The Behemoth has arrived

[tubby_shaw]

I'll get my anorak

Just putting my balaclava on and I'll be right with you DaaB

[SteveD]

Drinking:Wherry Clone I (Centennial)
Conditioning: Wherry Clone II (Cascade)
Fermenting: Wherry Clone III (Chinook)

So let me guess.....you like Wherry then?

[crow_flies]

errr... you could say that.

I'm moving from SE London to Norfolk in April..... my wife thinks its to escape the rat race, but we know different

/CF

[crow_flies]

we're moving to Winterton-on-sea, just on the edge of the broads - nice village life, sea 5 minutes walk (and hopefully not getting too much closer), but still close enough to civilisation - and a marvelous freehouse selling Wherry just 2 minutes away

http://www.fishermans-return.com/

fingers crossed tightly all goes to plan.....

/CF

[steve_flack]

Now that's a northwards move I can understand, I quite fancy looking round Norfolk although a did spend an unpleasant week one February in Kings Lynn

(back in the days when Febraurys were really cold...and blustery too)

You could have an unpleasant week in KL anytime of the year. I know, I live just down the road.

[sparky Paul]

You could have an unpleasant week in KL anytime of the year. I know, I live just down the road.

You took the words out of my mouth... but I daren't say it!

[kt88man]

we're moving to Winterton-on-sea, just on the edge of the broads - nice village life, sea 5 minutes walk ...

About 11 miles, dare I say it, as the crow flies, from Woodfordes Brewery.

Just make sure you've got your woolie undies when there's a good north-easterly blowing!

Plenty of Real Ale Breweries to check out once you get settled in.

[crow_flies]

About 11 miles, dare I say it, as the crow flies, from Woodfordes Brewery.

very drole! have heard that a few times as you can imagine....

thanks for the tips... will deffo check the other breweries out, am pretty familiar with woodfordes, have been visiting the area for bout 6/7 years - already have a chalet on winterton estate - we'll be living in it for a while whist we have some work done on the place in the village - that'll be fun!

....confined space, good excuse to go to the pub i say.

/CF

[SteveD]

we're moving to Winterton-on-sea, just on the edge of the broads - nice village life, sea 5 minutes walk (and hopefully not getting too much closer), but still close enough to civilisation - and a marvelous freehouse selling Wherry just 2 minutes away

http://www.fishermans-return.com/

fingers crossed tightly all goes to plan.....

/CF

Careful.....it's perilously close to Lincolnshire; God's Boring County. The flatness is mindnumbing. The cabbages..oh, the cabbages.

[Western Brewer]

... sounds like your machinists need some Rocol cutting oil (it stinks a bit though).

As a model engineer I use that stuff and I like the smell but then again I'm weird.

my normal contact with machinists goes like this mainly " and i'm fu%$*ng telling you that the metals fine! Try buying some new cutters you tw&t "

Nothing like finding a chill spot in a cast iron cylinder just as the final cuts are being made.

[tubby_shaw]

Nothing like finding a chill spot in a cast iron cylinder just as the final cuts are being made.

Perfectly understandable, you would have every right to be annoyed and you have my sympathy
But when hundreds of parts from diferent production dates show the same fault at machining, during one machining run, off of one machining center and some foetus of a prodution engineer fresh out of college is trying to cover his arse by laying the blame on the supplier, my patience wears a little thin

[SteveD]

Now then...The 33L S/S pot arrived today except it didn't. What the silly sods sent instead was a 22L S/S insulated pot! I don't want it...but it has given me, and therefore as a collective group of brewing bretheren, us, a chance to evaluate it's suitability as a mashtun which was something I asked them about but got no reply. I'll just fill it with water adjust to strike temp, say 72c, let the pot warm up and settle to 65c, clamp on the lid, and see how it performs over a 90-120 minute period. Result!

Then I'll dry it off very carefully and repackage it so they can come and pick it up! 22L is no use to me as my current mashtun is bigger than that.
Tapping tests suggest it might have insulation material between the walls as it doesn't sound hollow. As to wether there's a vacuum as well, I don't know. If it holds heat well I'll press them for an answer as the vacuum issue is important when I come to drill holes in it. If it all checks out I'll probably get a 50L one to up-gun my mashing capacity.

The test is underway. I half filled it with boiling water and clamped the lid on to preheat it. 10 minutes later I added cold water to take it down to 66c clamped the lid back on and set the cooker timer to 2 hrs. Initial impressions: Heat escapes where the lid meets the body. Quite hot there, and I don't think the seal is the greatest, wisps of steam were escaping after I'd clamped the lid down. If it holds heat well, I'm not bothered by that as the seal can be padded out with some silicon sealer if necessary...results posted in 1.5 hrs.

That's the beastie.

[Andy]

Don't forget that you'll get better thermal retention with a mash as opposed to water alone

[SteveD]

Don't forget that you'll get better thermal retention with a mash as opposed to water alone

I won't forget...because I didn't know in the first place!

Cheers for that. Do you know what sort of difference it makes?

[Andy]

Quite a bit of difference!

http://jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopi ... olbox#6088