Clamps: Worm Gear vs Stepless

If you get into kegging, you're going to need clamps for your liquid and gas lines.

Silly Futurama reference

You basically have two choices: worm gear or "stepless."

From left: Stepless, worm gear, and worm gear
with thumb-twist handle

Worm Gear

Indentations left in PVC line after
~1 year under tension

The worm gear might be the one you're more familiar with. This clamp loosens and tightens by turning a worm gear (similar to a screw) that engages with slots stamped out of the ribbon. These slots make it a "stepped" clamp. They come in a variety of band widths and diameters. The most common variety is adjusted using a simple slotted screwdriver, though there are some that come with a thumb-twist handle attached.

PROS

• Simple and reliable
• Easy to find
• Virtually infinite adjustability
• Reusable
• Easy to apply and remove
• Requires no special tools (or none at all for thumb-twist)

Thumb-twist clamp with handle removed

CONS

• Can damage tubing
• Can come loose over time
• Potential to rust shut or jam
• Thumb-twist handle can come off
• Thumb-twist handle might get in the way

Worm gear clamps have a lot going for them, but they're not perfect. Their re-usability comes at the expense of potentially jamming. They will also damage your hoses over time, but this is less of a concern if you have thick-walled lines.

The thumb-twist clamps are a bit more expensive but you won't need a separate tool to open or close them. The downsides are the handles might be in the way on some connections, and if the handle breaks off you'll need a small wrench or a square-drive socket to make adjustments.

Stepless (aka Oetiker) 

Stepless clamp fully open (top)
and fully tightened
using a clamping tool

The stepless clamp relies on cinching rather than a worm gear to create and hold tension. Oetiker is a common brand name, but there are many manufacturers. The clamp is tightened using a tool that resembles end nippers. These clamps come in a range of diameters, but due to their design they can only be closed so far. Each clamp has its open diameter stamped on the side, usually in millimeters. A 12.8mm (0.5") clamp, for example can be tightened to 10.3mm (0.4"). I bought an inexpensive set of stepless clamps covering a range of sizes.

PROS

• More precise tension
• No mechanism to jam
• Won't loosen over time
• Less likely to damage hoses over time

CONS

• Requires a special tool to apply
• Single use - have to destroy clamp to remove it
• Cannot be loosened after its applied
• Narrower diameter range, so you need to find the right size

The biggest knocks on stepless is they are single-use and you need a "special" tool to install. I put that in quotes since you could tighten them with a pair of end nippers or a small pair of pliers, but not many homebrewers have end nippers.

So Which Is Better? Yes!

It's hard to say one clamp is inherently better than the other. Why pick one when you can use both? I keep both types around and use the one best suited to the job.

Worm Gear for Liquid, Temporary Lines
The simple fact that worm gears can be removed makes them great for liquid lines. At some point you will need to disconnect a hose for cleaning and that's much easier to do with a worm gear clamp. This type is a no-brainer for connections you'll be taking apart again and again.

Stepless for Gas, High-Pressure Lines
Stepless clamps are super tight and won't budge, so they are great for gas lines where disassembly for cleaning isn't likely. They are also worth considering on beverage lines that are under high pressure.

Turning a 5 Gal Water Cooler into a Mash Tun

5 gallon Igloo water cooler with
KettleValve and barbed hose adapter

I've been an extract brewer from the get-go. I was perfectly content to steep specialty grains, but I wondered how steeping was different from mashing.

Mashing uses the enzymes in malted barley (its "diastatic power") to convert starch in the grains into fermentable sugars. Water and grain are held at a certain temperature (148°-158°F) for 45-90 minutes while the enzymes do their thing. Temperature and duration have significant effects on the resulting wort (e.g. higher temperature leads to less sugar) so these need to be managed carefully. Mashing also extracts color, flavor and body from the grains.

Steeping is like a crude mashing. It also extracts color, flavor and body from specialty grains, but the time and temperature are less important. The grains are steeped for at least 30 minutes at roughly 150°-170°F. These grains don't have any diastatic power, so precise temperature control is not necessary.

