Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Never as easy as it looks...

I am in the process of putting together a system to brew with grain (instead of extract), which is how the big boys do it. The homebrew community is an entrepreneurial lot and there are literally hundreds of resources on the interwebs about how to build your own system on the cheap. Basically this involves buying a big picnic cooler, replacing the drain spout with a ball valve, placing some type of straining device in the cooler, attach that to the ball valve, and away you go. If you are really interested in the process in detail, here is the basic idea that I'm using.

Oh, were it that easy. Let's just say that my very good, patient friend Colin and I spent an hour at Home Depot trying to find washers that fit. I'll leave it at that. I also spent way too much time driving around trying to find the cooler I wanted before giving up, coming home, and finding EXACTLY what I wanted on Amazon in 30 seconds. Seriously. So I ordered the cooler and a propane burner (also necessary for the setup) on Saturday. I was given the option of paying $33 for 3-5 day shipping or FREE for 5-9 day shipping. I'm trying to keep costs down, gimme the FREE! Both arrived today. You do the math...

But wait, there's more. Now I have cooler and piping sprawled all over the kitchen floor because, wait for it, the parts don't fit together. I think with some shaving here and there it will all work out, but it wasn't happening before dinner. What's the lesson here kids? Its never as easy as it looks. And go for the free shipping.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

3 comments:

  1. Mama GooseApril 8, 2010 at 7:32 AM

    The other lesson? If you leave a cooler in the kitchen, your toddler will steal it. Now it lives in his room. Sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MikeApril 8, 2010 at 5:27 PM

    I forgot we have a linebacker for a son. That is not a small cooler!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Matt CrouchApril 16, 2010 at 8:02 AM

    Nice! What size cooler did you get? I got a 48qt from Target. I also spent about an hour at the hardware store trying to figure out how to get all the little parts to connect, but in the end it finally worked. Glad you stuck through, and really glad you are taking the next step in brewing! It's so much cheaper to brew beer, and it's not much harder.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)