My name is Bruce vanNorman. I have been brewing something or other, sporadically, since the late 1950's. Since 1994, I have been regularly brewing live, cask conditioned, ales.
The experience I bring to this craft is:
Our execution of the art is largely restricted by our venue – specifically the temperature of our basement which encourages some brew styles in the winter and other styles in the summer. The biggest investment in equipment is our basement refrigerator with the space for milk, eggs, and butter shared with 3 corny kegs, a CO2 bottle and a bunch of hoses. The vegetable crisper drawers are used to store glasses – pints and halves.
Because of our equipment and a preference for a dryer product, we step mash our grain. Because we cannot heat the mash tun, we use decoction methods. Also, we use secondary fermentation and frequently dry or wet hop. This gives us cream yeast for baking and green beer for sauces, gravies, stews, and meat pies.
Venue
Laundry room: work tables, utility sink, and a 20 cu. ft. Kitchen Aid refrigerator with a top freezer.
Adjacent to the laundry room is a fluvarium (rain room) that has a glass wall that opens up completely. The fluvarium has a quick disconnect NG outlet. A great place for the boil.
Both the laundry room and fluvarium are unheated spaces.
A 15,000 BTU crab pot burner modified for NG with a 12' quick disconnect NG hose. It is often used with a 30” wok for meal preparation.
Adjacent to the fluvarium is a run-off cistern and catchment which is used with a portable sump pump and home made cooling coils to remove heat from the wort. This is Seattle, where it rains – actually, more of a continuous drizzle, but it keeps the cistern full.
Pots with lids
Boil – 32 qt. Update International, NSF stainless stock-pot
Sparge – 20 qt. no-name, cheap stainless stock-pot (it never burns the water)
Decoction – 8 qt. Update International, NSF stainless stock-pot
Tuns
Mash – 36 qt. Coleman Extreme picnic cooler (2” thick, closed cell walls) also used for equipment storage
Lauter – 5 gal. food grade bucket with false plastic bottom and plastic spigot
Primary fermentation – 2 @ food grade 30 L. plastic by Brewcraft
Secondary fermentation – 2 @ 5 gallon glass carboys
Significant utensils
10” double sieve
20” spoon
3/8” siphon, filter, and hoses
Revere Ware pot used as a scoop for racking
69 cent plastic paint stirrer for aeration (requires a drill for operation
The utensils not used regularly in the kitchen are stored in the cooler
The experience I bring to this craft is:
- I am an engineer. The focus is on achieving best practices for brewing. Reliable and repeatable methods are valued over specific recipes.
- I have been an executive chef. The focus is on safety, health, and enjoying food.
- I have worked professionally, in a brewery, and am directly aquatinted with what goes on in the brew house. To me, that is work and not fun. I try to bring the same spirit to brewing as I do to mashed potatoes and gravy. I have little concern for the constancy of our products over time.
- Harold McGee – On Food and Cooking – The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
- Simmons, Amelia – American Cookery, Hartford, 1798
- Charles Papazian – The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
Our execution of the art is largely restricted by our venue – specifically the temperature of our basement which encourages some brew styles in the winter and other styles in the summer. The biggest investment in equipment is our basement refrigerator with the space for milk, eggs, and butter shared with 3 corny kegs, a CO2 bottle and a bunch of hoses. The vegetable crisper drawers are used to store glasses – pints and halves.
Because of our equipment and a preference for a dryer product, we step mash our grain. Because we cannot heat the mash tun, we use decoction methods. Also, we use secondary fermentation and frequently dry or wet hop. This gives us cream yeast for baking and green beer for sauces, gravies, stews, and meat pies.
Equipment
Nothing, but ourselves, is dedicated to the brewing of beer.Venue
Laundry room: work tables, utility sink, and a 20 cu. ft. Kitchen Aid refrigerator with a top freezer.
Adjacent to the laundry room is a fluvarium (rain room) that has a glass wall that opens up completely. The fluvarium has a quick disconnect NG outlet. A great place for the boil.
Both the laundry room and fluvarium are unheated spaces.
A 15,000 BTU crab pot burner modified for NG with a 12' quick disconnect NG hose. It is often used with a 30” wok for meal preparation.
Adjacent to the fluvarium is a run-off cistern and catchment which is used with a portable sump pump and home made cooling coils to remove heat from the wort. This is Seattle, where it rains – actually, more of a continuous drizzle, but it keeps the cistern full.
Pots with lids
Boil – 32 qt. Update International, NSF stainless stock-pot
Sparge – 20 qt. no-name, cheap stainless stock-pot (it never burns the water)
Decoction – 8 qt. Update International, NSF stainless stock-pot
Tuns
Mash – 36 qt. Coleman Extreme picnic cooler (2” thick, closed cell walls) also used for equipment storage
Lauter – 5 gal. food grade bucket with false plastic bottom and plastic spigot
Primary fermentation – 2 @ food grade 30 L. plastic by Brewcraft
Secondary fermentation – 2 @ 5 gallon glass carboys
Significant utensils
10” double sieve
20” spoon
3/8” siphon, filter, and hoses
Revere Ware pot used as a scoop for racking
69 cent plastic paint stirrer for aeration (requires a drill for operation
The utensils not used regularly in the kitchen are stored in the cooler