Mashing requires a fair amount of water. The single infusion method popular with homebrewers needs 1.25 quarts of water for every pound of grain, and that adds up quickly. Rather than try to maintain mashing temperatures in the brew kettle, some clever homebrewer got the idea of converting a cooler into a mash tun. The cooler functions like a giant thermos, holding the mash at the desired temperature.

Now, you can buy a cooler that's already been converted to a mash tun (or even a specially-made tun if you've got the scratch). But if you already have a cooler, you can make it a mash tun pretty easily by replacing the push-button spigot with a ball valve. (You don't have to replace it, but just know that you'll wear out your thumb pretty quickly trying to drain several gallons.)

The Once and Future Mash Tun

Original spigot assembly and the
indentation around the hole

I have a 5-gallon water cooler I bought at a big-box store over 10 years ago, lightly used and yet no other use for it. There are plenty of how-to guides and conversion parts out there, but interestingly, none of them used my model of cooler (Igloo 5-gallon Maxcold).

I removed the spigot by removing a plastic nut inside the cooler and sliding the assembly out. I needed an adjustable wrench to loosen the nut since it wasn't easy to grab, but otherwise it was straightforward.

The spigot assembly is made up of four parts: The spigot itself (the business end), a black rubber washer, a white plastic washer and the white nut. The spigot shank is 0.85" wide and it neatly fits the hole in the cooler. The shank isn't very long either. The horseshoe-shaped indentation around the spigot hole means the cooler wall is thin there, not much more than the inner liner and outer shell. Whatever valve I put here can't be very heavy.

Enter The KettleValve

I took the spigot to MyLHBS to see if they had anything that would fit. Fortunately, the clerk had made a mash tun cooler several years before. He took me over to one of their hardware shelves and handed me the KettleValve.

The KettleValve is what is known as a weldless valve. Rather than attach it to a welded port on the side of a brew kettle, it simply screws on through a hole that's been punched or drilled. I imagine there are many more DIY homebrewers who have a drill vs a TIG welder.

The valve isn't very big but it feels substantial. The ball valve has a 1/2" MPT (male National Pipe Thread) intake to attach a kettle screen and a 3/8" FPT (female National Pipe Thread) outlet to attach all manner of drain tubes. The valve has a built-in gasket on the intake side, so it looked like I might not need any other parts to install it. I got a 3/8" barbed hose adapter so I could connect a length of PVC hose and I was all set.

Note the gap (orange circle) left when
the valve doesn't close fully.

I unboxed the valve and gave it a once-over. Like any other ball valve, it's just a quarter turn from open to closed. The valve moves smoothly but has a subtle, satisfying pop when it's fully open or shut. I put teflon thread tape on the male end then attached it to the cooler. Easy peasy.

[Sidebar: Teflon tape is your friend. It makes loosening and tightening metal pipe connections sooo much easier. Ball valves, regulator check valves, showerheads, garden hoses ... you can find a use for it. The stuff is cheap too. Go get some.]

Remember that indentation around the hole? It's pretty deep. Deep enough that it kept the valve from closing completely. (See photo on the right) That clearly won't do. I had two options: Add some spacers on the outside to move the valve stem out, or cut a notch in the indentation to allow the handle to reach the closed position. The spacers option was the safer of the two, but where would I get them?

Black and white washers added to
KettleValve

Off of the original spigot!

I took both the black and white washers off and stacked them on the male end, then reassembled the KettleValve.

And it worked. But only just. I could only manage two complete turns on the nut that goes inside the cooler, and I doubt I can find a washer thin enough to go underneath it. Best to leave the nut finger-tight and not jostle the valve too much.

Leak Testing

Weldless valves need a tight connection to prevent leaks, but I didn't know if finger-tight was good enough, nevermind my scavenged washers. I poured in about 2 gallons of water and let it sit for an hour with the valve closed.

