Going for BIAB

[GAZ9053]

Well the postie has been delivering bits all week.
First nesbits



Then some bits from thehomebrewshop and eBay



So today, remove old tap, cut slightly larger hole for new ball valve, assemble ball valve with ptfe on threads.





Attach said ball valve to boiler



Fit hop bazooka



Also had to go to ikea with SWMBO so made a couple of purchases there. Folding steamer basket to stop bag touching element.



Strainer for after mash.



Found a few bits at work and thought mmmm hop spider



To the shed.........



That's it so far. Got some cotton muslin that Anita is going to make a bag for boiler and hop sock. Still want a chiller. Got myself on morley home brew BIAB day in March so will have AG#1 on the go after that.

[6470zzy]

Always a pleasure to see some new shiny items

[GAZ9053]

It`s nice to have a bit of shiny for once

[Fil]

nicely done..

Any plans for a mash temp holding insulation jacket? £shop groundmats and luggage straps make a cheap n easy on/off solution.

You might want to consider some weights to keep the hop spider bag submerged, i found my bag floated on top of the boil. i recirculated the boil with a pump back into the bag to keep it full

the bazooka should work fine with flower hops tho, just remember to let it sit off heat a while to let the hops settle as they then act as a prefilter for the break material too.

not that there is anything wrong with break material in the fV it just settles out as trub, but if using a hop spider there will be more getting through.

i moved from an IC system with loose hops in the boil to an external cfc chilled system with a hop spider, and there is more trub in the FV with the external cfc and spider system..

[GAZ9053]

Have got some foil insulation coming I hope, will wrap it up with that. Will have to find something as a weight cheers for the tip. Only built hop spider incase I use pellets I was planning on using flower hops mainly.

[GAZ9053]

Well got IC made this morning.
Along with a measure stick.




Wrapped boiler with foil insulation 4 layers.

[alexlark]

Can I ask what connectors you have on your IC? I'm just about to put one together and have bought 10mm to 1/2 inch brass fittings to connect to hozelock but the hozelock is smaller, I'm going to need a bush. Be interested on how you went about it. Cheers!

[GAZ9053]

Same as you have got. 10mm to 1/2" then hozelock tap connector to that. Then you have hozelock fitting on end of hose pipe.

[alexlark]

Thanks Gaz. I got the hozelock threaded fittings without the plastic bush! Thats where I went wrong. Trip to screwfix for the brass bush to sort it out.

Your setup is looking great by the way! I like the insulation jacket.

Oh yea, did you get the strainer from Ikea? I couldn't find it on their website?

[GAZ9053]

I did its THIS

[alexlark]

Great stuff, thanks Gaz.

[GAZ9053]

No problem mate.

[BluePanda]

Was it easy enough making the wort chiller - it looks pretty impressive. So many don't have the curves at the top to keep the connectors out of the kettle. Did it you bend it all by hand or use a tool?

[GAZ9053]

Not as easy as some YouTube videos seem, I got a 10mm pipe spring to put the sharpest bends, the body I bent round my 20L sankey keg. To be honest there is a bloke that does em on eBay for £34 with stem height that you require if not comfortable making your own, I made mine for £24 all in. Wickes has 10M pipe for £20.

[adman1966]

Looking really good Gaz. I'll look forward to trying some beer at the Homebrew Festival! (No pressure!)