Pico Brewing

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    • #460
      Bmoyer0301
      Participant

      Hey All,

      Mondays at Scotzin Bros seems to be pretty slow, and hence why I’m always using my leftover time to dream up news brewing ideas. Recently I was really hoping to start messing around with small batch brewing to test news hops and yeast etc. or even nail a 1 gallon batch to be made into a 15 gal sometime. I don’t know about most of you but when I get home at 6pm then eat then unwind its 7:30 or later and I’d like to brew but never have the time. (except for weekends when most of my brewing is done)

      So with some research I decided to come up this weekend with my new "Pico" system which is made up of a 4 gallon SS Pot and a modified 2 Gallon Cooler with false bottom. I zipped this mash tun together in about 35 mins and just did a simple press fit on all the copper fittings for the false bottom. All together it cost me about $30 worth of materials and Dremel tools to assemble this little project. I will be hopefully running my first pico batch tonight (100% Belma hopped Saison) and I’ll give you all update on how it went. If you have any questions on my assembly or sourcing materials let me know Id be glad to help!
      1010803_861481372982_972723695_n.jpg

    • #539
      OldManKaufman
      Participant

      Cool setup. Quick and easy.

      I decided to go with an 1800w inductive cookplate and a 2 gallon stainless pot to make a 1 gallon batch. I just finished drinking an Amarillo IPA made this way from extract. Now that’s fast! 2 1/2 hours from sitting down with BeerSmith to putting away the clean pot. Steeped grains, DME and dry yeast make evening brews possible when you’ve got to be back up at 5:30am.

      I also have a 2 gallon cooler that I simply used a grain bag in. It worked OK, but overall mashing, sparging, boiling wasn’t much quicker than doing a five gallon batch on my normal system. Bringing to a boil and chilling – you should see the cute little IC I have for the 2 gallon pot – went quicker.

      I think what you have is an excellent setup for making competition entries when going for a Ninkasi!
      little chill.jpg

    • #576
      Bmoyer0301
      Participant

      Dude, Tim Make me one of those mini chillers I love it !! :o :D

    • #566
      Scott Wilson
      Participant

      Brad-
      What did you use to attach the copper to the bulkhead/ spigot?
      This is similar to the set up I want to try for our rectangular cooler, any insight would be awesome!

    • #459
      OldManKaufman
      Participant

      Brad, What kind of fittings do you need and what’s the inside diameter and height of your mini kettle? I’d be happy to put one together for an SOA!

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