Tour part 3 - Fittings and Cost

This isn't the best shot, but it shows the fittings I use outside the kettle & HLT. From the 1/2" coupling there's a 1/2" nipple, a 1/2" ball valve, a 1/2" to 3/8" reducer, and a 3/8" hose barb. I can easily attach 3/8" vinyl hose to this barb when I'm sparging or draining the wort.

A view of the inside of the mashtun. I have a hosebarb on the inside attached to a short piece of braided vinyl hose, which is attached to the hosebarb on the phalse bottom. The phalse bottom is ringed by a length of slit hose (the same heavy duty braided hose I use throughout). This forms a better seal to the bottom of the GOTT, and prevents the sucker from floating.

Same view, but you get to see the ball valve and hose barb on the outside of the tun. Tuns of fun.

The GOTT bulkhead was fairly easy to make with some help from the guy at the plumbing shop. It's a 1/2" nipple. Over this, on each side of the wall, I've put a couple of rubber gaskets, and then screwed on two "electrical nuts" (weird looking thin serrated nuts). On the outside there's a 1/2" ball valve, a reducer, and a 3/8" hose barb. On the inside there's a 1/2"F to 3/8" hose barb.

Here's the happy beer brewing away. I usually ferment a batch in two 23 litre carboys, and transfer to 19 litre carboys for the secondary. Since I had lots of wort for this batch, I used my bottling bucket. That's WY#1007 in the bucket - check out the karausen!

How much did it cost?

Ok, obviously going all-grain is not "free". However, you can spend a fortune on prefabricated setups, or you can spend slightly less on sophisticated homemade RIMS / HERMES systems. I wanted to go as cheap and simple as possible. You'll notice that almost a third of my cost was in the GOTT and false bottom. You can do it cheaper (especially if you're in the USA). I bought the mashtun setup a year before I got the kegs and converted them - I'd do it differently if I was buying everything at once.

In this summary I don't include things that you need for brewing all-grain, but which I had with my previous setup (thermometer, pH strips, hoses, etc). Starting with a smaller 5 gallon system let me ease into all-grain, and spread the equipment cost over a couple of years.

Here's a breakdown:

2 kegs

$18

$36

2 burners (include regulators)

$44

$88

2 propane tanks

$12

$24

Phils Phalse Bottom

$30

$30

GOTT cooler

$70

$70

3 1/2" couplings

$2

$6

2 1/2" ball valves

$4

$8

3 1/2" nipples

$1.50

$4.50

4 1/8" hose barbs

$1

$4

Other fittings etc.

$10

Welding for 3 kegs (I have one saved to turn into a mashtun later)

$50

Total:

$330.50

*Note: all prices in CDN$. At current exchange rates, the total is about $US220.

All fittings were bought at these three places: the Plumbfull Warehouse, Canadian Tire, and Home Depot. They're all brass.

Well, that's the tour. For more photos of my setup in action, check out my Brewing a Dunkel pages. Let me know what you think - sign my guestbook.

More Info

Want to see just about every all-grain home brewery on the internet? Check out this amazing site:

Jean-Sebastien and Melanie's Homebrewery Design Pages

	This isn't the best shot, but it shows the fittings I use outside the kettle & HLT. From the 1/2" coupling there's a 1/2" nipple, a 1/2" ball valve, a 1/2" to 3/8" reducer, and a 3/8" hose barb. I can easily attach 3/8" vinyl hose to this barb when I'm sparging or draining the wort.
A view of the inside of the mashtun. I have a hosebarb on the inside attached to a short piece of braided vinyl hose, which is attached to the hosebarb on the phalse bottom. The phalse bottom is ringed by a length of slit hose (the same heavy duty braided hose I use throughout). This forms a better seal to the bottom of the GOTT, and prevents the sucker from floating.
	Same view, but you get to see the ball valve and hose barb on the outside of the tun. Tuns of fun. The GOTT bulkhead was fairly easy to make with some help from the guy at the plumbing shop. It's a 1/2" nipple. Over this, on each side of the wall, I've put a couple of rubber gaskets, and then screwed on two "electrical nuts" (weird looking thin serrated nuts). On the outside there's a 1/2" ball valve, a reducer, and a 3/8" hose barb. On the inside there's a 1/2"F to 3/8" hose barb.
Here's the happy beer brewing away. I usually ferment a batch in two 23 litre carboys, and transfer to 19 litre carboys for the secondary. Since I had lots of wort for this batch, I used my bottling bucket. That's WY#1007 in the bucket - check out the karausen!

2 kegs	$18	$36
2 burners (include regulators)	$44	$88
2 propane tanks	$12	$24
Phils Phalse Bottom	$30	$30
GOTT cooler	$70	$70
3 1/2" couplings	$2	$6
2 1/2" ball valves	$4	$8
3 1/2" nipples	$1.50	$4.50
4 1/8" hose barbs	$1	$4
Other fittings etc.		$10
Welding for 3 kegs (I have one saved to turn into a mashtun later)		$50
	Total:	$330.50