home brew in the hot sun

[jimkramer]

I did a first test with my home brew, and it seems when I soaked the bricks, they didn't stick together (after a day) as well as when the bricks were dry. Should I still soak the bricks? I did the test when it was cooler, and it's been really hot here this week, so it seems the extra moisture would help it cure slower.

Also, can I dry premix a bucket of all the ingredients so I don't have to mix a batch every time? Or do I run the risk of getting moisture into the portland? (I had the clay and sand in my garage for a year, but they seem dry.)

[david s]

Re: home brew in the hot sun

You.can dry mix all the ingredients except the Portland, which is best added fresh. That's what I do and it works well, but you have to calculate exactly how much to add for a given volume of premixed.i keep it in plastic bags in batch quantities.

[Tscarborough]

Re: home brew in the hot sun

You should not soak the bricks, ever. Under very dry and windy conditions, you should wet the brick, but at a maximum they need to be saturated surface dry, i.e. not so wet that the water forms a film on the surface.

[broschb]

Re: home brew in the hot sun

I have just been mixing the hombrew as i need it, i just have a cup i use to quickly measure. I mix enough at a time to do 4-5 bricks. Has worked well so far. I have found that having the brick moist helps, but have laid some in the earlier courses dry. When they are dry they really pull the moisture out of the bricks. I usually just throw them in a wheelbarrow of water while i mix the brew, then pull them out and lay them, has worked well so far and all my bricks bond, and resist gravity

[Tscarborough]

Re: home brew in the hot sun

They are supposed to pull moisture out of the mortar, if they do not, it is an issue.

[GIANLUCA]

Re: home brew in the hot sun

I just completed my build and for the whole project I mixed it each time with a coffee can as my cup also I kept all the ingredients in my cool dry basement no issues at all and it was a 100 degree at least every day of the build.

I dipped each brick in water for a second b4 I applied cement all my bricks stuck perfect even up to the last chain. My father taught me a mason's trick when you mix of your mortar and it sticks to the trowel that's a good consistancy