Brewing - Sunday 12/28

Brewing up my first 10 gallon batch on the new system tomorrow. If anyone wants to come by, I'll be brewing from 12pm-5pm - PM me for directions, or come on over if you know the way. I'll be brewing up Caspio's recipe for Easy Amber, which I hope turns out as well as when he brewed it. It's a nice, easy drinking beer which many different kind of beer drinkers seem to like. Depending on how it turns out, I may have to use it to develop a recipe similar for my "house ale".

10 gallon brew day success! Jaybird and his brewing friend Dennis stopped in to supervise me on this my first 10 gallon batch. Thanks for the company and expert advice guys!

All in all it was a pretty smooth brew day, but longer than I expected by a good two hours. Most of that was waiting to get more sparge water heated up, and waiting for the MLT to drain. Next time I'm going to make sure to have more water ready. Also the next time I brew I'll hopefully have my pump and some extra hoses. Then I can recirculate for the vorlauf instead of filling up my Erlenmeyer flask and dumping back in.

The new Barley Crusher was a blast to use for the full 5 minutes it took to crush my grain. Also used a friends pump for the first time, which was killer and convinced me that I need one for sure. My bday if Feb 5th, and a pump is definitely on the list! Here's some pics of the day:



14# loaded in:


Hops ready for first worting(?):


Sweet keggle for the HLT, lid by Jaybird!

Collecting the final few gallons:


Boiling happily away:


Ahhhh, the foam!


11-12 gallons of beauty!

Thanks for the invite. Dennis and I had a great time. I would guess that if you ended up w/ a little extra volume and a little low on the OG you just needed to turn up the burner on the boil kettle.
JJ

Looks like a great day! Nice job.

What kind of 90 degree connection do you have on those keggles?

EdWort said:

Looks like a great day! Nice job.

What kind of 90 degree connection do you have on those keggles?

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They are some brass QD's from McMaster Carr. They work great with the silicone flexible tubing, as it likes to kink when full of liquid. Here are the part numbers:

90 Degree Socket w/ 1/2" hose barb: 6739K68 - $7.44 Each
1/2" NPT Male Plug: 6739K59 - $1.75 Each

Jaybird said:

Thanks for the invite. Dennis and I had a great time. I would guess that if you ended up w/ a little extra volume and a little low on the OG you just needed to turn up the burner on the boil kettle.
JJ

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Thanks a bunch for stopping in, it was great to get some good advice on making great beer! Just to put your heart at ease...I DID in fact turn that flame up .

TwoHeadsBrewing said:

They are some brass QD's from McMaster Carr. They work great with the silicone flexible tubing, as it likes to kink when full of liquid. Here are the part numbers:

90 Degree Socket w/ 1/2" hose barb: 6739K68 - $7.44 Each
1/2" NPT Male Plug: 6739K59 - $1.75 Each

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Sweet! Thanks.

How did your CFC work out for this batch?

EdWort said:

Sweet! Thanks.

How did your CFC work out for this batch?

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The CFC was killer...aside from a little water leak on the coolant out side. The water here is at about 55F, and with a half flow going through the chiller it brought the wort down to 70F. I was also pumping through the chiller at full speed, which filled both carboys in about 15 minutes. I'm VERY happy with the performance...and for about $50 in materials it was well worth the price.

Oh yeah! I was welcomed home from work today by these two pretty babies...happily bubbling away, just about 24 hours after pitching. I don't know why, but I never get tired of posting pics of brewing equipment, beer, or beer in the making!

Safale S-05 on the right, Nottingham on the left (gotta say, S-05 smells significantly more "piney"):

Sweet deal! glad the pump helped out - it's going to be awhile before I can use it again, so at least someone is giving it a home

I just got back from Mervyns, picked up a ridiculously heavy shelf on nice casters, only $75! I think once I take the wood off and do a little welding, it's going to be a great brew stand. That's another project for the future though

caspio said:

Sweet deal! glad the pump helped out - it's going to be awhile before I can use it again, so at least someone is giving it a home

I just got back from Mervyns, picked up a ridiculously heavy shelf on nice casters, only $75! I think once I take the wood off and do a little welding, it's going to be a great brew stand. That's another project for the future though

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Cool! Can't wait to see it, before and after the build.

caspio said:

Sweet deal! glad the pump helped out - it's going to be awhile before I can use it again, so at least someone is giving it a home

I just got back from Mervyns, picked up a ridiculously heavy shelf on nice casters, only $75! I think once I take the wood off and do a little welding, it's going to be a great brew stand. That's another project for the future though

Click to expand...

Hay aren’t you on your honeymoon???? Please tell me your not on HBT on your honeymoon

What, I can't continue the HBT addiction even when I'm out of town? Haha no, I don't leave until friday morning, so I get a few more days to post here.