Nostrildamus
Well-Known Member
Today I got up extra early and started my brew session after I had a coffee. My goal today was not only to brew a tasty 10 gallon batch of Pale Ale but to do so with minimal water waste having listened to the Basic Brewing Podcast on greening up your brew sessions. I filled my keg with water to the needed level and fired up the old burner and set up the mash and everything was running great. Once I started the fly sparge the doorbell rang and...
... low and behold my 6 hop plants had arrived!
I had ordered 2 Cascade, 2 Willamette and 2 Nugget plants (not rhizomes) a number of weeks back and they were finally here. Between checking the sparge and lauter flow rates I took to digging holes in my garden filling the bottom few inches with horticulture sand and then the rest with organic compost.
GREEN POINT NUMBA 1:
If you have the area and the means to compost in your backyard, give it some consideration. It's free, it reduces waste (one trip to the dumpster a week rather than once every 2 days) and it gives you some of the best black nutrient rich soil for growing plants (read hops) available.
The plants were in the ground and under their 30 foot makeshift trellis before the end of the sparge.
Once the sparge was over I set the wort to boil and added the hops and then it was cooling time. Out came the immersion chiller and into the keg it went.
GREEN POINT NUMBA 2:
I got smart and stuck the outflow hose into my mash tun which I had since emptied out into my compost along with the hops. Piping hot water flowed from the outflow tube and was perfect for cleaning up that sticky mash tun. Once it was clean I kept the outflow tube of the immersion chiller in the mash tun and saved the water which was at this point much toO hot to pour onto my thirsty lawn. Once the outflow temperature dropped to an acceptable level I water the lawn and then the flower garden with the water still having saved a full 15 gallon keg for later usage. YES 15 GALLONS! It's amazing how much water is used in brewing. It felt great to know that I just heated up 15 gallons of water for washing up as a by-product of brewing. I used no additional water for clean up other than that which came from the chiller AND got to water the flowers, lawn and new hop plants as a by-product.
When it came time to pitch yeast I had made a starter the previous day and split the liter between two 5 gallon carboys. Normally, this size of starter wouldn't suffice but it was much less a starter and more of a re-generizer for the 1/2 cup of reclaimed American Ale 1056 from a previous 5 gallon batch.
GREEN AND SMART POINT NUMBA 3:
I can't say enough about reclaiming your yeast, rinsing it and storing it in the fridge for later use. When done right, it lasts for a long... long time. This yeast is from a batch of IPA I brewed a year ago. How did it kick off you ask?
Like friggin' GANGBUSTERS! I just came upstairs to post this raving tirade after pulling out the airlocks and replacing them with blow off hoses. I feared the sight of a sticky mess on my floors tomorrow morning and launched the old "pre-emptive strike". From one 5 gallon batch of beer you get enough yeast to blast the hell out of your 10 gallons of wort turning it into delicious beer in an efficient manner AND you get it for no additional cost other than around 15 minutes of brainless rinsing. I must admit it was hardly brainless the first time I tried it... on second thought, maybe I was just brainless.
In any case, if I can leave you with anything it is this: take the time to go green because it saves you $$$ and it's a kick to see you brewing cost dive as your efficiency rises.
Keep it real homebrewers!:rockin:
... low and behold my 6 hop plants had arrived!
I had ordered 2 Cascade, 2 Willamette and 2 Nugget plants (not rhizomes) a number of weeks back and they were finally here. Between checking the sparge and lauter flow rates I took to digging holes in my garden filling the bottom few inches with horticulture sand and then the rest with organic compost.
GREEN POINT NUMBA 1:
If you have the area and the means to compost in your backyard, give it some consideration. It's free, it reduces waste (one trip to the dumpster a week rather than once every 2 days) and it gives you some of the best black nutrient rich soil for growing plants (read hops) available.
The plants were in the ground and under their 30 foot makeshift trellis before the end of the sparge.
Once the sparge was over I set the wort to boil and added the hops and then it was cooling time. Out came the immersion chiller and into the keg it went.
GREEN POINT NUMBA 2:
I got smart and stuck the outflow hose into my mash tun which I had since emptied out into my compost along with the hops. Piping hot water flowed from the outflow tube and was perfect for cleaning up that sticky mash tun. Once it was clean I kept the outflow tube of the immersion chiller in the mash tun and saved the water which was at this point much toO hot to pour onto my thirsty lawn. Once the outflow temperature dropped to an acceptable level I water the lawn and then the flower garden with the water still having saved a full 15 gallon keg for later usage. YES 15 GALLONS! It's amazing how much water is used in brewing. It felt great to know that I just heated up 15 gallons of water for washing up as a by-product of brewing. I used no additional water for clean up other than that which came from the chiller AND got to water the flowers, lawn and new hop plants as a by-product.
When it came time to pitch yeast I had made a starter the previous day and split the liter between two 5 gallon carboys. Normally, this size of starter wouldn't suffice but it was much less a starter and more of a re-generizer for the 1/2 cup of reclaimed American Ale 1056 from a previous 5 gallon batch.
GREEN AND SMART POINT NUMBA 3:
I can't say enough about reclaiming your yeast, rinsing it and storing it in the fridge for later use. When done right, it lasts for a long... long time. This yeast is from a batch of IPA I brewed a year ago. How did it kick off you ask?
Like friggin' GANGBUSTERS! I just came upstairs to post this raving tirade after pulling out the airlocks and replacing them with blow off hoses. I feared the sight of a sticky mess on my floors tomorrow morning and launched the old "pre-emptive strike". From one 5 gallon batch of beer you get enough yeast to blast the hell out of your 10 gallons of wort turning it into delicious beer in an efficient manner AND you get it for no additional cost other than around 15 minutes of brainless rinsing. I must admit it was hardly brainless the first time I tried it... on second thought, maybe I was just brainless.
In any case, if I can leave you with anything it is this: take the time to go green because it saves you $$$ and it's a kick to see you brewing cost dive as your efficiency rises.
Keep it real homebrewers!:rockin:
