Hooray Brew Day! Pics!

**fastricky** · 03-09-2009, 01:58 AM

I was anxious to 'get back on that horse' so to speak after I burnt a batch a few days ago and had to dump it. So I kicked out a Vanilla Porter today... went well, no unpleasant surprises, decent efficiency (80%) and is fermenting after 4 hours. Nice.

Here's some pics for those of you who brew in cramped apartments to relate to...

1. Protein rest. The towels work to keep the temp stable. Lauter water in pot next to it.

2. Mixin' the mash... love the paddle! It doubles for some interesting activities in the bedroom with SWMBO. Just jivin' ;-)

3. The brewery. (Note luxurious view).

4. Lautering away. It ain't no fancy HERMS set up, but it does the job!

**fastricky** · 03-09-2009, 01:58 AM

5. Birds-eye view.

6. A twist on the 'ol Vorlaufing... I take one of those 'gold' coffee filters and use it to filter the wort. That way I'm compacting the grain bed without having to recirculate the wort. Works really well (tho' I do have to stop to clean the filter a few times, after which I don't need it anymore).

7. OK, the wort is ready to go so the false bottom gets removed, clean 'er up and she'll be ready to roll shortly.

8. Getting close to a boil. Note my version of a hop bag waiting to get in the game.

**fastricky** · 03-09-2009, 01:59 AM

9. Sanitizing and wort chiller at the ready.

10. Yay stir plate!

11. OK, wort chiller inserted and doing its thing. Note the hop bag folds over on top of the kettle so I can easily get every bit of goodness out of it. Meanwhile I whirlpool the wort to cool faster (under 10 minutes). Aeration as a bonus.

12. Ah! One of my favorite moments!