Wort-O-Matic: the best gadgets, the best how-to

Wort Cooling 201

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Wort Cooling 201 by Jim Wilson, BJCP Grand Master

My ale brewing evolved from three gallon extract batches in the kitchen to 11 gallon all grain batches in the garage. The process has been kept simple so I can enjoy it. Wort and beer movements are minimized and are mostly powered by gravity or CO2. Cold side temperature control does have room for improvement as some styles can only be brewed well in cool weather.
Last year, I did the taste workshop for some Fear No Beer members who were preparing for the BJCP exam. We met in Mark Cherney’s Mission Viejo garage which houses more beer stuff than mine does. I spotted a small blue cube connected by two hoses to a water filled tub. Mark explained that the blue cube was an aquarium chiller used for fermentation temperature control (FTC). Wow! That’s pretty clever and the light over my head switched on...

Knews Hound Builds the Beast

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Not one to take the easy way out, News Hound builds his own refridgerator! I am a long time homebrewer and have always strived to produce the very best product that I can, given the variables inherent in any hobby that involves nature and science. One of the most difficult to control and most important to the finished product is temperature. Keeping close control of the fermentation process yields big rewards in consistency, clarity, finish and flavor profile.

Heated Keg and Carboy Cleaner

Fri, 7 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Here is a project that was inspired by Doc at The Brewing Network. It was discussed in one of their first episodes when Justin mentioned how Doc had a great system to clean his kegs and carboys. Doc gave a brief explanation about how he used a submersible pump to recirculate cleaning solution through all the keg’s orifices. There is a main spray head that cleans the keg or carboy, and there are also lines that feed cleaning solution through the gas in and beverage out dip tubes. Once I heard about this it went to the top of my priority list.

Custom Draft Tower and Kegerator

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Eric took dispensing matters into his own hands and built his own draft towers on a custom kegerator with fan-cooled four-inch inch PVC pipe!

The Mother of All Fermentation Chillers

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Mylo returns with a kick-ass carboy/fermentation chiller that makes use of the cooling-power of his existing freezer.

Carl's Electric HLT

Thu, 1 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Building an electric hot liquor tank in a converted 15 gallon sanke keg. Carl built in a sight tube, HERMS coil and thermowell. Here is how...

Useful Keg Dimensions

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

What sizes of keg is draft beer available in? These keg dimensions will help you determine what size refrigerator you will need to create a home kegerator or other homebrew project.

Baltobrewer's Electric Stand

Tue, 8 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Baltobrewer's New Brew Stand or "How I Went All Electric And Managed To Not Kill Myself"

Ball Lock Bev Out Cleaner

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Cleaning your beverage outs gets a lot faster with this awesome little gadget from Brewin with Herb!

Building a Basic Stirplate for Yeast Suspension

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Using a stirplate keeps the yeast in your starter not only constantly suspended, but provides constant aeration as well. Erik Beer shows you how to build one.

Remote Sensing DIY Controller for Less Than $25

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

After building a Son of a Fermentation Chiller and using it for a while. I found a few problems. So I redesigned the controller to use a digital remote sensing thermostat for under $25.

Herb's No-Fuss Bottle-Filler

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Herb Adams keeps things around 'just-in-case'. He was glad he held onto this piece of stainless steel tubing when he wanted to fill bottles of all sizes right off his taps.

MyloFiore's Jamil-O-Chiller

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

A step-by-set of how Mylo created his 50' copper wort chiller with a whirlpool return for incredible cooling power. Based on Jamil Zainasheff's design.

38DD Mother of a Fermentation Chiller

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

I redesigned the Son of a Fermentation Chiller to hold two 7½ gallon carboys and two ½ gallon growlers for my blow off tubes.

Welcome to Wortomatic!

Sun, 1 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0000

After years of maintaining beer pages within our family-centric website the time has come to spin off a domain solely for homebrewing and craftbeer content.

The Binford 6100 Wort-O-Matic

Sat, 17 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0000

After building the Electric Hot Liquor Tank I realized clamping a temperature controller to my brewstand and having wire nuts next to 180°F water was stupid.

The Electric HLT (or how I built a water heater in a cooler)

Sun, 7 May 2006 00:00:00 +0000

The Liquid Level Doctor

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Boy are we homebrewers lazy! After a lengthy search and considerations of a mechanical float switch to turn the pump on and off, I found this liquid level control board from National Controls...

Push Eject's Brewstand 2003

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 00:00:00 +0000

A pictorial of the making of my first all-grain stand. Completed in March of 2003 by a good friend in exchange for, what else, beer.