Jim's Beer Kit

Looks great, mate. Another good looking diy build under your belt. Glad you found a use for the stainless coil. Mine is still collecting dust but looks too useful to chuck away.

Thought I'd chip in with a couple of things I picked up when I made mine. When you buy the tube heater it will most likely come without a plug attached. I think this is because they are generally hard wired into switches in normal applications so its how they come in the box. Before you put the plug...

Tony must be a cider man

+1 on the electric brewery website. Great material.

That edging should do the job just fine imo. The fermenter looks sound too. Those Qmax cutters sure look to do a neat job. My hole cutter always makes me nervous that it is a bit off centre so one of those looks ideal. The fermenters look very tempting. I just don't have the space for one but atm. O...

Thanks for the input, Fil. I had thought about cutting some grooves in the tank connecter but found there is so little left in the bottom as is, there seems no point. If I want it completely dry after cleaning I just lock the tun in the upside down position and leave it. Thanks for the tip on the ta...

It's been a while since my last post but finally I have a few more pics to finish the build log. I fitted the outlet on at the back end of March. Tightening the tank connecter with the female BSP threaded elbow screwed directly onto it turned into a bit of a faff. I had to have one arm stretched rig...

Ps. When I looked at the welds on the inside of my tank I saw quite a bit of pitting. The surfaces seem passivated as there is no rust but there are a lot of crevices, pitting and rough spots, especially where the downward weld meets the bottom dome. Sanitary welds are ground and polished smooth. I ...

Progress is looking good. I was in the same boat looking for a 60ltr fermenter. I needed narrow and cheap. I went for the Brouwland 60ltr barrel type. http://www.home-brew-supplies-uk.co.uk/60-ltr-plastic-fermenter-with-lid-and-tap.html I'm only on my second brew with it but I'm really happy with it...

Also, when using as a fermenter you are going to have to scrub and sanitize the hell out of the welds on the inside. They look a little rough for me but he who dares and all...... maybe some angry caustic or something......

This is magic. Glad someone found my thread useful. I keep looking at those Gledhill tanks as I'm considering making an HLT with one about that size. I'd end up keeping the jacket on though. In your opinion, would it be possible to keep the Gledhill insulation jacket and take it on and off as you li...

I may have missed something but when it's heavy with a mash and as it's tipped won't the weight cause the insulation to be damaged/compressed by the metal support bands? I guess you can't tell from the photos but the insulation on the cylinder is very hard. It feels pretty rock solid. It has no giv...

Slitting some silicon tubing and fitting to the rim of the false bottom should take up a little of the gap between it and the actual bottom and help take up any small dents. Ah yes, I've seen this a lot on pics but wasn't too sure if I needed it. Do people use the hard beer line or the soft vinyl t...

Hogarth wrote:That looks awesome, Poppazombie. Nice work.

Could make a handy butter churn too.

Thanks Hogarth
High cholesterol for me!

Yet more very useful progress! For continuous (or fly) sparging, the false bottom would ideally cover the whole base to maximise evenness of flow, but an inch around the edge is quite trivial - I seriously doubt you'd notice any difference at all. With batch sparging there will be even less impact ...