Any homebrewers?
 

I know most of us are into multiple hobbies, just curious if there are any homebrewers on here?

yup! went to kegging about 2 years ago. WAY easier than bottling. Got a sweet mead, american ale and a IPA type brew I need to rack into kegs. whats your flavor?

Been brewing for a long time, I brew up int to the 20+ gallon range. I usually stick to basic styles, mostly pales and lagers, just because brewing that much of a specialty get old. My next batches are coming up for a housboat bachelor party in 8 weeks. 15 gallon blonde, 15 gallon hellas, and 15 session ipa

Nice! I'd like to step up my batches but that means basically starting over in the equipment dept. Yea, the seasonals and specialty beers get old pretty quick.

Do you have a natural lager spot or did you build something? I was going to convert a freezer to a lager box, but don't do enough of them to justify it at this point.

What about keggles? cheap and great for larger batches. I went from 8 gallons to keggles to 26 gallon tanks, i know exactly what you mean about starting over in the equipment department. I dont think its worth it.

I have a stand up glass door fridge in my garage with a controller on in. But I agree, its hard to have a designated fridge just for lagers. Ales sure, but lagers take 6 months

If you did convert a freezer, you could use it as a kegorator too?

I converted a freezer. But I usually have one or two on tap so I can't just crank the temp up and use it. It was cheap enough though, may have to build another

Keggles would work great. But I recently brewed with a guy who either bought or built a fairly automated setup. Now all I can think about is thermostats and water pumps

Im sure you find that the beer goes extremely fast, thats why I bumped up my capacity.

Yeah pumps help a lot. Sure you can brew basic stuff on the stove, but the real magic happens with temp control.

I broke down two years ago, started building and now im fully automated.. its a sickness for sure.

wha?? post some pics of your rig. did you model it after a system or customize it? I'm honestly surprised you can't find ready to brew systems for sale, but I guess the market isn't quite there yet.

I built this one from scratch, took almost 2 years to complete, even with all the parts in hand.

you should check out morebeer.com thy have rigs you can purchase. $$$

My ugly mug and an article of my rig http://issuu.com/eeweb/docs/08-2014_...607911/9085689

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/...psbpdaobpz.jpg

B a d a s s !!!

thanks man! Sadly I probably tinker more then I brew

So those are 26 gal? Such capacity!! I'm going to start with a temp controlled brew kettle and build out from there.

yes these are 26 gallon kettles. Its good to have a large capacity, but then again small batches don't exist anymore.

I think you will be really happy with temp control, id go with a basic PID controller

ok this is the part where it starts to feel like i'm reading Chinese.

googled a bit and found this: http://www.omega.com/googlebase/prod...6JsRoCyxzw_wcB

what connects this to an element?
I have to add a temp sensor to this too right?

I've got lots of reading to do. I did find this more inclusive unit. looks like I just need to add an element
http://www.thermomart.com/beer-makin...brewing%20-kit

Ill try to explain how the PID works. Think of a PID as a thermostat, you have a desired set point, When the tempurature exceeds your desired set point it stays off, when it goes below the set point it sends a signal to turn something on (in your home for example that would be your AC unit, or heater). The PID is a little more compicated, because you can set ranges of temps, delayed starts, etc. (really thats all you need to know)

Now lets talk about the relay. it is like a remote light switch, it receives a signal and completes a circuit.

Let put the whole thing together: You have tempurature probe, PID, Relay, Heating Element. You set the PID, to your desiered temp. The pid receives the temp from the probe. When it goes below the set point temp it sends a 12v signal to the relay, the relay turns on and completes the circuit to the heating element and the element heats up the liquid to the set point. Turns off when it hits the set point.

Id go with the Kit you showed, it looks pretty good. Also you will need a switch or two, one betweed the power of the system and one between the element and the relay. If you havnt already check out Homebrewtalk.com

Michael, Thanks for your patient replies. I'm sure the last thing you wanted out of this thread was to explain how to build a system. I've been reading in homebrewtalk.com, specifically automated brewing section. I just need to call brewhardware and let them connect a few dots.

Are you kidding, I live for this stuff. If you have any questions, ask away Check out http://www.ebrewsupply.com/ too.