First Run on Brewery 2.1

Despite the fact that the temperature in the Phoenix area hit 100 before 9:00 this morning... I had made up my mind that I was going to brew, and brew I did...

I had many "firsts" with this brew day, most successful, one was not... List of things I did for the first time today:

1. First 10 gallon batch
2. First time on the new brewstand
3. First time with my control panel
4. First time using my home-built CFC to chill the wort
5. First time using my new patio mister to chill myself while brewing

Since this is a photo forum, on with the pics...

The Rig:



Close-up of the ghetto fabulous control panel:



All doughed in with plenty of room to spare:



Beautiful clear wort and FWH:



11 gal in the kettle - short by 1/2 gal:



The chiller setup (more on this later):



My video and thoughts in the next post...

First of all, here's the YouTube Vid:



Overall the day was very successful. I ended up with 9.5 gallons finished wort, which I divvied up into 2 fermentors. I'll be trying 2 different yeasts for a nice comparison - 1/2 will use WLP002 and 1/2 will use S04 (dry). We'll see if going with the dry is a good way to save a couple $$ in the future...

The only thing that went wrong was the chilling. The CFC was nice and leak-free, but my idea of freezing my old IC in a 5 gallon bucket to serve as a pre-chiller for our lovely 95 degree tap water backfired on me when the water that was left inside the IC also froze, plugging the whole thing up. I ended up using the ice to chill the tap water a bit, but in the future I think I'll just be pumping ice water...

Th patio mister fan has allowed me to reclaim my patio as usable space in the summer months, so I'll surely knock out a couple more batches before the weather becomes more pleasant. Up next: my White Ale - the perfect summer beer in the desert!

Sounds like a blast, man. Haven't watched the video yet because I'm at work.

I know you brewed the Bitter and I've brewed that recipe twice now. I'll be interested in your notes about the different yeast characteristics. Or better yet, a taste to evaluate myself.

I was watching the video as my wife walked in the room, looked at the screen, and asked "is that like beer brewing p0rn?"

Uh, no, uh, well, ok maybe a little.

nice work btw

Or better yet, a taste to evaluate myself.

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Anytime... we really should get together sometime for a tasting...

nubru - I've never had anything I've done described as pr0n... now I feel kinda dirty.

Good job, I should be ready to brew with you again soon. Just working out some last issues with the burners.

beerthirty said:

Good job, I should be ready to brew with you again soon. Just working out some last issues with the burners.

Click to expand...

Sweet! Can't wait to see all your automation in action!

I know, imagine my shock, I don't think she's ever described anything that way.

nice clear video from the iphone. The forging a sword comment made me LOL.


someday I to shall have a keggle and brew 10 gallon batches. :rockin:

thorongil said:

Anytime... we really should get together sometime for a tasting...

Click to expand...

Yes we should! My IPA is almost gone but I'll be kegging my Tripel and my Bitter sometime this week. Doppelbock is kegged but I'm going to filter it as soon as I get my 5 micron filters. The one that came with my assembly is 1 micron.

Looked like great fun - I'd love a setup like that!
And I was very impressed by the video quality on the iphone!
I've not upgraded to the s yet but my regular 3g iphone is playing up so we'll see