I picked up one of these PH meters from amazon for $8.15 with free shipping today. I'm not sure why it's so cheap right now, but the reviews seem good enough and I like this idea better than reading paper strips!  Looks like the color of the one they ship is yellow and black which is fine.

I'll post a review after I get a chance to use it.

• Brand New and High Quality.

Excellent meter, very acurate and durable. With calibration screwdriver.
Operating Temperature: 0 - 50°C (32-122°F).
​Relative Humidity: <95%.Power: 3 x 1.5V(AG-13 button battery) (included).
Size: 15.2cm x 2.8cm x 1.5cm.

Sometimes you just need a girlfriend who will design, weld, and paint a brew stand, then surprise you with it as a Christmas present!  I know, you don't think she exists, but you're wrong. That's exactly what Megan did for her boyfriend Evan and she wrote up some details about the build which you can read below.  Oh, and by the way guys, when you come up with a logo for your Beers and Beards brewery, we gotta see it!!

"My name is Megan, a self-proclaimed beer connoisseur who lives in a tiny town in northeast Massachusetts. A few months before Christmas 2014, I started searching the internet in hopes to find the perfect gift for my boyfriend, who, at the time, was an amateur brewer. He really got into brewing after I bought him a home-brewing starter kit for his birthday in the spring of 2014.  I remembered him talking one day about wanting to invest in an outdoor BIAB rig that had a burner, a propane tank and a pulley system to pull up those heavy bags of soaked grain. At the time, I worked in a high school that had an amazing vocational/tech program (Carpentry, Automobile), and figured that, with the help of some people, I could build him the rig for Christmas. After a few days of searching, I came across the “BrewGeeks” homepage and messaged Tom to see if he could help me get started after seeing his own rendition of a BIAB rig that he had made. It was about a 3 ½ month-long process that took a lot of corresponding back and forth with Tom, but it was SO worth the time, money, and a few  bumps in the road to see my boyfriends face on Christmas. The end result turned out perfectly. I/We could not be more pleased with it."

Click the link below to check out the rest of her build.

[Read More]

Overall the brewing session went well.  I had a bit of a scare when I failed to turn the burner off completely after hitting the mash temp and accidentally left it on low. Luckily I checked after 10 minutes... and the temp was 165F!!  My first thought was to add some cold water, which I did and the temp lowered to 158F.  At this point, the kettle was about as full you ever want and still have room to stir.  I decided to leave it alone, kept the lid off, and stirred every 5 or 10 minutes throughout the mash. I also knew I had enough DME (dry malt extract) on hand to make up the difference if my pre-boil gravity was too low.

The refractometer came in very handy today because, unlike a hydrometer, it doesn't require a certain temperature to check the gravity. I took a few readings during the 60-minute mash and at the end, the pre-boil conversion was 11.2 brix which is about 1.045 which was close enough for me.  I wasn't sure exactly what the original gravity would be but decided not to add any DME. Once the wort cooled to less than 70F degrees, I dropped a hydrometer in and it read exactly 1.050!

Let's see, what else.  I posted my BIAB process a few years ago and still do everything basically the same except now I brew in the garage. This has a few key benefits which you can see in the pictures below. First, I can brew while it's raining. This might not seem like a big deal but trust me, I've brewed in the rain before and it sucks. The next thing that made life easier being inside is I have a pulley to hoist the bag! Now brewing that barleywine won't be such a huge hassle. Finally, my buddy scoundrel suggested I tap off the hot water line from the washing machine since its close to the garage. This was brilliant because we are always trying to find ways to save time and starting with 135F degree water for the mash and when adding hot water to achieve the correct pre-poil volume shaved off some serious time!

Also, during the mash I mounted a timer to the wall behind the kettle!  

Cheers,

TKnice

I checked the carboys this morning and everything looks good.  I hoped to get the temps a bit lower but probably need to remove some water from the bucket in the freezer that feeds the ferm chambers-- there's too much in there for this little college sized unit to handle.    66F degrees should be good enough though.