First Brew since April of 2001 - I'm an official beginner again!

So, looking at my brewing records, apparently I haven't brewed since 2001.

I used to do 10 gallon full grain batches with a herms type of mash. We moved, and I never really unboxed my equipment or got things setup. But I've got a get together scheduled and just enough time to get a brew together.

I had even bought the ingredients a few months ago, but never got around to doing anything. Suffice to say, panic is setting in, and I've been running around trying to get everything setup.

My pack of yeast and already 'sploded' on its own, so last night I went ahead and made a starter. So far so, good, starter is going good.



I decided to do the same recipe I used to do, same method.

I have upgraded a few items, such as getting some new camlock fittings and silicone hoses instead of the old garden hose fittings and hoses.

Also trying to get my 15 gallon plastic conical fermenter setup. I can always fall back though on carboys if that falls through.

So Brew day is Sunday, I'll be doing a practice run through Friday to make sure I've got everything set and am ready to go.

I'll update this with more pictures as I get all the equipment setup.

Wish me Luck!

 

Welcome back! Glad you still have all your brewing stuff. May 4th is National Home Brewer's Day. Maybe even join the rest of us on that day after getting set up again?! I'll be doing a partial mash berliner wheat beer. I also have a new grain crusher coming in with hopper & mounting plate for my homer cheapo bucket. Congrats & I hope your brew day goes smoothly!

 

Welcome back. I took 7 years off too. I was very cautious about things at first, but it all comes back quickly.

Lots of things have changed since 2001. It will be fun learning.

 

So Here's the 'Brewery'. Doesn't look like much, but it's a single pump 2 tier HERMS capable brewing system. What that means is I can use the little kettle on the left to raise the temperature of the mash (HERMS = Heat Exchange Recirculating Mash) by running the liquid in the mash through a coil of copper in that kettle. The Hot Liquor tank is the cooler on the left, the mash tun the cooler on the right. The main boil kettle is on the far right. I use one pump to mover everything around. You can see the GFCI (yellow thing on the far left) to protect me from the lectrics. I've got a new counterflow wort chiller (Bunch of copper) by the kettle. All new stainless steel cam lock fittings and all new high temp silicone tubing.
Tomorrow I'll do some work on my 15 gallon conical fermentation tank and temperature controlled fermentation chamber.
I love how technical you can make this sound when all it really means is a bunch of coolers and stuff I got at the hardware store and online...

Still have an awful lot of cleaning, sanitizing to do. I've got Starsan, PBW, so I should be good to go...

 

Looks like it'll def get the job done. We're understandably curious about how your "new" batch turns out...

 

Shouldn't you take the airlock off the starter? You want O2 in the starter. Cover it with sanitized foil instead.

 

Hmmm,

Going by memory and I've always used the airlocks on the past. I did step it up a bit last night and aerated the 'wort' pretty well then.

I'll have to do some more research on that. It certainly makes sense, since I do have oxygen to aerate the wort for the brew.

The starter is bubbling away quite nicely, so I think I'll just err on the side of inaction this time. It's still got a couple more days to grow. I'm not planning on brewing till Sunday.

Today I build the fermentation chamber, and tomorrow I clean. Thankfully, once I get this first batch done, all the hard setup work will be out of the way and I'll be able to breeze through future brew days.

 

Seems as if Foil is the consensus, so next time I'll probably go that route. I did step this up to about 3 liters and got a nice little yeast cake going.

Put the starter in the fridge to crash the yeast, and I'll decant it and use it tomorrow.

 

You can also get foam stoppers at your lhbs as an alternative to foil.

 

Got the fermentation chamber built. Still need to work on the keezer collar. I'll be using my keezer with a thermostatically controlled fan to provide cool air to the fermentation chamber.

Now I just need to clean everything up really good and run through some tests.

Tomorrow morning I brew!

 

Nice setup! And welcome (back) to the jungle

 

Well, spent the afternoon cleaning everything and firing up the boilers, and heat exchanger, and wort chiller, and testing out the new camlock fittings and silicone hoses.

Man I love these fittings and hoses. My ancient march 809 pump is still working like a champ!

Everything is clean and ready to go. Tomorrow, I wake up, Grind, and by the end of the day, I will be a brewer, once again!

 

have fun cheers

 

Well, it all went smoothly, well pretty smoothly.

I thought I overshot my mash temp, so I quickly dumped some cold water in, and ended up undershooting it.

No biggie, so I went ahead and used my herms early on to raise the temp from 145 up to 152. Worked like a champ.

The only confusing thing is my initial runnings were of a lower sg than I expected and the initial OG into the fermenter were higher.

I'll run the numbers later and see how things netted out. The first reading could have been user error. The second readings I confirmed with 2 different hydrometers.

Anyhow, it's in the fermenter no, so here's hoping for a quick start to fermentation goodness.

 

Sounds like it went pretty good overall. My first couple PM brews I had trouble holding mash temp. got that figured out,& it's actuall fun now. chers on the beer & I hope your yeast has a party any second now!