyone …

I know that some people say that PVC is fine for racking tubes, but I have someone who is looking for an alternative--HDPE or PP would be acceptable but not preferred. Since PVC is the only type of plastic tube our local hardware store sells, are there some DIY alternatives that have worked well for people? (Caoutchouc? Sheep's intestine? What'd we use for this before plastic came along?)

I'm planning to make a Hot Liquor Tank with a 5 gallons cooler and an immersion heater, but I don't have idea about where and which immersion heater I need. I read a tutorial, and the guy is using a 1500 watt heater, but not more information... Which is your experience with this HLT? And where I could buy the heater?

So for the few months that my wife & I have been brewing, we've been using the sink/icebath method of cooling our wort. This is mostly because of our erratic brewing schedule. Every cost, no matter how small, takes months to be "worth it" meaning we're not going to be buying a chiller anytime soon. We do have a lot of laboratory glassware in our basement however, and among those more esoteric pieces, is a 300mm Graham condenser. Despite not …

Aside from digital thermometers, what are some other clever uses of the Arduino platform as applied to homebrewing? Anything such as novel gadgetry, process automation and/or DIY equipment is especially interesting to me?

I can't seem to find a local supplier that stocks a racking cane or siphon in my area so I'd like to have a go at making my own. I could find an online supplier but most US stores won't ship to AU & I want to use it in a few days. I know I can just siphon with tubing but I'd like to use a cane with that rubber nozzle that reduces the muck that comes up. Can …

I have two 15g stainless conicals in a fridge and I am building an advanced controller to heat and cool the whole mess. Some details on my blog for those who are curious. Currently I use a Fermwrap from More Beer to heat the conicals but I feel it works much better for carboys. The fermwrap is hard to get on the conical in such a way to maximize contact and heat transfer. I also want more juice then 40w …

I'm looking to make one of the mash tuns out of a plastic bucket. I find instructions like "drill a bazillion holes into the bottom with a small drill bit". How small? Is there a size that's too small and likely to get clogged?