Successfully Moved the Brewery

I moved everything into my fiancee's condo last Friday and we've spent all our free time since then unpacking boxes and sorting through stuff. The bad news is, it's a bit cramped. The good news: I'm no longer on well water; I'm now on Lake Michigan water. We have a frist floor condo with a big patio and there is no restrictions on propane, so I can brew on that patio!

We'll be there for the next six months while we look for a house in town.

I'm planning my first brew session in the new place next Saturday (12/8)!

Sweet that sounds like you got a good set up for brewing, but you can BBQ out there too! that Rocks.

Good luck on the house hunt.

Cheers

Congrats on the new brewery location.

Congrats on the move! We need to figure out a date and place for a SNIZZLE meeting soon - it's been a while.

I'll second what rdwj said. Wutcha gonna brew?

FermentEd said:

I'll second what rdwj said. Wutcha gonna brew?

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I'd be up for it! I had to miss Cheese's event b/c of this move.

I can provide some homebrew, if you're looking for guests.

Trying to decide what to brew for that "first time in the new place beer". I did a really complexly flavored ale around this time two years ago that would have been great with another yeast. I used yeast captured from a sixer of Bell's Anniversary Ale - didn't work that well. The recipe was one I 'winged' to get rid of some leftover malt and had about seven or eight different malts in it. I may tweak it and give it some catchy name.

Well, three months and three batches of homebrew after the initial move, we've gone and moved again!

We had been looking at homes while living in her condo and SWMBO happened to find one less than a half mile across town that she said I would love for its garage. Sure enough, when I saw the oversized 2-car garage with lots of built-in shelving, I imagined making into the perfect space for a home brewery! Oh, it has other amenities, too. She was right; I was sold!

We signed all the paperwork with the previous owners last Thursday and moved last weekend. I'm planning on brewing our house ale this Saturday! Sure, it's only going to reach 29oF that day. But it's supposed to be sunny. And I have a ceramic heater we purchased specifically for brewing in the garage on cold days.

Wow- that happened so fast! Congrats on the new house- that's awesome! I'm jealous of your garage already. Please take some pictures of your brew day.

Congrats!!! You gonna take pictures when you get the new brewery set up?

We want to see them!

Glad you had a successful move. Saturday should be a great for brewing!

YooperBrew said:

... Please take some pictures of your brew day.

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Oh, I will! I haven't photo documented a brew session since my first AG. This session warrants documentation!

Rhoobarb said:

The good news: I'm no longer on well water; I'm now on Lake Michigan water.

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That's not good news, that's bad news. Well water is the best!!!

Congratulations Rhoobarb!
1+ on the photos!

Bernie Brewer said:

That's not good news, that's bad news. Well water is the best!!!

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Not from those wells. Very hard water w/ high levels of sodium, iron & manganese, as well as radium levels that, while within limits, were enough of a concern that they continually address the situation in the annual water report. When I moved they were spending millions of tax dollars on ion exchange plants.

I got the new brewery up and running! It was nice to have lots of room to move about. I was going to brew Saturday, but too any things got in the way and I ended up brewing yesterday. I know I said I'd have pictures to post, but unfortunately, the batteries on my digital camera were drained b/c the camera had been left in the "view pics" postion. I put the batteries in the charger, but they were well drained and still hadn't finished recharging until after I was finished brewing.

Everything went pretty smooth for a first time run. Even though it got up to 40oF during the afternoon, by the time I was ready to chill the wort, it was downright cold. I went inside to warm up and get something to eat while the IC did it's thing and, when I went back out, the wort (an ale) was at 50oF! It took less than twenty mins. to drop that quick!

My target OG was 1.085 and I hit 1.086! Sweet.:rockin: Only downside was that the wort was so cold. The carboy is in a closet that is ~68oF. I pitched the yeast ~8:30pm last night and when I left at 6am this morning there was no activity. I aerated very well, so I hope it is just sluggish due to the cold starting temp and that I didn't kill my yeast. I'll know for sure tonight.

Next time I brew will be in three weeks. I'll have the brewery 'decorated' and will take pics to post!

Rhoobarb said:

My target OG was 1.085 and I hit 1.086! Sweet.:rockin: Only downside was that the wort was so cold. The carboy is in a closet that is ~68oF. I pitched the yeast ~8:30pm last night and when I left at 6am this morning there was no activity. I aerated very well, so I hope it is just sluggish due to the cold starting temp and that I didn't kill my yeast. I'll know for sure tonight.

Next time I brew will be in three weeks. I'll have the brewery 'decorated' and will take pics to post!

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Rhoobarb, excellent ... sounds like all the hard-work in house hunting paid off. 1.085? What did ya brew? You'll have to bottle some of it for the next get together.

Speaking of which, are you going to the UKG meeting this Thursday? You can bring your stout for entry into the drunk monk challange.

I'm planning on going. I'm gonna enter my scotch ale, cream ale, oat meal stout and vanilla bourbon stout. And, I'm going to bring my marzen, cream ale, vanilla bourbon stout and scotch ale for sampling.

srm775 said:

Rhoobarb, excellent ... sounds like all the hard-work in house hunting paid off. 1.085? What did ya brew? You'll have to bottle some of it for the next get together.

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I brewed Kelly's Honey Blonde Ale. It's my 'house ale' and I've brewed it 4-5 times before and always hit OGs in the 1.070 range. This was the first time I did the recipe using a trial version of BeerSmith and it said I'd get an OG of 1.085 and I thought, "Yeah, right." Who knew?! There were only three things I did differently this time - other than a new location. As mentioned, I'm now on Lake Michigan water vs. Romeoville, I used Maris Otter instead of domestic 2-row and 20-L crystal instead of 40-L. I never intended for the OG to be so high. Guess I'll have to adjust it next time I brew to bring it closer to 1.070.

srm775 said:

Speaking of which, are you going to the UKG meeting this Thursday? You can bring your stout for entry into the drunk monk challange.....

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I just might. Need to get it bottled ASAP. I ran out of CO2 and have to get a refill this afternoon. It depends on how busy things get. I have to take time off tomorrow for more Drs. appts. and will be working late the rest of the week to catch up. I probably wont know until Wednesday night.

I did my second brew this past Saturday and, as promised, here are some pics of the new brewery. Okay, it's just a garage that doubles as my brewery. But is is bigger than my previous garage and it came with built-in storage for all my brew stuff! It really is pretty ideal for brewing.

Here are a couple of shots of the brewery itself:





Check out the storage! The specialty grains are in the green rubber container:

I brewed a Weizenbock. Here's the mash in the tun:



Target temp was 155oF and I was lucky enough to come pretty damn close right out of the box!

As for right now, here is where my base grains are kept. One bag each of MO, GP and Pils. I know, I know - not very secure from critters. But right now it is too cold for them to survive. In the next week or so, I'll be getting some storage bins for these. The covered carboy is a dubbel that I later transfered to a keg. The yeast from this carboy will recieve the Weizenbock wort later this day.



The grains are sparged, the wort is transfered and it comes to a boil!



Here's my view out of the brewery:



SWMBO taking a turn at stiring the brewpot:



The recipe was modified to use Pils malt instead of American 2-row and a Belgian yeast blend instead of American Hefe yeast. I came in at an OG of 1.060 which is fine by me! It'll be interesting to see how this differs from the first time I brewed it. BTW, I tasted the Dubbel I racked to keg that day and it was excellent!

I'm really lovin' my new brewery so far!

Thanks for sharing the pictures.
Looks like you had a fun and successful day!

looking good!