Coolship build

[ChugachBrewing]

Here ya go. First operation. Ever. Still haven't "made it pretty" or installed the drain plug, but had some leftover wort today and put it together. Got busy. (brewed 110 gallons this weekend...)

Put it in the basement, where I have a barrel of sour taking off, figured there is enough yeast floating around down there.

Second photo is hop addition for today.

 

[bellmtbbq]

Nice! We are doing a bottle trade in a year!

 

[ChugachBrewing]

Coolship season is here!

 

[bellmtbbq]

Beautiful! I want to see a couple of barrels going by the end of the year with spontaneous stuff. I know there is a distillery in New York or Vermont that sells ten, fifteen, and twenty gallon barrels for a nice price. They shouldn't produce much aceitic, at all

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I need to ask a really stupid question. What keeps flies or dust from winding up in your beer?

 

[ChugachBrewing]

Nuttin'. I haven't seen any yet (all my windows have screens though.) There is a room in our house that can be closed off where I can open all windows, etc for letting stuff in. I think I'm a little early, if it doesn't take off soon I'll just add the 'house yeast' that I collected from the fall. That stuff is tasting AMAzing right now.
For any "bug" collectors out there who would be interested in a trade, I'm always looking for other bugs and would be happy to trade for anything else.

 

[smokinghole]

Maybe a small fan blowing past the surface of the coolship would keep insects from getting in there. Not that an insect would matter all that much.

 

[ChugachBrewing]

I figure the more bugs the better .

 

[ChugachBrewing]

Update: Just had a bottle from the first wild harvest I did here. (pre coolship days). Amazing! Hope the coolship does as well.

 

[BenWillcox]

Ou of curiosity, how long ago was that, and what was your process (general idea on grain bill, mash, OG). Did you just leave the wort in a open bucket? How did you innoculate pre-coolship?
I had some fabulous success harvesting some wild yeast in hopped starter wort and brewing with that (it wasn't at all sour). but I have also had some interest in doing legit spontaneous fermentations.

 

[ChugachBrewing]

It was a 2.5 gallon batch, biab style. 90% 2 row, 10% crystal 60. Small amount of 12 year old hops. I just let it sit in a bucket by the window in a room of the house that gets a lot of airflow. Sat overnight. Then dumped it into the fermenter. I ended up doing this method twice, and finally harvested the yeast from the second batch. Now I use that yeast and pitch it regularly.
Tomorrow I'll be doing a 60 gallon batch (filling a barrel) with a turbid mash, and using the coolship for 7 gallons of it to inoculate the rest.

 

[Sebas83]

What's your turbid mash process? Did you follow one of the established ones (wild brews, mad ferm'ist, etc) or did you modify?

 

[CreamyGoodness]

If you built one in a really dull person's house would it still be a coolship? Would you have to rename it a squareship? Perhaps a unhipship?

I apologize.

 

[ZamaMan]

Wow this thread is interesting!

 

[ChugachBrewing]

The way this thread is heading, I'm about to jumpship.

 

[sclitch]

I'm planning a coolship beer this week. I just went to a restaurant supply store and picked up a good sized buffet pan (stainless steel) that will hold up to 5 gallons for about $20. I'm building a little wooden roof for it to keep our rain and bird **** and covering the coolship with window screen material. I'm just going to put this on the top of my flat roof (I live inner-city) and hopefully something magical happens! I'm hoping for some sourness and I want it to be 100% wild.

How long should I leave it outside before I transfer it to a secondary with all of my captured bugs and yeast? Any other tips?

FYI the temperature of my city is about 20-30C (70-85F) in the days and 10-15C (50-50F) at night.

I was planning on doing a standard saison style base beer, any other base beer style that you would suggest?

Also, is there much risk of catching something really bad... like it will make me sick if I drink it? haha

 

[ChugachBrewing]

I'm planning a coolship beer this week. I just went to a restaurant supply store and picked up a good sized buffet pan (stainless steel) that will hold up to 5 gallons for about $20. I'm building a little wooden roof for it to keep our rain and bird **** and covering the coolship with window screen material. I'm just going to put this on the top of my flat roof (I live inner-city) and hopefully something magical happens! I'm hoping for some sourness and I want it to be 100% wild.

How long should I leave it outside before I transfer it to a secondary with all of my captured bugs and yeast? Any other tips?

FYI the temperature of my city is about 20-30C (70-85F) in the days and 10-15C (50-50F) at night.

I was planning on doing a standard saison style base beer, any other base beer style that you would suggest?

Also, is there much risk of catching something really bad... like it will make me sick if I drink it? haha

I'm on a smartphone so I apologize for being quick.

