Our Final Destination
In the beginning we moved around the porch quite a bit. It's hard designing a space before you know how you will use it. This made the early days at Gratis a little tough to move around. We packed a lot of people into a small space. We also created a lot of mud. There were other things that we didn't think of like the afternoon sun and comfortable seating. All this led to our current and final location. We now have a little brew deck of to the side that is covered to help protect us from the elements. We also redisigned our cleaning area. Now we no longer have a giant mud hole in the middle of the yard. It took over 3 years to settle into our current design. We built slowly and tried to improve on our conditions with each build. I owe a lot to the other home brewers that I visited druing this time. Their designs helped inspire mine and they saved me a lot of headaches. I also appreciate gravity a lot more than I used to.
That's a really nice brewing setup you have there. I posted some photos on my blog of the keg setup I'm starting to build. Would you recommend a sight glass for the side of the keg? Do you think I can just get by with a dip stick?
ReplyDeleteHey Mad Mike. Thanks for the compliment. I went and checked out your setup and it's a great start. A dip tube isn't a bad idea. You are right about punching holes in your keg. You do run the risk of leaks. I used to use my sight tube more in the beginning. I eyeball a lot now. After you've brewed a good bit you'll have a pretty good idea where your levels are. Although I do still check it to make sure my start and finish volumes are correct. There are some great solutions for the false bottom for your Rubbermaid cooler. A lot of cooler mash setups use a braided stainless steel cable to keep the grain out when draining. It's a simple design that works great and you only need 6-8 inches to make it work, a hose clamp and something to crimp the other end. I look forward to following you blog. Have a great week!
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