Brewing Kit

[Worzel]

I'm new to the forum, but I've had great fun reading the different topics.
Thought I'd put a picture on of my brewing equipment. Would love to see other people's setups.



The boiler bottom left of the picture doubles as my mash tun and boiler. I got this free from a farmer who wasn't using it, it needed a bit of a clean up though. The shiny boiler was a birthday present which gets used to heat the sparge water.

[Frothy]

She's very nice. Been thinking of using a boiler as both - do you use a slotted bottom? Is it any good for filtering hops too?

Frothy

[prodigal2]

Worzel

Nice setup there, lots of fruit juice knocking around does that mean your part of the Turbo cider fanclub?

do you do any 10gal batches? as it looks like you have a 50l FV in that picture. I also note it looks like your a hybrid brewer using both gas and electric.

[Worzel]

The boiler uses electric, although she takes ages to get heated up, it's quite a small element. I've been considering using gas but haven't got round to it yet.



I'm not good at filtering off the wort, I just open the tap a small way. I'm in the process of making a filter to sit at the bottom out of copper pipes. I'll post a picture when I've finished.

[Worzel]

The boiler holds about 10 gal. After all the grain is added I can only get about 7.5 gal of water in. It usually makes between 55-60 bottles each time.

[tubby_shaw]

Nice set up worzel
I wish I had that much free space to brew in in my garage
But I haven't 'cos it's full of fishing tackle
BTW from what I have been reading during my research into FAN ( thanks DaaB ) don't get too hung up on filtering out all the trub. It is apparently beneficial to the yeast especially the cold break material.

[Andy]

I was going to ask if that's a galvanized boiler.....

I've read reports that you can get an "interesting" flavour profile by using galvanized kit.

[Worzel]

I'll put the gas conversion on hold!
Thanks

[prodigal2]

If thats a galvanised boiler I would avoid using a flame on it, it can give off nasty fumes (possibly cyanide but I cant remember for sure). You could fit an extra elecy element like a lot of us here do.

Cheers for that DaaB, I didnt know that, as a kid we had a galv boiler on gas for cooking tripes for the dogs. I think that may explain a lot of things

[sparky Paul]

If thats a galvanised boiler I would avoid using a flame on it, it can give off nasty fumes

Heating galv is a definite no-no, I've felt the effects from welding it... Galvanised steel gives off zinc oxide when heated, this causes 'zinc flu', this can make you feel very poorly indeed...

Older galvanising also contains lead too (banned now), as well as traces of other heavy metals.

Incidentally, OH keeps ferrets* and galvanised weld mesh is not used for boxes as they tend to chew it - and it makes them ill. While zinc is not considered as a particularly toxic metal, I reckon the old galvanised washing boilers should really be avoided.

If you're concerned about the zinc, one possibility would be to remove the element and fittings, line the vessel with fibreglass, and replace the bits...


* ...Standing by for northern jokes...