Baloo's Taproom

[MrBaloo]

Well guys, after a lot of work.. and too many days of lurking in these boards, I am finally worthy to post the current state of my taproom. worthy, because I have my first all grain batch cold crashing in my fermentation chamber (right). well, at least dropping it down to 45 degrees or so.... the uncarbed beer tasted great!

The first pic shows the BIAB brewpot that Bobby at Homebrew Hardware designed for me. Along with the brew commander that is the brains for the whole operation. Below the boiling deck are 2 fermentation chambers that are controlled by inkbirds. The fridges were gotten on sale at Sams for $150.. I think they are the 200 can coolers...

The second pic shows the kegerator, bar, sink area, and storage cabinets. The kegerator is on its last leg.. really need to try and make the thing air tight..

Thanks to all of you for all the inspiration to make this happen. Brewing in the Louisiana outdoors in months other than november thru February were not possible until now.

Hopefully I have attachd the pics properly...??????

Baloo

 

[MrBaloo]

Wanted to followup that post with some comments on the BIAB setup, and the Brew Commander.

Honestly, I told Bobby that my friend and I were sitting around the taproom table watching football thinking we should be doing something... The brew commander worked out great. I had thought I wanted to build a 3 vessel eHERMS system. I am glad I followed Bobby's advice and went with BIAB.

EQUIPMENT COMMENTS:
I liked the way the BC worked even in manual mode... There is a lot of automation built in to that thing, but using it manually was very easy too... with the brewbuilt pot, I was able to maintain a rolling boil at 30% power. It seemed to hit temps very quickly. 80-155, and 155-210...

I also got a SteamSlayer. This worked great too. Hardly any steam escaped the lid on the pot. As you can see in pics above, I have a sink that I ran the drain line to... easy smeasy.......

BREWDAY:
I added all my notes to brewer friend, and it is calculating 75% brewhouse efficiency.. so I am happy with that for my first run. I also cant find my grain mill that I bought over a year ago, so I bought the grain milled, have to clean up my workshop... 1st beer was a pilsner extract, 2nd beer was the SMASH beer with 2row and Cascade. My first BIAB brew. Again, amazed at how easy things went.

I should be kegging the beer this weekend. I think I will plan a chocolate stout for my next brewday.......

Cheers!!