My brew-stand

This is it! Dusselforf Altbier. Oxygenated with pure O2, 3Liters of 1007 German Ale yeast starter has been pitched and it is in the fermentation chamber at 65 degrees F.


This is the calculator that figured the efficiency of the brewery. WOW... is all I can say! I am honestly very surprised. And, I did not taste any tannins at all!

Modification
After being informed by an Altbier Guru, I have bumped the ferm temp down to 56*f. Hope I am not too late. I already have krausen forming on top...

Drumroll please... First Batch on the new brewery / First AG Batch / First Competition results as follows:








Well... With VERY much surprise, I accepted the First place award for German Altbier category in The O'Zapft Is! German Homebrew Competition. There were 109 entries total from several different States and the Altbier category was the largest of all the categories. Thanks to my LHBS Owner, Stubby for the help with the recipe! I brought home this EXCELENT medal and HUGE boot - as well as a good dose of Confidence that I am heading the right direction and listening to some GREAT advice from seasoned and experienced brewers and putting it to practice.

Congratulations! I've always enjoyed that style.... Ein Prosit!

Thats great man, congrats!

Great job! That's got to feel good.

Congrats! That's AWESOME!

Junkster said:

Congratulations! I've always enjoyed that style.... Ein Prosit!

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NewBrewB said:

Thats great man, congrats!

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StainlessBrewing said:

Great job! That's got to feel good.

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Yes. It does feel great! Thanks for the kind words guys. Hope this is the first of MANY successful competitions...

I just realized that I started cutting wood and building my brewery on April 1st. I posted the 1st place on October 1st. Full circle in 6 months... That was a BUSY 6 months! Where did the time go?

Congrats Huaco! It's a lot of work putting one of these systems together from start to finish - 6 months is much better than where I'm at, but I'm getting there too. Glad to hear that your first AG grain was so successful. Keep the updates coming!

Fantastic work. This is an example of why I put in 60amps of 220 for my brewing station when building the garage, despite being a gas brewer...just in case Well done!

Congrats from the guy who got third in that category this year!

[trash talk]
Consider yourself lucky I entered the last bottles of a 10 gallon batch that was 6 months old and got left out in my 95 deg garage for 3 days because I was sick and not thinking at the time. It scored a 43 earlier this year. Just got my scores today, btw.
[/trash talk]

Seriously, awesome job on the rig, that is beautiful, and congrats on the win!

Cheers!
Brewmech

wow!
good to hear from some competition. apparently we were in a lot of company in that category. funny how a young beer and an old beer both placed.

/trash talk
excuses, excuses, excuses...
end trash talk/

I got my score sheets today as well. score was lower than I thought it wouldbe. was doc'd on both sheets for slightly low carbonation.

maybe we will cross paths and more competitions sometime. Keep up the good work! and congratulations on your placing.

Huaco said:

wow!
good to hear from some competition. apparently we were in a lot of company in that category. funny how a young beer and an old beer both placed.

/trash talk
excuses, excuses, excuses...
end trash talk/

I got my score sheets today as well. score was lower than I thought it wouldbe. was doc'd on both sheets for slightly low carbonation.

maybe we will cross paths and more competitions sometime. Keep up the good work! and congratulations on your placing.

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Any ideas how many entries there were?

FWIW, the high score was 36, low 32 and considering the age and what I was tasting that is about right. It was beautiful a few months ago.

Now that your rig is done you can practice more so you can keep on beating me!

Brewmech said:

Any ideas how many entries there were?

FWIW, the high score was 36, low 32 and considering the age and what I was tasting that is about right. It was beautiful a few months ago.

Now that your rig is done you can practice more so you can keep on beating me!

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I believe there were 14 or 15 entries in the Altbier category.
The top three must have been REAL tight judging. I had a 36 and 34. Makes me wonder what the 2nd place score was! Wow, that is tight.

BTW, What was your entry number? I picked up as many of the Altbier leftovers as I could last night. Maybe I can hoist a pint of your Altbier if I was so fortunate to have picked up your number.

I am brewing an American Pale Ale this weekend. Want to compete? haha!

Also, how did you hear about the O'zapft contest if you live in Florida?

fall-line said:

Fantastic work. This is an example of why I put in 60amps of 220 for my brewing station when building the garage, despite being a gas brewer...just in case Well done!

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Thanks!

What are you planning to do with the 60 Amp service? There is a BIG price difference from 50 Amp to 60 Amp rated equipment. 60A is SERIOUSLY high price (from what I have seen) Heck, 50 Amp is high enough price!!!

Huaco said:

I believe there were 14 or 15 entries in the Altbier category.
The top three must have been REAL tight judging. I had a 36 and 34. Makes me wonder what the 2nd place score was! Wow, that is tight.

BTW, What was your entry number? I picked up as many of the Altbier leftovers as I could last night. Maybe I can hoist a pint of your Altbier if I was so fortunate to have picked up your number.

I am brewing an American Pale Ale this weekend. Want to compete? haha!

Also, how did you hear about the O'zapft contest if you live in Florida?

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Entry number was 11988. 2nd had to be 35/34.

My entry almost didn't get there either. I had to send the entry while Hurricane Debbie was making it's way towards the coast.

I believe it was listed on the AHA competition calendar. One of the guys in my competition team sent me the link since I have been concentrating on my duss alt. What better way to get feedback on a German beer than to put it in a German beer only comp.

My club is only a couple years old and we started a sub group which is the competition team. It's an invite only team that focuses on a few beers that we brew over and over and send to comps/taste each others and give as much honest unbiased feedback as we can. If you can't handle criticism about your beer then you don't belong. The goal is to win medals for the club, specifically from the Florida Circuit and NHC, but we will enter a few others as well, like Malt Madness in Pennsylvania and the Upper Mississippi Mashout (I'll be entering an altbier in that if you want to try again). We also aim to improve the overall perception of the club in the Tampa area to gain membership and improve the overall beer quality. We also are mentors for new brewers. The idea came about after we had a club meeting where some 20 beers were shared and only about 3 were drinkable. Since we started back in April we started a member only quarterly competition so members can get feedback on a style and win a cool trophy. I'd say it's working because the beer quality at the general club meetings is getting better, and we are winning more medals personally. We had 0 for the club to start and I think we are up to about 15 so far this year with one more big comp to go.

Probably more than you wanted to know!

Cheers!
Brewmech

Brewmech said:

Entry number was 11988. 2nd had to be 35/34.

My entry almost didn't get there either. I had to send the entry while Hurricane Debbie was making it's way towards the coast.

I believe it was listed on the AHA competition calendar. One of the guys in my competition team sent me the link since I have been concentrating on my duss alt. What better way to get feedback on a German beer than to put it in a German beer only comp.

My club is only a couple years old and we started a sub group which is the competition team. It's an invite only team that focuses on a few beers that we brew over and over and send to comps/taste each others and give as much honest unbiased feedback as we can. If you can't handle criticism about your beer then you don't belong. The goal is to win medals for the club, specifically from the Florida Circuit and NHC, but we will enter a few others as well, like Malt Madness in Pennsylvania and the Upper Mississippi Mashout (I'll be entering an altbier in that if you want to try again). We also aim to improve the overall perception of the club in the Tampa area to gain membership and improve the overall beer quality. We also are mentors for new brewers. The idea came about after we had a club meeting where some 20 beers were shared and only about 3 were drinkable. Since we started back in April we started a member only quarterly competition so members can get feedback on a style and win a cool trophy. I'd say it's working because the beer quality at the general club meetings is getting better, and we are winning more medals personally. We had 0 for the club to start and I think we are up to about 15 so far this year with one more big comp to go.

Probably more than you wanted to know!

Cheers!
Brewmech

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I will see if your number is in the collection I took home. That would be very cool! They are all in the fridge right now.

The mentoring is a REALLY great idea! The club I am in is pretty good about mentoring noob's... Look at me for example... However, I'm not sure about limiting the contest entries to a "select" team. Are all of your members encouraged to enter contests if they choose?

Anyone can enter contests, just the team members are by invitation only. It's a dedication to brewing and improving and getting/giving honest feedback. If my beer sucks, I want to know, don't hold back, but please try to explain how it sucks. Not everyone is that dedicated or able to handle that kind of thing, so it's not for everybody.

We do track the contests and announce them for everyone to enter. No one is required to enter, but then again many wouldn't know how or when if we didn't tell them. So in that way we promote competition brewing. If we notice that a brewer is trying hard (and we look for it) to get better and enter comps then we invite them into the group. If they like the atmosphere and the attention to detail and feedback then they stay. If they aren't that dedicated then they quit. No hard feelings. So we aren't beer nazis or anything like that, we just try harder than the average brewer to improve.

