I have been reading about brewing for several weeks now. I have yet to sterilize, heat, pitch or rack anything, but I have a few questions none-the-less.
I have kept beer "On Tap" since the early 80s. I am quite familiar with the dispensing side of beer. I want to add another step to the process; that is, I want to brew the beer prior to dispensing it. I am not actively pursuing a new hobby, so my current perspective on brewing is simply production of a quality product for household consumption.
Production. How much beer do I intend to brew? In my household we currently pour ~500 gallons of beer a year. Yes, slightly less than 10 gallons a week. We entertain a lot. I generally keep a 1/2bbl of Mich Light and a 1/6bbl of either a dark or amber in my main keg system. I also keep one or two 1/6bbls upstairs in the game room. If I am going to pursue brewing beer, it will be with the intent of supplying 100% of my household demand. Brewing 5 gallons of beer at a time is simply not something I plan on doing. I would ideally like to brew 12 times a year or less, putting the average brewing session ~ 42 gallons.
Obviously to realize this volume some planning needs to be done. The scale is large enough to merit construction of a special purpose facility for fermentation and cold storage. Luckily I have plenty of land and my plan is to build an out-building designed specifically for the purpose of brewing and storing beer.
My first questions center around the brew pot(s) and fermentor(s). Blichmann Engineering manufactures a 30 gallon and a 55 gallon brew pot for ~$700 and ~$800 respectively. This seems like a fairly reasonable price given the size and quality of construction. I could certainly convert a couple of sankey kegs into a pair of 15 gallon brew pots for ~$150 each, yeilding roughly the same simultaneous boil capacity of the Blichmann Engineering 30 gallon pot (~20 gallons) at a little less than 1/2 the price. I could likely also source a 55 gallon stainless steel drum for the same $300. Making a grain filter et al would bring the price up to ~$450; again, about half of the Blichmann 55 gallon pot. What I do NOT want to do is DIY AND then later need to purchase turn key. What are your thoughts about purchasing VS DIY?
Similarly, large conical bottom fermentors from Blichmann run from ~$900 for the 27 gallon to ~$1300 for the 42 gallon. I can source used 55 gallon plastic drums with sealing screw-off lids locally for ~$15/each. My inclination here is to DIY, but I would love some input from people who have attemted this type of fermentor. I would plan on having two lids for each fermentor, one for fermenting and one for CO2 transfer to kegs.
My current plan is to construct two small, well-insulated, lockers for the fermentors. Each locker would have independent temperature control from 32F to Ambient. Keg storage would be in two separate lockers, again with independent temperature control. I plan to use a single large capacity, chest type freezer as a heat sink. The freezer will contain ~30 gallons of glycol that can be pumped independently to a forced-air radiator in each locker. The lockers themselves will have 6-8 inch foam insulation, so other than a "pull down" in temperature, the heat load should be fairly low. I plan on making the fermentors air tight with a check valve for preventing pressure build up in the lockers. I estimate the cost of the lockers/storage to be ~$2500, including the freezer, pumps, glycol, radiators, fans and thermostats.
Does this sound like a "reasonable" approach to flexible fermenting/lagering set-up?
I would like to build a counter-flow type heat exchanger for the transfer of the wort from the boil pot(s) to the fermentor(s). I have well water that is 68F year round. I have not done the math on this yet, but I am thinking a wort transfer rate of ~1gpm against a water flow of ~15gpm in a 50' coil of copper tubing encased in 10' of 6in PVC should remove most of the wort heat. I could certainly add a shorter, secondary heat exchanger using -10F glycol if the primary heat exchager proved insufficient. I could also slow the transfer rate of the wort. I really haven't worked this part out yet, so thoughts and advice are more than welcome.
Thanks in Advance for any thoughts or input.
Fish
I have kept beer "On Tap" since the early 80s. I am quite familiar with the dispensing side of beer. I want to add another step to the process; that is, I want to brew the beer prior to dispensing it. I am not actively pursuing a new hobby, so my current perspective on brewing is simply production of a quality product for household consumption.
Production. How much beer do I intend to brew? In my household we currently pour ~500 gallons of beer a year. Yes, slightly less than 10 gallons a week. We entertain a lot. I generally keep a 1/2bbl of Mich Light and a 1/6bbl of either a dark or amber in my main keg system. I also keep one or two 1/6bbls upstairs in the game room. If I am going to pursue brewing beer, it will be with the intent of supplying 100% of my household demand. Brewing 5 gallons of beer at a time is simply not something I plan on doing. I would ideally like to brew 12 times a year or less, putting the average brewing session ~ 42 gallons.
Obviously to realize this volume some planning needs to be done. The scale is large enough to merit construction of a special purpose facility for fermentation and cold storage. Luckily I have plenty of land and my plan is to build an out-building designed specifically for the purpose of brewing and storing beer.
My first questions center around the brew pot(s) and fermentor(s). Blichmann Engineering manufactures a 30 gallon and a 55 gallon brew pot for ~$700 and ~$800 respectively. This seems like a fairly reasonable price given the size and quality of construction. I could certainly convert a couple of sankey kegs into a pair of 15 gallon brew pots for ~$150 each, yeilding roughly the same simultaneous boil capacity of the Blichmann Engineering 30 gallon pot (~20 gallons) at a little less than 1/2 the price. I could likely also source a 55 gallon stainless steel drum for the same $300. Making a grain filter et al would bring the price up to ~$450; again, about half of the Blichmann 55 gallon pot. What I do NOT want to do is DIY AND then later need to purchase turn key. What are your thoughts about purchasing VS DIY?
Similarly, large conical bottom fermentors from Blichmann run from ~$900 for the 27 gallon to ~$1300 for the 42 gallon. I can source used 55 gallon plastic drums with sealing screw-off lids locally for ~$15/each. My inclination here is to DIY, but I would love some input from people who have attemted this type of fermentor. I would plan on having two lids for each fermentor, one for fermenting and one for CO2 transfer to kegs.
My current plan is to construct two small, well-insulated, lockers for the fermentors. Each locker would have independent temperature control from 32F to Ambient. Keg storage would be in two separate lockers, again with independent temperature control. I plan to use a single large capacity, chest type freezer as a heat sink. The freezer will contain ~30 gallons of glycol that can be pumped independently to a forced-air radiator in each locker. The lockers themselves will have 6-8 inch foam insulation, so other than a "pull down" in temperature, the heat load should be fairly low. I plan on making the fermentors air tight with a check valve for preventing pressure build up in the lockers. I estimate the cost of the lockers/storage to be ~$2500, including the freezer, pumps, glycol, radiators, fans and thermostats.
Does this sound like a "reasonable" approach to flexible fermenting/lagering set-up?
I would like to build a counter-flow type heat exchanger for the transfer of the wort from the boil pot(s) to the fermentor(s). I have well water that is 68F year round. I have not done the math on this yet, but I am thinking a wort transfer rate of ~1gpm against a water flow of ~15gpm in a 50' coil of copper tubing encased in 10' of 6in PVC should remove most of the wort heat. I could certainly add a shorter, secondary heat exchanger using -10F glycol if the primary heat exchager proved insufficient. I could also slow the transfer rate of the wort. I really haven't worked this part out yet, so thoughts and advice are more than welcome.
Thanks in Advance for any thoughts or input.
Fish
