Mash and Boil for 250.00

[bpgreen]

Here's a picture of my mash and boil on the cart. There's a plate chiller on the cart also, but I don't have a pump for it yet.

[mashani]

Nice. I didn't go for that because it's way too tall for my purposes. I wanted something less tall.

The one I linked works good too, but you can't put the m&b quite centered on it because the switch isn't exactly in the middle. I used electric tape to bodge/mark the circle where it goes and where the spigot should point so that it gets the switch lined up with the center hole. I'll take a picture at some point. But it held it with 7 gallons of water and rolled around nicely and seemed very sturdy.

By plate cooker, you mean plate chiller I assume?

Oh, I forgot to add to my other post, the only "problem" I had were cats that were too curious. I might need to leave the lid partially on and propped up at an angle so the steam can still vent easily but to keep them from trying to jump right into the boiling pot of doom. I made cat butt ale once, but I don't really want cat ale in the sense of old world "cock ale". That would be yucky. And my daughter would be pissed.

[bpgreen]

Nice. I didn't go for that because it's way too tall for my purposes. I wanted something less tall.

The one I linked works good too, but you can't put the m&b quite centered on it because the switch isn't exactly in the middle. I used electric tape to bodge/mark the circle where it goes and where the spigot should point so that it gets the switch lined up with the center hole. I'll take a picture at some point. But it held it with 7 gallons of water and rolled around nicely and seemed very sturdy.

By plate cooker, you mean plate chiller I assume?

Oh, I forgot to add to my other post, the only "problem" I had were cats that were too curious. I might need to leave the lid partially on and propped up at an angle so the steam can still vent easily but to keep them from trying to jump right into the boiling pot of doom. I made cat butt ale once, but I don't really want cat ale in the sense of old world "cock ale". That would be yucky. And my daughter would be pissed.

I did mean plate chiller and fixed it in my post (stupid autocorrect).

I wanted something that's tall enough that I can just drain into my fermenters. This cart is adjustable, so I can change the settings if I want.

I want to do a batch tomorrow, and thought time would be tight, so I was reading through the instructions to get ready and saw ". . . press SET again as you have not entered a delayed start time."

So I added the water and started the setup, and when I got to that point, I hit the + button until it read 9 hours and then hit SET. I checked back a couple of minutes later and it said 8:59, so it's now set to start warming up tomorrow morning and should be ready shortly after I wake up. So I'll start heating the sparge water then.

I'm not sure whether I need a pump or not. I've got a pump that I used a couple of times with my immersion chiller before going back to ice slurry baths in the sink. It's a cheap pump that is actually designed for use with swamp coolers (really inexpensive air conditioners that only work where the relative humidity is usually below 10%). The last time I tried to use it, I had some leaks where I was switching hose sizes, but that shouldn't be an issue with the plate chiller since I don't need to jerry rig everything to fit garden hoses. I may be able to get some different hoses and connectors and use that for the water (recirculating an ice water slurry) and then just use gravity for the wort. For tomorrow's brew, I can just transfer the wort to my usual kettle and use the slurry in the sink, since this is a partial mash.

[mashani]

The cart I got is tall enough that I can just put one of my "mini-cooper" fermenters under the spigot and open it. No hose needed, just let it rip. They are like buckets, not hard to "hit the hole". And I want aeration anyways.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to like this thing a lot.

[bpgreen]

The cart I got is tall enough that I can just put one of my "mini-cooper" fermenters under the spigot and open it. No hose needed, just let it rip. They are like buckets, not hard to "hit the hole". And I want aeration anyways.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to like this thing a lot.

I slept in and the water was at temperature when I got up. I used 6.5 lbs of grains and 2 gallons of water and it seemed to work ok for getting a porridge consistency. I didn't have to add any from the bottom. I used one of Whamolagan's mash paddles to stir it up. I haven't really used that much before, but it's going to be getting some use un the future.

Mash is going now and sparge water is heating up.

I think somebody said that the recommended temperatures are a little high and I agree (at least if the temperature that shows on the gauge is right; I didn't check it with a thermometer where the grain is).

I don't know what I was thinking when I put my cart together. It's definitely too tall. I had to stand on a chair to stir. Fortunately, it's adjustable, so I can fix it before the next brew day. I hope it's still sturdy with the shelves at lower heights.

I'm pretty sure I'll like this a lot, also.

[berryman]

FYI, a Hydra will fit in the M&B and a some are using them on the Mash&Boil group and really like it, like everybody here that has one does. What I am going to go with instead of a plate chiller. Cooling down has been my biggest problem since switching to the M&B system. I can't put it in a ice bath like I did with my pot and my 25 ft SS is not very efficient by it self.

[mashani]

Just wait until you pull out the basket and try to sparge if you think it was too tall to stir on the cart... That's gonna be exciting.

Really a 2' tall thing to put it on is about as high as I'd ever want it. That's why I never pulled the trigger on this before, I was hoping someone would come out with a shorter/fatter version. But the only one that is like that is a 10L braumeister, and at $2000 vs $250, well... nope.

[berryman]

Just wait until you pull out the basket and try to sparge if you think it was too tall to stir on the cart... That's gonna be exciting..

And why I built a 12" high cart for mine. 12" is a good working height but you can't gravity into a fermenter.

[mashani]

Luckily with my mini-cooper fermenters, all I need is 18" of cart height to be able to gravity feed my fermenters. The base/spigot is tall enough to do the rest.

[berryman]

I really don't see a reason why it couldn't be as low as wanted while brewing and pick it straight up and put something under it for gravity into a fermenter, might need another person around and I don't usually have that. I wouldn't want to haul it around full though, and don't really want to pick it up full either.

[berryman]

I just got the rest of my fittings and more hose to finish what I wanted to do. In a couple days will try it. The manifold worked good already tried it but didn’t have enough hose.



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[Beer-lord]

Nice!

[bpgreen]

Just wait until you pull out the basket and try to sparge if you think it was too tall to stir on the cart... That's gonna be exciting..

And why I built a 12" high cart for mine. 12" is a good working height but you can't gravity into a fermenter.

I stood on a chair. I'll adjust the shelves next time.

[bpgreen]

I forgot to update on my brew day. I did a PM, with 6.5 lbs of grain and 6 lbs of LME (late addition added at flameout).

I started the mash at around 10:40 and was finished (except for transferring to the fermenter, which will have to wait until tomorrow due to my no-chill approach this batch) before 1:30. I probably could have finished earlier, but I ate lunch near the end of the mash, so ended up mashing longer than intended. It only took about 15 minutes to bring the wort to a boil after the sparge finished, but I also only had about 3.5 gallons. I read somewhere that it's best to set the temperature to 218 for the boil, even at altitude, so that's what I did, but it never read above 202, and it was a rolling boil there.

I snagged my paint strainer and put a couple of holes in it pulling it out, so that's a lesson learned. I ended up scooping most of the grains out first, then pulling the bag out. With 6.5 lbs of grain, I filled two cookie sheets and had a fair amount left over (I dry grains and add them to smoothies, etc). The rest went to the compost. I don't do much baking and don't have chickens. I do make dog treats sometimes and carry them with me on my walks. But once I go to all-grain, I'll be composting a lot more (or tossing on the lawn as a low nitrogen fertilizer).

[berryman]

Why it looks so high up on the plumbing, is because the manifold is at the very top. Most of the time will be lower, but still wanted some room to be able to look in with out disconnecting anything. I used this manifold on my last batch and worked good, trying to improve on the channeling and compaction of the grain bed.