Subbed... How's the rig brewing so far? I just "sourced" my 3rd and final keg needed for either an e-brewery or a propane single tier.

fc36 said:

Subbed... How's the rig brewing so far? I just "sourced" my 3rd and final keg needed for either an e-brewery or a propane single tier.

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Working GREAT. I need to chase down a little grimlin in my MASH PID... I read a few degrees off even after calibration. Nothing that can't be solved... I just have to do it! lol...

I'm glad you responded to that post because I've been looking for your thread again for awhile. I had subbed it a while ago but passed it by so many time cause its titled brew stand. Your big beard profile pic caught my eye so I reopened this thread and sure enough this was the one I was looking for haha.

Im just starting to put together my e-herms and I really liked how you did yours! I'm also going the keggle route so this thread was a great read.

I have a couple questions for ya. Hopefully they haven't been asked or talked about yet...its been a while since I read all the way through this.
What made you decide to do a back to back setup? Also have you done any 10 gallon batches and if so how did it go? Any difficulties? I'm thinking things like running out of water in the hlt, too full a boil kettle, etc. One last question would be is there anything you would change about your setup or how you did things?

I have all my pumps, hoses, kegs, and a lot of my hardware. Been deciding on if I want to buy kals control panel kit or not.

Huaco said:

This is the calculator that figured the efficiency of the brewery. WOW... is all I can say! I am honestly very surprised. And, I did not taste any tannins at all!

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What program did you use for your efficiency?

That came from brewer's friend . Com
Not sure I trust it though. I'm going to start using p/p/g

thirstyutahn said:

I'm glad you responded to that post because I've been looking for your thread again for awhile. I had subbed it a while ago but passed it by so many time cause its titled brew stand. Your big beard profile pic caught my eye so I reopened this thread and sure enough this was the one I was looking for haha.
Yeah, I tried to change the name of the thread after the fact... no luck.

Im just starting to put together my e-herms and I really liked how you did yours! I'm also going the keggle route so this thread was a great read.

I have a couple questions for ya. Hopefully they haven't been asked or talked about yet...its been a while since I read all the way through this.
What made you decide to do a back to back setup? I went 50 amp by default. I could only find a 50A GFCI breaker when I needed it. (read, when my buddy was available to install it) I'm really glad I went with the 50 amp B2B panel. It is probably the "Best" choice for a keggle setup. I heat my HLT to mash temp and leave it alone. I also heat strike water in my Boil Keggle. I use some of that water to pre-heat the MLT and dump it. Then immediately fill with my strike volume from the Boil Keggle. This way, my HERMS coil in the HLT stays covered and I have PLENTY of water for sparging later on.Also have you done any 10 gallon batches and if so how did it go? Yes! I regularly make 12 gallon batches with it. That is 12 gallons of wort. I end up with somewhere between 11-11 1/2 gallons in the fermentor. If I am brewing a BIG beer, I will brew only 6 gallons because of MLT limitations on the Grainbill.Any difficulties? I'm thinking things like running out of water in the hlt, too full a boil kettle, etc. see above coment...One last question would be is there anything you would change about your setup or how you did things? I get this question quite a bit. I would have to say, not really... I have since added a few little things. Mainly a hop screen from StainlessBrewing.com I got the largest one. I will see if I can post some pictures of things I have added to my setup. Also, I have added a CFC fully outfitted with CamLocks. I have an attachment I can lock on that has a port for a thermometer probe. It then goes out to a silicone hose and into the fermentor. This way it is EASY to dial in chilling temps on the CFC

I have all my pumps, hoses, kegs, and a lot of my hardware. Been deciding on if I want to buy kals control panel kit or not.YES!!!! BUY KAL'S KIT AND BUILD IT! It is SOOO MUCH FUN to build it and tell your buddies that you built it!

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See replies in color above. Good questions...

Some pictures of my additions...

Large Hop Strainer from StainlessBrewing.com


My supply hose with CamLock fittings makes it VERY handy to connect to vessels for filling or chiller or whatever...


Here is my next addition... I need to finish getting it tweaked to use in process, but it's an inline oxygenation system that will simply attach to my output on the CFC and have the capability of oxygenating while giving chilled wort temp feedback.


