If you’re basically replacing parts on a keg every other time you use it anyway, then I might as well just buy it used, so there’s one bit out of the way!

As for the chore boy - yeah, that’s *exactly* my plan. In fact, the chore boys are already stacked up on a shelf in the brewery. We had the problem you describe, though, with the wasted wort, and that is not just a PITA - it’s just absolutely unacceptable to me (I guess I’m just anal retentive that way). I need to find some solution for it. Maybe I’ll start by just getting the tube down really low and seeing what I can do. I wonder if anyone has done anything to try to isolate the break material using some form of barrier and then pulling the wort from all around the barrier. Kinda like putting a circular wall at the bottom of the boiler, about 2″ high, and then using a plain old slotted copper, circular false bottom around it or something.

The QD’s are going to help so much. A couple of years ago I could *never* find ones that were rated for 212F. I only ordered a male and female 3/8″ pair, because at those prices I can’t afford to just order and pray that they fit. I bought a valve once that said “3/8″ on it, and it *didn’t* fit, so now I’m all paranoid about it

Thanks a lot for posting!
brian.

my pickup in my boil kettle is close to what you describe, it’s a copper “L” shape that sits about 3/8″ off the bottom of the keg, and I use a copper “chore boy” scrubber for a filter. I take a SS screw clamp and shove a few of the wires from the scrubby to attach it to the 1/2″ copper pipe. however, I still have issues with a fair amount of wasted wort, a gallon or so, since pumping it through a pile of hops (I usually only use whole hops) the wort doesn’t strain through fast enough to keep my pump from sucking air. this may be less of an issue if you’re gravity feeding, but it is somewhat of a PITA.

I have two digital temp controllers (the Ranco one, get it at Grainger unwired for about $60 new), I use them to control my chest freezers in my garage. I keep them at 42ºF year round (I use a small heater in the Minnesota winters), it works great. absolutely no reason you couldn’t keep it any temp you want. one issue that arises though, most temp controllers can be used for both heating and cooling, but there’s no middle ground, it will switch back and forth from one to the other. so, I just pick a time in the fall and the spring to switch between heating and cooling. I’m pretty sure that Johson Controls and Ranco make a dual stage thermostats (so you could have a 5 degree region where neither heating nor cooling happens) but these are more than twice as expensive as the single stage thermostats.

I’d skip moving to copper tubing instead of plastic, simply because it’s more crap you have to take apart when it’s time to clean. but, I love having a pump, since it lets me have everything on two tiers instead of some 9 foot tall gravity fed monster. the idea of 14 gallons of 180º water above my head doesn’t make me very comfortable…

kegging is’t that tough, and reconditioning used kegs is pretty easy. basically, you’ll need to replace all the small o-rings on the posts and the dip tubes, and a good PBW soak will take care of everything else. I buy o-rings from McMaster-Carr by the hundreds, and basically swap them out every other time I disassemble my kegs, which is every time I fill them up.

hope this helps, and good luck! if you have any followup questions, hit me up at the realbeer.com forum…

danno (St. Paul, MN)

We figured out there was no way in hell that batch would be any good, but as you’ve tasted, the Maibock is actually pretty good. Granted, there’s a bit of chill haze from all the crap that made it into the fermenter, but considering all of our brew-day issues, it was a pleasant suprise.

And of course, if the batch does go hideously bad, you at least have the experience to identify a hideously bad batch in the future - not to mention and even funnier story when you look back at it 5 years from now.