Not. One. Drop.

I put teflon tape on the barb adapter then screwed it in. I opened the valve and out came a nice steady stream of water. No more holding open a spring-loaded spigot for 10 minutes. Looks like this thing will work!

Brew Day

Satisfied that it wouldn't leak, I got ready for my first ever partial mash, a tweaked version of Snowzilla, my low-ABV oatmeal stout. The plan is to mash at 155°F for 60 minutes. I warmed up my strike water to 170°F and crushed my grain. I put the water in the mash tun then slowly lowered the grain bag. I used my 22" whisk to stir the grain and break up any dough balls. I dropped the thermometer probe in and it's too warm at 161°. The grain absorbs some heat, but not enough this time. I added some chilled filtered water and got it to 151°F. Too far. Crap. It would be futile to chase the temperature, as it were, so I left it.

I checked back every 15 minutes or so and gave the bag a quick dunk each time. The temperature was dropping, but barely. After 60 minutes, the temperature had dropped just 3° to 149°F. Just on that, the cooler mash tun is a success.

I opened the valve to empty the tun, then rested the grain bag in a colander on top to drain. I gave it a short sparge with warm water to get me up to 3 gallons. The mash gravity came out 1.024, for an efficiency of 55.7%. Not bad for the first go round.

Saving a Tun

Even after just one batch, I'm happy I made a mash tun. It was inexpensive to make (roughly $25 in parts - the cooler was effectively free) and it will save me some money over using all extract. Partial mash isn't much more effort than steeping grains and it gives me more control over my recipes. It also means I have more variables to work with (mash temperature, grain temperature, figuring out available diastatic power to convert other grains, etc.) which is also more things to screw up. As long as the mistakes aren't furry or acrid, I'll be fine.

The Brew Day Box

If you stick with homebrewing for more than a few batches, you'll accumulate a lot of stuff. Kettles and immersion chillers are easy enough to keep track of, but damned if the little things don't get lost at the worst times.

Over time I started keeping the small bits and bobs in cardboard boxes but never really made an effort to organize them. Then I saw a post on Homebrew Finds about putting together a brew day box. He has a well thought-out box and is great if you're starting from scratch. Mine came together organically: Most of what's in it I already had, and the contents change as I reevaluate them. The brew day box inspired me to put together a kegging box to keep keg-related tools and parts in one place, but that's another blog post. :)

My Brew Day Box

Tah-dah!

!?!?!?

Glad you asked!

The box as packed

Brew box contents

I started watching Alton Brown's Good Eats many years ago, and that got me into cooking. Along the way I acquired a lot of kitchen gadgets. Since brewing is really just a kind of cooking, many of these doodads found a new home in my brew box. 

The Box
The box is an ordinary Sterilite storage box, roughly 12" x 15" x 6" - bigger than a shoebox but very managable and actually has more room than what I need. I picked this one up for cheap at Target. I also use a small plastic tray (lower left) to keep the smaller items together.

Digital thermometer with probe

Polder digital thermometer with probe

This Polder thermometer was an early Alton Brown-inspired purchase. After 12-ish years, it's still working great. The first cable got kinked and it was sending wacky temp readings, but the replacement was inexpensive. For all the things it can do, the alert function is probably the most useful thing about it. I can set the upper alarm to just below my typical boilover temperature (234℉) so I don't have to watch it like a hawk when bringing it back up to a boil. Likewise, the lower alarm lets me know when my immersion chiller has the wort cool enough to pitch.

This particular model has been discontinued, but the Polder 362-90 has the same functions. It runs for a long time on one AA battery, but the display will fade as the battery weakens. When this thing dies, I'll spring for one with a wireless transmitter so I can monitor the boil from the comfort of my sofa.

Water measurement tools and a 250 ml glass beaker

pH meter (left)
and TDS meter

I have a digital pH meter and a total dissolved solids (TDS) meter, mainly to check my tap water and see how effective my carbon filter is. The tap-water results were in line with my city's water report, so they're accurate enough for my purposes.

