BrewBrain Sports Investing

My cooler-conversion mash tun project is not going well.  I am not exactly an outstanding handyman, and I’m proving that with this “simple” project.  The main problem is that the hole left over when I removed the tap from the cooler is quite a bit larger than I expected and I’m having some difficulty getting a water tight conduit secured in the hole.  Plus, there’s a pretty deep indentation on the outside of the cooler where the ball valve attaches to the conduit.  This causes the valve to run out of room so I can’t close it completely.  By the time I’m finished, I’m sure I could have bought a fully functioning fancy pants homebrewing setup.  Ug!  I’ll be stopping by the hardware store tonight (again!!!) to pick up a couple things that may just work.  We’ll see.  I’ll post pictures if and when I get it working.

The pale ale bottles haven’t exploded yet, so that’s a good sign.  I really hope I didn’t ruin the beer during bottling.  It tasted very clean coming out of the carboy.  I don’t think I introduced a terrible amount of oxygen during the process, and I was pretty careful with sanitation.  The biggest worry is the priming sugar.  I put it in the bucket first and siphoned the beer into it, but I did not stir it in when the siphon finished.  Could I have a bunch of sugar in the first bottles filled and not much in the later ones?  I doubt it, but I really don’t know for sure.  I really just want it to taste good so I can make other people help me drink it.  I need those bottles for the next batch!