First AG Brew Day with BrewPRON

[cytokine]

First I built an MLT according to the instructions I found in this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-easy-10-gallon-rubbermaid-mlt-conversion-23008/

I used a less expensive Coleman cooler I found at K-mart for $20 but the parts list was straight from this thread and it is absolutely bullet proof.

Here are the images:

 

[The Pol]

I was hoping to see BrewPron.... all I get is BrewPorn.

 

[cytokine]

Here are images of my brew rig from yesterdays "dry run" just to make sure that everything works.

You will also see the Immersion Chiller I built after watching BobbyM's most excellent videos, found here:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8EolKTDZUQ]YouTube - Immersion Chiller (IC) Build[/ame]

 

[cytokine]

Here you can see a number of different views of the chiller from the dry run that included a leak test and a vinegar water bath to pre-clean it for brewday.

Note the copper wire handle that I thought might come in handy for putting this carefully into hot wort.

 

[cytokine]

Here I'm heating my mash water according to the Beersmith calculations for my recipe.

You can also see the recipe sheet itself and my brewlog next to the pre-heating MLT.

If you look really closely you can also see the modest sound system I have in my garage for occasions such as this.

 

[StoutFan]

Very nice. "Modest" Sounds eh?

 

[cytokine]

And finally, here is where I'm at right now. I hit my strike temperature of 152 nearly dead on, and mixed the mash as you can see in the last picture.

I have to head back out to the garage where the ambient temperature is in the low 30's to heat the sparge water. The distortions on the first picture are rain mixed with snow.

Wish me luck.

I'll take more photos and update as the day goes on.

I'm an old guy so I've got Pink Floyd on right now. The neighbors love me...

 

[StoutFan]

Floyd ROCKS! And congrats on weathering the.... weather...... yeah.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

"Modest" sound system? Uh-huh.

THIS is a modest sound system (what I use):

But Floyd is good, though!

 

[Irish1225]

sound system? i turn on the little TV and watch discovery channel lol

 

[BigNastyBrew]

Those are GREAT pictures, bro! Good work with the sounds too!

 

[Hikeon3]

Hehe, you definitely paid attention in assembling your setup. I've been through many, many brews now and I'm about 1/10th as organized.

 

[cytokine]

Thank you all for your kind words. I try to be organized, otherwise I lose my ability to deal rationally with... everything.

Here is an image of the cleared vorlauf from the first runnings. I hit my strike temperature after a top up of about half a gallon of hot water. I wanted to try for 152F to see if I couldn't get a dryer and somewhat less full bodied beer.

The second image is draining first runnings into the brew kettle. The kettle is the Bayou Classics 60 Qt (!) pot that we got for seafood boils. Having spent some time in New Orleans I got used to being able to throw 20 lbs of shrimp on a table and inviting neighbors over. You need a big pot for that.

 

[cytokine]

Here's the MLT after adding sparge water and mixing well. I let that rest for 15 minutes, vorlaufed and drained.

Seven inches is 6.5 gallons and I hit it pretty much spot on. That's what Beersmith told me it should end up as. I'm using Beersmith on the free 21 day trial and will be buying my own copy before that expires. Great software.

 

[Hikeon3]

What kind of kettle is that? looks way bigger than mine.

 

[cytokine]

Got a nice boil going very quickly using the propane burner I purchased recently and froze my arse off watching it. The consolation was that after the addition of 1 oz of Centennial for bittering at the start of the boil I was in heaven. The only thing wrong with the afternoon is I didn't have a Centennial hopped IPA of any kind in the fridge to enjoy in the freezing weather. I nearly hit my pre boil anticipated OG of 1.063. The actual was 1.061. Close enough.

I now understand what a cold break is. The chiller brought the temperature down to 80 F or so in about 10 minutes. After that I whirlpooled, which worked, but I ended up dumping the whole thing in the fermenter because I had boiled off more of my volume than I had anticipated.

I should have hit an OG of 1.074 after the boil. I had to top up with bottled water to get to 5 gallons and my OG was 1.070.

I resuspended as much of the starter as a vigorous shaking would allow and pitched it in.

I'll be racking to secondary and dry hopping after a week and will likely bottle after another week or two. I haven't researched dry hopping well enough to know which would be best.

In the background of the starter you can see an IPA I bottled that has been conditioning for a week.

All of a sudden, I'm thirsty.

 

[cytokine]

What kind of kettle is that? looks way bigger than mine.

That's a Bayou Classic 120 Qt shrimp pot.

The 5 gallon batch was almost silly in there the pot is so freaking enormous. If this recipe works out the way I want it to I'm going to go to 10 gallon batches.

It took 5 hours from setup to cleanup and for that kind of time I should do a bigger batch.

 

[Hikeon3]

That's a Bayou Classic 120 Qt shrimp pot.

Is my math off? or is 120qt/4 = 30 gallons?

Open a micro. hehe.

 

[cytokine]

Is my math off? or is 120qt/4 = 30 gallons?

Open a micro. hehe.

Your math is spot on and I'm a moron. It's a 60 Qt pot.

Clearly I have visions of grandeur.

I went back and fixed the original post.

 

[nosmatt]

screw the brew, lets talk vintage audio gear!


those look like some old school infiniti towers there...lets here about those, and what ya got pushin em!



ohh, good news on the brew too.
im a bit pissed, as this was supposed to be a brew weekend, but a buddy got sick, and i could not leave work to get grains on friday. brew store is 50 miles away, and thats too far for me (only 2 miles away from work however).

anyway, lets talk gear!

 

[BeerPressure]

Looks good. I need a garage like that to brew in.

 

[cytokine]

screw the brew, lets talk vintage audio gear!


those look like some old school infiniti towers there...lets here about those, and what ya got pushin em!



ohh, good news on the brew too.
im a bit pissed, as this was supposed to be a brew weekend, but a buddy got sick, and i could not leave work to get grains on friday. brew store is 50 miles away, and thats too far for me (only 2 miles away from work however).

anyway, lets talk gear!

Sorry to hear you could not get your grain.

Vintage nothing, I built those bad boys. They are made of buyout TV speakers for the mids, and buyout car audio tweeters for the highs. The pair cost less than $100 for the complete build. The bass drivers were ~$10 each also in a buyout and are each driven by cheap low wattage sub plate amps. The whole setup is open baffle. They sound better than they should given the cost. I have two cases of the drivers so I can build two more pairs if I ever want to.

The speakers themselves are 7' tall and are in a linear array configuration. What that means is that the sound from them carries really well, as in a stack at a rock concert. They are driven by a Sonic T amp that puts out a whopping 10W per channel.

They get louder than you need. We haul them out on the back deck on the 4th of July. The rest of the time they supply tunes for whatever project I happen to have on in the garage. Currently it's beer.

 

[nosmatt]

right on!

i have a few books, and a few more sets of vintage speaks that need some help.

my crown is the AR3A set i got 2 years ago for a paltry sum

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Congrats on your first! Looks like you really read up well!!!

 

[cytokine]

Because I'm into closure I now report that after three weeks in primary (with the final week a 1 oz centennial dry hop) the results are ready to be bottled and taste like beer.

Color overall looks reddish and the flavor and aroma is pure centennial. If this is good I may tweak it a bit and make it regularly.

 

[StoutFan]

It's always nice to find a house brew.