Baz Chaz
Landlord.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
- Messages
- 1,937
- Reaction score
- 144
The Ten Digit Brew, well itâs actually Jennings Cumberland Ale :!: but Iâd finally decided to have a bash and update the boiler and mash tun 
The mash tun had a plastic plate with lots of holes in it as a strainer, the boiler, well I used to bag the hops and simply stick âem in
My DIY skills are somewhat limited a) by lack of skills b) my fondness of having five digits on each hand c) I like the red stuff to stay inside my skin :whistle:
However I bought some shiny copper bits and a not quite as shiny brass thingy and a tap and tailpipe which were just shiny After much planning and rooting through the toolbox I set to..... hang on I hear :!: Barking Baz has an aversion to DIY but has a toolbox :shock: Well I do it belonged to my late father, who was quite good at woodworking and generally mending things, so I have a box with many tools inside :!: some of which I actually know what they are and what theyâre for :idea: I used to tinker with motorcycles quite a lot in my youth, anyone whoâs had a BSA Bantam or an old AJS knows how much tinkering was needed to keep âem going, even the Bonneville was regularly in bits :!:
So a couple of afternoons in âThe Denâ saw a nice shiny 'manifold' manufactured :wha: it was quite straightforward actually, especially when I changed the hacksaw blade for one with teeth on the blade In fact I changed it quite regularly when I found just how many cuts I was going to put in the pipes, Iâd noted others had problems with stuck mash and needed more slots, so did loads :idea:
It fit into the bottom of the mash tun a treat.
So 9am this morning, the boiler was on and the grains measured out, unusual for me to have a brewday on a weekend, but MrsC is newly out of hospital and laid up for the time being :sick:
Crisp Pale Ale Malt 2.950 kg
Torrefied wheat .365g
Black malt .37g
and .330g sugar to add to the boil later.
The mashing went a doddle the newly made strainer worked a treat, no sticking with a good flow, there was less dead space than I previously had as well and generally seemed more efficient, excellent result :clap:
The boiler, well this was the bit I was worried about :? all the tank connectors Iâd seen seemed to need a bit fixing on the inside to connect the hop strainer to, but on my browsing I came across this..... a âStraight adaptor extended thread, compression x BSP Parallel 15mm x ½â â :whistle:
Which was brilliant, I just needed to take off the old tap from the Buffallo and make the resultant hole a bit bigger, which I did with a gizmo which fit on the drill and filed it a bit bigger. Then fit the adaptor with the 15mm compression joint inside to attach the hop strainer to :thumb:
The bits I got from http://www.bes.co.uk/ the adaptor was part number 7786 the lever ball valve part number 9689 and the tail 14558, delivered next day, the coppery bits I got locally.
The hop strainer for the boiler was just a simple job again, but fiddly drilling all them holes :!:
But with the compression joint on the inside of the boiler once the strainer was made itâs easy to fit and take off for cleaning :thumb:
The hops were added at the start of the boil, straight in today no bag and scalded fingers trying to squeeze it at the end of the boil
Challenger 33g for 90 mins
Goldings 11g last 15 mins
Again everything went fine, no leaks and the run off at the end into the FV was a doddle, used a sieve just to catch any odd bits that got through, but there wasnât much at all :thumb:
All in all Iâm rather pleased with the results, obviously the end result will be the tasting :drink:
The OG was supposed to be 1038, but was actually 1040, so looks like Iâve cocked it up again :lol: but what the hell Iâll live with it.
Well my DIY jobby completed, without the aid of a safety net or having St Johnâs ambulance parked on the drive and have all ten digits fully intact, not a scratch :party:
The first brew with the newly altered kit completed, another brew will be along shortly I suspect.
But until then Iâll just have to settle for one I made earlier :
The mash tun had a plastic plate with lots of holes in it as a strainer, the boiler, well I used to bag the hops and simply stick âem in My DIY skills are somewhat limited a) by lack of skills b) my fondness of having five digits on each hand c) I like the red stuff to stay inside my skin :whistle:
However I bought some shiny copper bits and a not quite as shiny brass thingy and a tap and tailpipe which were just shiny
After much planning and rooting through the toolbox I set to..... hang on I hear :!: Barking Baz has an aversion to DIY but has a toolbox :shock: Well I do it belonged to my late father, who was quite good at woodworking and generally mending things, so I have a box with many tools inside :!: some of which I actually know what they are and what theyâre for :idea: I used to tinker with motorcycles quite a lot in my youth, anyone whoâs had a BSA Bantam or an old AJS knows how much tinkering was needed to keep âem going, even the Bonneville was regularly in bits :!: So a couple of afternoons in âThe Denâ saw a nice shiny 'manifold' manufactured :wha: it was quite straightforward actually, especially when I changed the hacksaw blade for one with teeth on the blade
In fact I changed it quite regularly when I found just how many cuts I was going to put in the pipes, Iâd noted others had problems with stuck mash and needed more slots, so did loads :idea:
It fit into the bottom of the mash tun a treat.
So 9am this morning, the boiler was on and the grains measured out, unusual for me to have a brewday on a weekend, but MrsC is newly out of hospital and laid up for the time being :sick:
Crisp Pale Ale Malt 2.950 kg
Torrefied wheat .365g
Black malt .37g
and .330g sugar to add to the boil later.
The mashing went a doddle the newly made strainer worked a treat, no sticking with a good flow, there was less dead space than I previously had as well and generally seemed more efficient, excellent result :clap:
The boiler, well this was the bit I was worried about :? all the tank connectors Iâd seen seemed to need a bit fixing on the inside to connect the hop strainer to, but on my browsing I came across this..... a âStraight adaptor extended thread, compression x BSP Parallel 15mm x ½â â :whistle:
Which was brilliant, I just needed to take off the old tap from the Buffallo and make the resultant hole a bit bigger, which I did with a gizmo which fit on the drill and filed it a bit bigger. Then fit the adaptor with the 15mm compression joint inside to attach the hop strainer to :thumb:
The bits I got from http://www.bes.co.uk/ the adaptor was part number 7786 the lever ball valve part number 9689 and the tail 14558, delivered next day, the coppery bits I got locally.
The hop strainer for the boiler was just a simple job again, but fiddly drilling all them holes :!:
But with the compression joint on the inside of the boiler once the strainer was made itâs easy to fit and take off for cleaning :thumb:
The hops were added at the start of the boil, straight in today no bag and scalded fingers trying to squeeze it at the end of the boil
Challenger 33g for 90 mins
Goldings 11g last 15 mins
Again everything went fine, no leaks and the run off at the end into the FV was a doddle, used a sieve just to catch any odd bits that got through, but there wasnât much at all :thumb:
All in all Iâm rather pleased with the results, obviously the end result will be the tasting :drink:
The OG was supposed to be 1038, but was actually 1040, so looks like Iâve cocked it up again :lol: but what the hell Iâll live with it.
Well my DIY jobby completed, without the aid of a safety net or having St Johnâs ambulance parked on the drive and have all ten digits fully intact, not a scratch :party:
The first brew with the newly altered kit completed, another brew will be along shortly I suspect.
But until then Iâll just have to settle for one I made earlier :
