Got some new stuff going on and I heard a silly rumor that we can now have 10 images per post. This the truth? Let's find out...
This was my from my old place. I loved that little apartment. Great deck, just enough space for living and a beautiful japanese maple in the neighbor's yard.
But now I have the basement at my new house for brewing. Here is the "before" pictures. I'm currently building shelves to put all this stainless and other crap up out of the way.
Here is the water heater used for cleaning. Works great...after I use the sanke kegs for fermentation, I just give them a good hot rinse a few times, then fill them up with hot water and 4 tablespoons of sodium percarbonate. Let it sit overnight, and that **** will take off everything, leaving it nice and shiny inside.
I rinse the next morning and give it a light citric acid rinse. Then it's ready to be sanitized for the next brew day!
Here is a test we did. We made a 15 gallon batch of steam beer using leftover extract and a 2-row mash. We tried the Wyeast 2112 (California Lager) and the White Labs WLP810 (SF Lager)...the 2112 is MUCH cleaner and smooth...more lager like. The WLP810 is much more funky and spicy. The blend was quite tasty. They are all great beers and it really depends what you're going for on deciding what yeast to use.
We had some fiberglass insulation lying around, so I got some gloves and duct tape and we made this jacket. It fits on my 9 gallon stockpot and will hold temp on a mash for several hours, no problem.
We do a lot of BBQ while we brew. This just happened to be tri-tip night. Heinz 57 and Valentina on a rare steak is one of the best things ever. Looks rather bloody, doesn't it?
Here we are chilling an 11 gallon batch as it gets pumped into the fermenter. My buddy constructed the chiller out of a series of hoses and quick disconnects. We bought the copper and rolled it ourselves, using clear tube instead of that garden hose nonsense.
Here a friend is painting the oak barrel. We're going to use this for a few beers and then the lambic is going inside.
Last but not least is our recent transfer method. Using a rubber "carboy hood", which just happened to fit the kegs, we use co2 to purge the corny keg and then pressurize the sanke keg, driving all the beer straight to where we want it, very quickly. It all comes out the dip tube with just a pound or two of pressure.
No worries about aeration...if it burps, it will be nothing but co2! It worked brilliantly. We do the same thing with the conical, but it has a keg fitting.
This was my from my old place. I loved that little apartment. Great deck, just enough space for living and a beautiful japanese maple in the neighbor's yard.
But now I have the basement at my new house for brewing. Here is the "before" pictures. I'm currently building shelves to put all this stainless and other crap up out of the way.
Here is the water heater used for cleaning. Works great...after I use the sanke kegs for fermentation, I just give them a good hot rinse a few times, then fill them up with hot water and 4 tablespoons of sodium percarbonate. Let it sit overnight, and that **** will take off everything, leaving it nice and shiny inside.
I rinse the next morning and give it a light citric acid rinse. Then it's ready to be sanitized for the next brew day!
Here is a test we did. We made a 15 gallon batch of steam beer using leftover extract and a 2-row mash. We tried the Wyeast 2112 (California Lager) and the White Labs WLP810 (SF Lager)...the 2112 is MUCH cleaner and smooth...more lager like. The WLP810 is much more funky and spicy. The blend was quite tasty. They are all great beers and it really depends what you're going for on deciding what yeast to use.
We had some fiberglass insulation lying around, so I got some gloves and duct tape and we made this jacket. It fits on my 9 gallon stockpot and will hold temp on a mash for several hours, no problem.
We do a lot of BBQ while we brew. This just happened to be tri-tip night. Heinz 57 and Valentina on a rare steak is one of the best things ever. Looks rather bloody, doesn't it?
Here we are chilling an 11 gallon batch as it gets pumped into the fermenter. My buddy constructed the chiller out of a series of hoses and quick disconnects. We bought the copper and rolled it ourselves, using clear tube instead of that garden hose nonsense.
Here a friend is painting the oak barrel. We're going to use this for a few beers and then the lambic is going inside.
Last but not least is our recent transfer method. Using a rubber "carboy hood", which just happened to fit the kegs, we use co2 to purge the corny keg and then pressurize the sanke keg, driving all the beer straight to where we want it, very quickly. It all comes out the dip tube with just a pound or two of pressure.
No worries about aeration...if it burps, it will be nothing but co2! It worked brilliantly. We do the same thing with the conical, but it has a keg fitting.
I'll post another pic when the shelves are up.