No you won't get sick. Perhaps a stronger immune system...

Don't chill it. Put it out hot. I spoke with Jean van Roy, and he says it needs time to chill, and that small batches chill too fast. But 12ish hours should be fine.

Best time is spring/fall.

After the 12 hrs put in carboy. Expect longer lag times.

 

[sclitch]

I'm on a smartphone so I apologize for being quick.

No you won't get sick. Perhaps a stronger immune system...

Don't chill it. Put it out hot. I spoke with Jean van Roy, and he says it needs time to chill, and that small batches chill too fast. But 12ish hours should be fine.

Best time is spring/fall.

After the 12 hrs put in carboy. Expect longer lag times.

Thanks chugach. Anyone ever try leaving your beer in the cool ship for a couple weeks or more? Any decent results or is that just a bad idea. I just want to give the best chance for my beer to grab some interesting bacterium.

 

[ChugachBrewing]

Thanks chugach. Anyone ever try leaving your beer in the cool ship for a couple weeks or more? Any decent results or is that just a bad idea. I just want to give the best chance for my beer to grab some interesting bacterium.

I havent done more than a few days, and at that point had to skim out some mold. If you really want to.experiment with the yeast aspect, try using mason jars with cheesecloth on them at different times and in various locations. You could even leave one in a field out of view and away from your urban environment. Let the jars ferment and play around with what you get. That way you're not wasting product before you know what it is. Generally when I have done a larger coolship batch, its leftover from a 50gallon brew that didn't fit in fermentors.

Good luck and let me know how it turns out (in years, sadly. That's the only problem is the turnaround time...)

 

[ChugachBrewing]

Shameless self promotion. Brought the coolship beer #1 to the AHA conference. Was well liked and I ended up on the radio in NYC the following monday on the heritage radio network out of Brooklyn.

http://www.heritageradionetwork.com...it-Episode-32-Starting-a-Meadery-DIY-Coolship

I hate listening to myself talk since I tend to babble and stutter, but it was a lot of fun. Thanks to Chris and Mary!

 

[crawfman]

I heard that episode! Very informative and great show, like always. Mary and Chris do excellent work.

 

[zman]

I'm planning a coolship beer this week. I just went to a restaurant supply store and picked up a good sized buffet pan (stainless steel) that will hold up to 5 gallons for about $20. I'm building a little wooden roof for it to keep our rain and bird **** and covering the coolship with window screen material. I'm just going to put this on the top of my flat roof (I live inner-city) and hopefully something magical happens! I'm hoping for some sourness and I want it to be 100% wild.

How long should I leave it outside before I transfer it to a secondary with all of my captured bugs and yeast? Any other tips?

FYI the temperature of my city is about 20-30C (70-85F) in the days and 10-15C (50-50F) at night.

I was planning on doing a standard saison style base beer, any other base beer style that you would suggest?

Also, is there much risk of catching something really bad... like it will make me sick if I drink it? haha

How did the build turn out? Do you have any pictures of the set up? What are the dimensions of the pan that you got? I am interested in doing this and also am in an urban area. YOur idea sounds like it will work for me.

 

[ChugachBrewing]

I don't know how his turned out, but I'll tell ya you can use pretty much anything to catch yeast. Bigger is always better, but even a mason jar can work.

 

[zman]

I don't know how his turned out, but I'll tell ya you can use pretty much anything to catch yeast. Bigger is always better, but even a mason jar can work.

to make a "Wild Starter" ?

 

[ChugachBrewing]

Almost been a year now. About to rack to secondary. Ka-boom.

 

[dwntwnbwn]

As an alternative to Stainless Steel, there are food grade tote bins readily available.

http://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-Commercial-Products-FG330800CLR-2-Gallon/dp/B000VAPU6I/ref=sr_1_3?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1385352100&sr=1-3&keywords=rubbermaid+food+box

There are also steam table trays, larger then 8.5 gallons can get a bit pricey though.

 

[redbone]

almost a year... you racked to secondary. Did you not taste it when racking over?

 

[spenghali]

Sometimes you can get lucky on craigslist and find old stainless steel sinks

 

[chip82]

Has anyone tried a coolship similar to the one they used in brew dogs? A wooden barrel cut in half. Could be a fun way to see what wild stuff you get.

 

[ChugachBrewing]

if you did that, you'd be getting whats in the barrel, not in the air. maybe the first time if the barrel was sanitized or fresh, but after that it would be the same yeast over and over. which could be great (think cantillon barrels)... however if you're truly trying to get whats in the air, copper or stainless would be preferred.