How to brew your own beer - The All Grain method
- Thread starter PaulStat
- Start date
Associate
Yes, we've got the Buffalo 40l. Brilliant boiler and plenty of room for a full 5 gallon brew length.
Soldato
I can get the 40l one, it's a bit dearer at £79.99+vat from nisbets but i can get round the VAt by getting work to order it for me.
Associate
The only problem with the older style Buffalo boilers is that when the element eventually burns out, they apparently don't make that element anymore.
However, if it's used with liquid in it should see you many years of use. Put it this way, our first use of our boiler is on page 4 of this thread, three years ago, and I'm sure we're certainly over 50 brews down the line.
However, if it's used with liquid in it should see you many years of use. Put it this way, our first use of our boiler is on page 4 of this thread, three years ago, and I'm sure we're certainly over 50 brews down the line.
Associate
£79.99 + VAT + Delivery + Tap + Hop filter is a really good price, it will pay for it's self in money and hastle over time. I would be happy to pay up to £200 for a decent boiler if it suited my set up.
I'm using an old Brewpac 25L boiler which I bought second hand in the 1990's, the label at the control eventually fell off to reveal it's a converted jam boiler, it's the older version of the one that comes up for sale at Lidl from time to time.
I'm using an old Brewpac 25L boiler which I bought second hand in the 1990's, the label at the control eventually fell off to reveal it's a converted jam boiler, it's the older version of the one that comes up for sale at Lidl from time to time.
Associate
First time I've bought from Groupon - Mixed cases of beer. I got 30 lagers for £34.99 worth a shot to expand your beer venture and German bottles tend to be stronger you can check them by weighing them the ones over 350g are used for high carbed beers or recycling and are good for homebrew, most wheat beer bottles are the stronger type.
Soldato
Well i'm ordering it through work tomorrow morning which means i should avoid the VAT, plus it's free delivery too. What do you mean tap + hop filter? Where shall i look for one of those?
@seabiscuit
It's a brand new boiler, what do you mean older style?
Associate
You need some sort of filter to separate the hops from the wort after boiling, you may get a hop filter that will fit the tap on the boiler but the tap in the link is a better option.
You can use a hop sock so you do not need a filter but the hop bed makes a natural filter which holds back some of the break material.
Break material is protein and other matter forced in to a solid by boiling and rapid cooling. Called hot break & cold break.
Associate
Looking at Nisbets site the other day when you linked the 30l, there looked to be 2 different designs listed, but I can only see one listed now. Probably my mistake, or they had them listed full price and offer but with slightly different photos.
Soldato
I'm so annoyed, went to order the 40l buffalo this morning and it's gone back up to £140+vat 
Back to the drawing board i go.
Back to the drawing board i go.
Associate
Keep you eye on ebay, the one from nesbits will have been a return they come up from time to time I think someone posted it on one of the homebrew forums last night.
You can get one on ebay delivered for £129.00 with a VAT invoice. See if this is the same one.
You can get one on ebay delivered for £129.00 with a VAT invoice. See if this is the same one.
Associate
They put them on offer fairly regularly, so it's worth keeping checking their site. I'm waiting/hoping that either Aldi or Lidl will have their "Jam Maker" again to use as a HLT.
Soldato
Soldato
Speaking of the homebrew forums, i tried joining Jims the other day and i still never received my activation email, and i resent it too
Soldato
Well i was on facebook yesterday when i spotted a nisbets advert showing the bufallo boiler so i clicked out on interest and it's back on offer again, needless to say, i ordered it pretty sharpish and it should be here today or tomorrow. I'm going to see if i can mod it with some bits i bought yesterday (flexible hose for filtration and a new ball valve tap.)
How do i go about modding the thermostat so that i can keep a consistant rolling boil?
Next i need to think about my sparging method, someone suggested a shower head to me, but how would i feed it? Or what about one of those pressure bottle sprayers, would that work?
How do i go about modding the thermostat so that i can keep a consistant rolling boil?
Next i need to think about my sparging method, someone suggested a shower head to me, but how would i feed it? Or what about one of those pressure bottle sprayers, would that work?
There are essentially two things that can be changed:
1 - The one shot fuses that blow at a certain temperature can be replaced with ones that are higher rated, I got mine from the Bay (item 300604641346).
2- The thermal cutout switch that resets once the temperature has dropped a bit again (apparently some people have more issues than others due to poor placement of this or dirty connections causing higher heat near it). They are dirt cheap to replace as well (search the rain forest for "2 Pcs KSD301 140 Celsius Normal Closed Ceramic Thermostat Switch")
EDIT: Check this is the same on the newer model they have just changed to!
You also want to insulate the boiler to help maintain mash temperature and help with attaining a boil and keeping it, there are a number of way of doing it but i chose to do it with a foil backed camping mat (Bay item 201138049715) for a neat looking solution (I also ordered some heavy duty velcro strips, VEL60239, but have not attached them yet but they will hopefully work well once cured and not just come off with the heat).
I also just bought a punch bag hook (Bay item 281591029443) and ratchet pulleys (Bay item 321645609840) to hook up in my garage to enable me to drain the bag really easily (the ratchet pulley means that if you are BIAB'ing you can slowly lift the bag to drain and avoid the suction issues you may get from having a urn that is relatively tall compared to its width).
Oh and a stainless steel ruler is always good to measure the headspace, using BIABacus or similar you can then work out the volume of liquid in the urn at any time.
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Soldato
I don'tt hink i'm going to BIAB but i may change my mind yet. I've researched the boiler and have found the 2 pieces i need to change, one is the thermal fuse, and the other is the temp control thermostat. I'm going to change the tap to a ball valve tap, and inside i'm going to use a compression hose (with rubber stripped out) as a filter so i can do without a bag. For Sparging, i've read some tin foil over the top of the mash with small holes in will be good enough.
My boiler arrived today bu ti haven't had chance to play yet, nor will i till sometime next week now, but i'll be sure to post a pic of the innards to see if it's similar to the older model.
Now i need to look for a fermenting bin, i think i'm having a wort chiller donated from work, then it's only small bits and ingredients i need before i can start brewing
. I'll say i'll be doing my first brew in the next 4 weeks hopefully.
That's what i have so far.
My boiler arrived today bu ti haven't had chance to play yet, nor will i till sometime next week now, but i'll be sure to post a pic of the innards to see if it's similar to the older model.
Now i need to look for a fermenting bin, i think i'm having a wort chiller donated from work, then it's only small bits and ingredients i need before i can start brewing
. I'll say i'll be doing my first brew in the next 4 weeks hopefully.
That's what i have so far.
cooler buckets used for picnics are good for steeping as they don't loose much heat.
More complicated is to cycle the liquid in a larger vessel and then heat it if required whilst it's being recirculated. A large old shower head works for sparging, or, a rotating copper pipe with holes.
More complicated is to cycle the liquid in a larger vessel and then heat it if required whilst it's being recirculated. A large old shower head works for sparging, or, a rotating copper pipe with holes.