This is my chilled wort temp setup as it is right now...

And of course... My favorite new development... "THE THERMOS GROWLER"!!!
Filled it off my tap at like 8:30 that morning before going to church... Poured my first pint at about 2pm. Still VERY COLD and fully carb'd. I popped the thermos in the freezer for about 10 minutes first though.

First pint.

I'm interested in seeing how your O2 system turns out. I've been using a plastic paint stirrer and a cordless drill to oxygenate my wort.

limulus said:

I'm interested in seeing how your O2 system turns out. I've been using a plastic paint stirrer and a cordless drill to oxygenate my wort.

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I have a wine whip that I use for degassing. I'm going to give that a try this weekend. Yea Yeah!!!!

I'm also going to use your design to make my false bottom. Thanks for the posting!!!

Thanks for answering all that! Very helpful info for sure!

I like the inline oxygenation idea, very slick.

Saturday evening was the award ceremony for O'Zapft Is! German homebrew competition. It was centered around an Oktoberfest celebration at a local Tavern. The number of entries has doubled from last year! I was in on the judging this year and actually had the honor to judge (in first round) the beer that eventually made BOS! It was a phenomenal Traditional Bock.

I was not prepared this year, but managed to have 5 entries into the competition. 2 of my beers were double entered as different sub-categories. I also double entered a pils. For example, I brewed my Dusseldorf Altbier again this year, but my hop utilization increased because of going from a 5 gallon batch last year to a 12 gallon batch this year. Anyway, my Alt came out a bit hoppy so I entered it into Dus Alt and Norther German Alt sub categories. I'm glad I did because, the N. German Alt took silver this year! I took Gold with that beer last year.

My third and last-minute entry was a Weizen. I had brewed this beer in a last-minute brew to have something to have in a keg on the 4th of July holiday. My second keg was still in the kegerator and was getting close to kicking so I thought I would bottle some entries off it for this competition. Turned out, I must have done something right with this beer, because it brought me home the Gold and a REALLY nice 2 Liter BOOT!

Props to The Electric Brewery... The temp regulation on this design is Key to making great Wort to work with.

congrats!

Great thread!
Where did you get the clear "pipe" for your inline oxygenator?

Just finished this sculpture... Gotta finalize the wiring and plumbing this week before it's maiden brew sesh!

stevehaun said:

Great thread!
Where did you get the clear "pipe" for your inline oxygenator?

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Bump! -Wondering the exact same thing.


Adam

I think I got them from USplastics.com

oh, and I have never gotten around to using it! Lol. Still just using my original setup.

Here is my new stand!

Chisena, loving the setup. Whenever I have the time and money, the plan is to build one quite similar. What's the footprint on it?

jonpack said:

Chisena, loving the setup. Whenever I have the time and money, the plan is to build one quite similar. What's the footprint on it?

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Thanks! She's about 71" x 34" x 23" (L x W x H). I ran my first brew on it last week and was quite happy with the setup. The HLT and MLT are designed to be at the perfect height for me. I am hoping Blichmann releases their electric elements soon which I am planning to integrate into my HLT vs. another burner.

BiggieB400 said:

Huaco

I've read through your build several times. I'm working on a keggle system, bottom drain, similar to your awesome rig. I've also looked at others. It looks like you are just placing a long hose from the herms output on to the top of your grain bed. Is that correct? I've been looking for a solution, probably an overly complicated one. I'm trying to avoid threaded fittings on the inside and I'd like to be able to cover MLT with a lid. A hose would prevent me from doing that. Open to any ideas you might have. Thanks in advance!!

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Hey,
Thanks for sending me the PM. I hope you don't mind I reply here, but I thought what you were asking would be relevant to the discussion here.
Thanks for the compliments. I am actually getting the rig back up and running at a buddy's shop. We will have much more space and sinks and filling pipes and such. Eventually he and I will have a walk-in cooler to ferment in.
Here is a picture for reference.


Yes, I simply have the hose resting on the top of the grain bed. Make sure when you cut it to length that it will loop the entire perimeter of the keggle with no grain in the MLT.


Since this was taken, I have added cam-lock fittings to the inside of the MLT. This makes it MUCH easier to clean out the MLT after the mash.

I'm not sure why you are worried about having threads in the MLT. I don't worry about sanitation on the hot side of the brewery. It is all getting boiled man.