Help me build the CHEAPEST possible grain setup

[Bazza]

Fermenters as boilers are fine.
Just don't lift them when they are full (and boiling).

Ah right. Fair enough. I'd say just make sure them elements are in as tight as possible. I've had one slip through on me before. Lost about 10L of wort and tripped the mains but thankfully lived to tell the tale.

I'll stop pissing on your chips now

Cheers,

-Barry

[Motorbikeman]

I have had water in the mesh tun for 70 mins .  It seems to have lost about 6 degrees.   

Is that acceptable?       Heated up the tiles underneath abit.   lost heat.   

[johnrm]

...and don't use short cables.
Don't put a knife into a toaster.

Need more advice?
Floss.
...and piss on your own chips! 

[Bazza]

piss on your own chips! 

[Chris]

The 33litre fermenter from HBC is good and sturdy and makes a great boiler. There are insulated camping mats in lidl this week and they make a great extra layer of insulation. I think they are €6

[mr hoppy]

Need more advice?
Floss.
...and piss on your own chips! 

Floss is great for putting teaballs of luvely hops in cornies.

[RichC]

I have had water in the mesh tun for 70 mins .  It seems to have lost about 6 degrees.   

Is that acceptable?       Heated up the tiles underneath abit.   lost heat.

that rate of heat loss isn't good enough but you'll find it improves due to the thermal mass if the grain. You'll only know when you do a proper mash in it. Also, Chris has the right idea, a yoga mat on the outside if that will help a lot

Sent from my XT890 using Tapatalk

[Hingo]

Think I'm going to give this a whirl! seems quite do-able, I was considering making a kettle out of a 21l boil pot from HBC that I have, then using it for a HLT in later days (still doing extract)

Would the kettle hack work for steel pots or would it be difficult to seal? (with the element fitting being flat)

If so I'll stick to the plastic fermenters - have a spare 33ltr HBC one mentioned above. If it is do-able i'll use the pot, I know the pot capacity wont do a full boil but it does the job for me now. Thinking I could make a budget 3 tier system with the plans from this thread and use the pot as a HLT - just an idea

[Motorbikeman]

If you got somthing like this with a bigger output,  You would be onto a winner.. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/600W-Boiler-Pot-Water-Heating-Element-Tube-17-64-Diameter-/121156694555?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c3580721b

http://uk.alibaba.com/product/792349649-best-selling-home-cooking-pot-heating.html

[Motorbikeman]

This is going extremely well so far.  I think.       

I made a balls up of ordering whole grain and panic set in.   But the internet to the rescue.   

This guy uses a blender on pulses to mill.   http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=67843&hilit=blender&sid=ece88fb27a9777af6cd202b6bec11501&start=15

So thats what I did. 

On the lookout for a mill now. 

Other snags I found was trying to seperate the 2 buckets in the mesh tun.     Going to have to look into that as well for the next brew.
I do think I am going to have some description of Ale at the end.   Might not be the best in the world.   But who care

[Hingo]

I'm giving the instructable version a go but have run into a small minor set back at the start... The kettle has jagged lock washer fitted on the element back.. Don't really want to wear down screw head (more than I have) I got the kettles in Argos - any ideas how to get past this? see the pic, I can probably use a flat head / phase tester to remove the screw but that lock washer is the bane of my life. Do the tesco kettles have them?

[Snuff]

Didn't have them on the Tesco kettles I got a couple of months ago. Took them apart no bother.

[Motorbikeman]

It come off no problem with the correct sized  flat head.  The lock washer wont stop the screw turning as it is bearing against another stainless washer and has no purchase.  Its simply there as a crush washer and stops the screw vibrating of and shorting the kettle out.    If I remember its only the live terminal that has the lock washer.  The others are deeper into the housing.

I soldered the mains wires to the prongs sticking out and dumped base unit connection .  Insulating neatly each connection as I went with heat shrink and inso tape. And used a little  loc tight instant gasket to seal the element in . Its heat resistant.  http://www.lubricantsupplies.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/l/o/loctite-5926-instant-gasket.jpg
Its done two all grain 70 min boils with HLT duties as well  and is rock solid

Tesco kettles are a tenner each.   

[Hingo]

I got two kettle leads as I didn't fancy doing the wiring trick (seen that on a YouTube vid) and hot condition sockets were harder to comeby and not much cheaper. As for the gasket glue - I was going to just go with the silicon seal from the kettle, will this not be ok it's own or?

Had another setback - 1/2 inch copper won't fit the 1/2 inch fittings! Looking into this either the copper pipe has expanded from being left out in cold temps or I need to be looking out for internal/external diameter measurements. (I had believed it was all standard sizes)
On the plus - I made a handy double coil immersion chiller! Cheaper than buying one and should chill a fair bit quicker!

[Motorbikeman]

I just put a wee lick of sealent on as the argos kettle was made of thicker plastic than the bucket.    I would have hated a leak.

I had to do a bit of goggleing to see if the sealant type is food safe.    Could find nothing other than than its made of the same stuff rated as food safe.   But in 5 gallons of water,  I dont think its an issue.  The acetone smell disappeared after a water test boil.   


Copper pipe is standard.    But if you cut it with a hacksaw, sometimes its hard to get into fittings.  The olives are really hard to slip onto a rough cut pipe.     There is a special pipe cutting tool that pushes the birrs inward and keeps the pipe perfectly round. 

Someone you know is bound to  have one.   

A mate had 2 meters of copper oil line that had a plastic coating.   I removed the plastic and made a chiller.   Could have done with a little more copper, but it was free.   Had to buy 2 jublee clips for 1.50  and connected it to the hose.

It chilled 18L in 45mins from boiling to 23 degrees.   Well pleased.