I've been brewing since April 2020,when my fear that covid would make the world run out of beer.i bought John Palmers how t o brew and dif numerous google searches(often leading me here)
I bought a brew kettle and a plastic fermenter as well as a 6 gallon carboy and a oatmeal stout kitten line..i already had access to R/O/D/I water because I have several reef tanks in my house and I understand water profiles because of it,brew day was long, I had also purchased a immersion cooler that I hooked to the garden hose., I guess my only mishap was hops clogging th false bottom so I had to pour the wort onto a (sanatised) bucket then into my fermenter.. I pitched my yeast at something in the 80 degree range, luckily the basement was cool in April, I waited a week, then went into a secondary for 2, I washed the bottles by hand and sanitized each one idividually.. I forced myself to wait w weeks, but was pleasantly surprised that I made beer that actually tasted pretty good!
Alot has changed since then, I no.longer brew outside, I use a Gen 3 Brewzilla electric120 volt) and brew in the basement, I have a recycling steam trap and a tank of 40 degree chilled water for cooling I no longer brew extract(except for gluten free).. I have 3 fermenters, I built a chiller system that controls fermentation and secondary it is capable of controlingv4 units at once, I also built a lagering freezer that is controlled by an inkbird controler.
I also built a bottle washer and racking station, complete with capping station..
I've only had one disaster, and it was a total dump, my third batch was a blonde ale, for maintaining cooling in the fermenter, I had cool sticks and a swamp cooler.. the pump was inside the cooler..well, when you work a 14 hour shift and dont replenish the ice, the pump makes the brew mighty warm..90 plus F as I recall.. long story short.. it was nothing short of puke worthy..
More latter.
I bought a brew kettle and a plastic fermenter as well as a 6 gallon carboy and a oatmeal stout kitten line..i already had access to R/O/D/I water because I have several reef tanks in my house and I understand water profiles because of it,brew day was long, I had also purchased a immersion cooler that I hooked to the garden hose., I guess my only mishap was hops clogging th false bottom so I had to pour the wort onto a (sanatised) bucket then into my fermenter.. I pitched my yeast at something in the 80 degree range, luckily the basement was cool in April, I waited a week, then went into a secondary for 2, I washed the bottles by hand and sanitized each one idividually.. I forced myself to wait w weeks, but was pleasantly surprised that I made beer that actually tasted pretty good!
Alot has changed since then, I no.longer brew outside, I use a Gen 3 Brewzilla electric120 volt) and brew in the basement, I have a recycling steam trap and a tank of 40 degree chilled water for cooling I no longer brew extract(except for gluten free).. I have 3 fermenters, I built a chiller system that controls fermentation and secondary it is capable of controlingv4 units at once, I also built a lagering freezer that is controlled by an inkbird controler.
I also built a bottle washer and racking station, complete with capping station..
I've only had one disaster, and it was a total dump, my third batch was a blonde ale, for maintaining cooling in the fermenter, I had cool sticks and a swamp cooler.. the pump was inside the cooler..well, when you work a 14 hour shift and dont replenish the ice, the pump makes the brew mighty warm..90 plus F as I recall.. long story short.. it was nothing short of puke worthy..
More latter.