First all grain!!!!!!!!

This is a bg step for a homebrewer…and I jumped into it today in my typical imaptient half-assed manner…but, it's on the burner as I type.

Here's some process pictures, and comments.

First picture is of the CPVC manifold I made this morning to go into my 5 gallon rubbermaid cooler I got for $4 at a yardsale

Not sure it's big enough, I got a pretty slow drain, the next picture is the manifold installed, and the second is the best the flow got. Actually, it started this way and never got any better, or any slower. Took maybe 2.5 hours to get 6.5 gallons of wort.

The stream was about pencil lead size.

Here's what 12.5 pounds of grain looks like after it's in 4 gallons of hot water.

Part of the reason for the slow drain may have been my valve, but I don't think so really

The coolest thing today is my brand new wort chiller! I made it from 50 feet of 1/2" od copper tubing and some fittings. I think it was about $52 total… my most expensive beer-making tool so far!

It's shown here after a white vinegar and water soak…at about 175 degrees. Here's the connection to the hoses.

Incidently… it's raining out,and I'm running back and forth between the brewing and the blogging! The boil is done… the wort chiller is doing it's job as I type…and has brought the temperature down to about 100 degrees in 5-6 minutes!

Here the brew is getting ready to start the boil

Here's the brew setup…sort of. The burner I'm using is actually the top stage of my three teir, but as the keggles don't have plumbing yet I didn't figure I needed the whole setup.

And, the last picture (for now) my temporary rain roof…slanted to allow any condensed liquids to drain away from the boiling wort.

So, not counting cleanup, or getting it into the fermenter (pretty simple to do that part!) it was an all day project, including making a mash tun and a wort chiller…I'm happy with that!

As this one is for the day we move my daughter & her husband into their new condo it's… New House IPA