I test using a 250ml glass beaker, but the beaker is also handy for other things, like dissolving clumps of PBW before washing up.

Speaking of which, I also keep a small container of Easy Clean in the box to sanitize the fermenter. The container fits neatly in the beaker. Once it's used up, I'll switch over to PBW.

Large (2") binder clip

I clamp this to the edge of my brew kettle to help keep the temperature probe away from the side. It also makes a handy tie-off for hop and grain bags.

Digital gram scale

Digital gram scale

This AWS digital scale is one of the few things I bought specifically for brewing. It's small, inexpensive (under $10) and easy to use. It measures in ounces or grams and is precise to 0.01oz (or 0.1g) which is probably overkill for most hop bills.

Max capacity is 1kg (2.2lb) and the platform is ~ 3" x 3" so this would be impractical for weighing large quantities of grain. I have a larger kitchen scale for measuring grain but it lives outside the box.

Glass dishes

Glass dishes for weighing out
hop additions

I got these online years ago after watching Alton Brown explain why mise en place (basically pre-measuring ingredients) is great for cooking. These were Eastern European military surplus and they were maybe 25¢ apiece. They are roughly 2" in diameter and hold maybe 2 fl oz of liquid or 1oz of pellet hops. I use these with the scale above to measure out hop additions. I started with 5 in the box, but I found my additions are generally spread out enough that I really only need 3. 

4-in-1 measuring spoon

I got this as a freebie. There are probably measuring spoons that work better for small amounts, but this works just fine for brewing, IMHO.

Pocket knife

I bought several of these cheap from an outdoor equipment site, expecting to lose one or two. It's a solid knife and I have yet to lose it. 

Long multipurpose butane lighter

I had the Bic multipurpose lighter around for candles and the gas grill, but it's excellent for lighting my propane burner. 

Boil additives

I keep miscellaneous additives in here too. If it goes in before the yeast, it goes in the brew box. These include:

• Whirlfloc: increases flocculation
• Campden tablets: removes choramine from tap water
• Burton salts: to adjust the water to match the Burton-on-Trent water profile
• Yeast nutrient (aka diammonium phosphate): gives the yeast a little help in high-gravity worts
• Light DME: just in case my starting gravity isn't high enough

Triple-scale hygrometer, two-piece testing cylinder and plastic turkey baster

Turkey baster

The hygrometer and cylinder are pretty obvious, but a turkey baster? Early on, I found it was the best way to get wort out of the brew bucket and into the cylinder. This Chefmate baster is inexpensive and easy to sanitize, but it doesn't take too kindly to hot wort. I pulled a sample directly from the kettle once and heard a loud crack. Despite the obvious thermal failure, the baster works just fine. There are stainless-steel versions out there as well for a few bucks more.

Writing implements

From top: fine-point Sharpie, grease pencil, ballpoint pen

You never know when you'll need to write something down. I keep a ballpoint pen, a white grease pencil (for glass and plastic) and a small fine-point Sharpie.

Rags

Let he who has not made a mess cast the first towel. The White Labs rag is actually one of those multipurpose scarf/hat/balaclava thingies I got at HomebrewCon. Red rally towel courtesy of the Washington Nationals.

All that fits

This isn't everything I use on brew day, but it's what lives in the box. Some items (22" whisk, 1gal Rubbermaid pitcher) won't fit. Some items that would fit (spray bottle of Star-San, Thermapen instant-read thermometer) get used all the time outside of brew day so there's no point keeping them there. Maybe I should just buy some specifically for the box. ;) Which leads me to ...

Things I want to add

There are a few more things I want to add to my box. A small pair of scissors would be handy. A refractometer would be awesome, since it feels like a waste to pull off 4-6oz or wort just to take a gravity reading. Another instant-read thermometer would also be great. 

What's in your box? Is there something I should add? Let me know in the comments!