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I have brewed twice for weddings, most recently for my brother and sister-in-law a month ago. I would say you already have some great advice. Definitely serve it from a keg, and take care to eliminate any sediment from it, as it will inevitably get shaken up on the journey and, as happened for...

Positioning the sensor on or in the FV serves two purposes, IMHO: 1) Any heat generated by the brew will be picked up and this will avoid the FV heating above the ambient air temperature in the 'fridge 2) It adds a bit more thermal mass to the sensor, which reduces the tendency for the...

A syphon is ideal since you want to minimise the exposure to air at this stage. If you get a syphon kit from a home brew shop they often come with a tube that has an upturned end or a cap on the end that minimises the likelihood of it picking up trubb from the bottom of the FV. I use a DIY...

The other potential issue is that often you have cooling pipes running through some or all of the shelves in the freezer compartment, so these can't be removed. You need to decide if they'll get in the way of your intended use of that compartment.

These devices are a bit of a compromise because the cooling to the 2 compartments can't be individually controlled. They are arranged that enough cooling goes to the 'fridge to do its' job while significantly more is directed at the freezer compartment, so, in a normal domestic setting, the...

Having a couple of picnic coolers cooled by peltier devices I'd say they won't make a noticeable impact on a volume as large as half a fridge. They are also quite inefficient with regard to energy use. First thing I would do is to discover why the 'fridge stopped working. If it's just a failed...

Worth disputing it over Ebay, as said. However, should that not work out, or you get a refund but the seller can't be bothered to come and collect it, all may not be lost. There's no reason why one or more of the elements shouldn't be powered from a suitably rated single phase supply. The...

Well spotted, and if it's the mechanical relay version (which sounds plausible) you probably want to remove the relay and convert it to a DC output to switch the PID, because the mechanical relay won't survive too long being driven by a PID and the noise will get on your nerves. Can you post...

Good to see some more AVR controlled brewing going on. :thumb: I made a dual PID controller based on an AVR when I went all-grain. I use the DS1820 based temperature probes potted in stainless steel tubes that you can find on Ebay (for about the cost of the bare chip!) and they've survived a...

Agreed, there should be no problem with a zero switching SSR for resistive loads, so I'd say you need to look elsewhere. Are you sure the PID doesn't output DC to drive a DC input SSR? If you're sure it's an AC output, try driving a mains light bulb from it to check that the output is doing...

Yep, You'll need to top it up with CO2 if serving at an event, most likely, so let it rest now and, if it needs more condition, just add CO2. This will give you less sediment than priming too, which will be handy if you've got to transport it.

I'd say it would get through enough gas that using CO2 would be too costly. I reckon a car tyre inflator would run it, but they are pretty crude devices and not really up to running for long periods, IME. You'd also have little control over the pumping rate. Aldi (or Lidl? can't remember) often...

Seconded. I use a G56 for my HERMS and it's stood up to mash temperatures very well so far. I don't doubt that one of those would suck wort through a cooler. You just need to find some tube that won't collapse on the inlet side! They are worth picking up when they are around for a sensible...

I've never come across a stainless steel one but I would recommend an S30 cylinder over the bulbs if you haven't already gone that route. Much more controllable and cheaper in the long run.

The day it cleans the vessels up, mops the floor and stores all the bits of brewery back in the loft afterwards I will be using one. :thumb:

Ah.. Yes, that's true, of course. Was just thinking aloud. :doh:

I also brewed this earlier in the year and it was a very nice pint indeed. I used Nottingham yeast, if memory serves. Without having the two beers side by side I wouldn't be able to say if it was authentic. If anything, mine came out slightly darker in colour and, without using the same yeast...

I haven't got any times for mine, unfortunately. You can look at it another way.. I know that, with my kettle HERMS, the full output of the kettle element is transferred to the wort when heating the mash, i.e. the water in the kettle never boils. It gets to about 10-15 degrees above the mash...

I think the other thing to consider is that you might be able to make this approach work by accepting that the HLT is going to be at a constant temperature (probably a bit higher than your mash, as you're preparing liquor for the sparge) and control the mash temperature by some other means, such...

Is it vital to have your HERMS and HLT working simultaneously, though? I use a supermarket kettle with a copper coil inside for my HERMS. The small volume of water makes it respond very quickly and it keeps a very stable mash temperature. Once the temperature is stable it's only occasionally...