IowaHomeBrewer
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2015
- Messages
- 58
- Reaction score
- 12
Long time lurker here, just recently signed up. Thought I'd say hello and introduce myself.
I started brewing about 5 years ago with a neighbor. He bought the equipment and I would buy the ingredients.
Moved away and took a few years off, but my wife bought me one of the starter kits and I delved right back into it.
About 6 months later I started all grain brewing with 2 7 gallon coleman coolers and a 10 gallon kettle. These Iowa winters are cold, so about 2 months ago I started building my basement brewery and am going all electric.
After a lot of research, my mission was to cut down brew day time investment and simplify the process as much as possible while maintaining control over the ingredients.
I looked over the options, and for the money I felt like the High Gravity BIAB system was a pretty good way to go. I priced out purchasing components and building things myself, but it would not have saved me much money. I read a thread on here indicating they used cheap parts and was prone to failure alot, but those were all pretty dated. By the time I ordered mine they had already started making them with the temperature probe in the base of the kettle instead of where the wart was pumped back into the kettle.
So here is my set-up. All ready to stay nice and warm inside when the winter comes.
At first I had just a single pulley, but man those grains are crazy heavy and on my first batch with this system I made a huge mess. Changed it up a little bit and used a 4 pulley system. Nice and light now, and much easier to let it drain. Once it has dripped enough I move my kettle over and let it fall down onto a rubber mat.
Ventilation was a pain. At first I was using the same vent as my dyer to go outside, but when the dryer was on it just blew the hot air out of my fan. And when I was brewing it just blew all the steam into the dryer. I cut some plywood to fit my window and I just pop it in the window frame and hold it in place with 2x4s and a bracket.
And I can't stand how long it takes to bottle, so it all goes right to kegs.
Next step is to get a grain mill and stock up on the grains my recipes use.
I started brewing about 5 years ago with a neighbor. He bought the equipment and I would buy the ingredients.
Moved away and took a few years off, but my wife bought me one of the starter kits and I delved right back into it.
About 6 months later I started all grain brewing with 2 7 gallon coleman coolers and a 10 gallon kettle. These Iowa winters are cold, so about 2 months ago I started building my basement brewery and am going all electric.
After a lot of research, my mission was to cut down brew day time investment and simplify the process as much as possible while maintaining control over the ingredients.
I looked over the options, and for the money I felt like the High Gravity BIAB system was a pretty good way to go. I priced out purchasing components and building things myself, but it would not have saved me much money. I read a thread on here indicating they used cheap parts and was prone to failure alot, but those were all pretty dated. By the time I ordered mine they had already started making them with the temperature probe in the base of the kettle instead of where the wart was pumped back into the kettle.
So here is my set-up. All ready to stay nice and warm inside when the winter comes.
At first I had just a single pulley, but man those grains are crazy heavy and on my first batch with this system I made a huge mess. Changed it up a little bit and used a 4 pulley system. Nice and light now, and much easier to let it drain. Once it has dripped enough I move my kettle over and let it fall down onto a rubber mat.
Ventilation was a pain. At first I was using the same vent as my dyer to go outside, but when the dryer was on it just blew the hot air out of my fan. And when I was brewing it just blew all the steam into the dryer. I cut some plywood to fit my window and I just pop it in the window frame and hold it in place with 2x4s and a bracket.
And I can't stand how long it takes to bottle, so it all goes right to kegs.
Next step is to get a grain mill and stock up on the grains my recipes use.
