Very nice setup! I like the double ganged CFC’s too. Perfect for Florida. Can you elaborate on that for the benefit of people in warmer climates such as yourself?
[quote=“El Capitan”]Yeah, that’s really sweet! I enjoyed watching your hoses grow as the batch went on.
I didn’t see a true exhaust fan - do you just brew with the door open, and use that overhead fan to blow out the door?
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Hehe - yeah at the end it sort of looks like an octopus!
I dont have an exhaust hood or fan currently but that was in the original plan. If I figure out that I will be staying in this house longer term, I may try and AC the garage at which point I will def need to install the hood and fan. Right now I brew with the back door to my yard and the garage door open with a fan going gently above the boil and everything seems to be just fine.
Thanks Greg - I believe I got the idea originally from your setup.
Anyhow, with the groundwater here ranging from 75-80df it is difficult to get wort to pitching temps using just hose water. And using straight ice water right away is costly and arduous. When I was using my keggle system with an IC I used hose water to get the wort down to 100df and then I switched to a sump pump with recirculating ice water to get me down to pitching temps.
I applied the same concept here but I wanted to be able to go directly from kettle to fermenter if I was doing a brew that I did not want to whirlpool (and hence recirc the wort through one single CFC until my temp was reached). So I have the wort run through the first CFC with hose water then the wort runs directly to the second which I am recirc pumping ice water from the HLT to knock it down the rest if the way.
Hope that helps - let me know of any questions.
Cheers!
Wow! That’s impressive, Paul!
Really cool to see such a nice setup.
Jealous! I’m going electric when/if I ever build a new house. Being in Florida, what do you use for your water? Every trip I’ve made to Florida the water, well wasn’t the best. Wondered if you had your own RO system. You wouldn’t know what your mill gap is do ya? Do you condition your grain? I keep opening my mill up, but the husks are not as intact as yours. Really nice, I’m going to make me a few conicals. I can’t wait for those. :cheers:
thanks- I actually bought and put this system together for a house I was building - had a huge SS hood and vent fan, with RO water piped in to a pot filler over the HLT, but unfortunately, my situation changed, so i installed it in my current home.
for water, the grocery store down the street, Publix, has an RO water filler - I bring 4 plastic carboys and fill them up and use that for my water. my tap water (city, not well) is actually pretty good to use, but once i got into water chemistry, I started wanting to build up from nothing, so to speak.
as for my mill - I have it set at the factory settings for a Monster Mill, which I think is 0.039" but I will check with a feeler gauge when I get home.
I don’t condition my grain - I found it to be an additional, aggravating, unnecessary step so I stopped doing it a while back. The crush does look better when its conditioned, but I just didn’t see any other benefit other than aesthetics.
thanks- I actually bought and put this system together for a house I was building - had a huge SS hood and vent fan, with RO water piped in to a pot filler over the HLT, but unfortunately, my situation changed, so i installed it in my current home.
Situation changes stink!
for water, the grocery store down the street, Publix, has an RO water filler - I bring 4 plastic carboys and fill them up and use that for my water. my tap water (city, not well) is actually pretty good to use, but once i got into water chemistry, I started wanting to build up from nothing, so to speak.
An RO system is i my future at some point. I’ve been wondering how often the grocery services their filter. I’ve been paying too much for my water at $.89 per gallon. I get 50 gallons delivered at that though.
as for my mill - I have it set at the factory settings for a Monster Mill, which I think is 0.039" but I will check with a feeler gauge when I get home.
I have the MM-3 and chocked it down because of some efficiency issues that ended up being more process than crush. :oops:
I don’t condition my grain - I found it to be an additional, aggravating, unnecessary step so I stopped doing it a while back. The crush does look better when its conditioned, but I just didn’t see any other benefit other than aesthetics.
I couldn’t agree more. Brew days are long enough, so I quit too. It did help with keeping the husk in tact though. Thanks for the information. I think I would really like electric. I’m currently using HERMS/NG. Thanks again
