First Brew on the new home brewery

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

kellzey

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
Messages
305
Reaction score
17
Location
orlando
After about 9 months of on-again/off-again building of Kal's system, I brewed my first batch...


Yesterday (American Memorial Day) was my first time brewing on my new automated system.

Despite one big issue (one of my pumps broke mid-brew), everything came together. Luckily it broke right after mash, and I ended up fly sparging by hand! LOL

My first brew was a simple Blonde Ale inspired by New Belgium Somersault.

My goal is an ABV of 5.5 to 5.7% and an IBU (bitterness) of around 28. I had a target OG of 1.056 and achieved 1.052. Using BeerSmith 2.0, it looks like my efficiency worked out to 88.8%. I had programmed in 90%. I feel happy with my first attempt.


So here's the process (total time is about 7.5 hours from firing up the brewery to finishing cleanup). I can probably shave it down to 6 hours once I become more familiar with the equipment and process.


Crushing the grains in my barley crusher

392522_4079105381008_1383737011_3646536_1228093536_n.jpg



Hops (Centennial and Cascade)

522228_4079103740967_1383737011_3646530_1957034526_n.jpg



Brewing salts and mandatory refreshment of the day

575057_4079104180978_1084576275_n.jpg



The mad scientist's laboratory

544858_4079102540937_1109104626_n.jpg



The workstation (brewing software, beer platform, and general work area)

544867_4079102860945_1383737011_3646526_384652182_n.jpg



Mashing the grains

535766_4079104340982_1383737011_3646532_1975875048_n.jpg



Initial Foam appears at the start of the boil (this is eventually skimmed off)

48105_4079104420984_1383737011_3646533_1547864428_n.jpg



Yeast culture

11783_4073147432063_1246199264_n.jpg



The mad scientist at work

560645_4077114051226_1264698956_n.jpg



And here we have unfermented beer

579258_4085828549083_1680529530_n.jpg
 
Wow that is one beautiful set up you have put together. It looks fantastic!
 
All that awesomeness and you're milling your grains by hand!?!?!
 
Congrats that's a beautiful setup. I'm still finishing my build 4 months later and I can't wait to take it on its maiden voyage
 
Excellent excellent job on the setup, the whole area looks just so pleasant to work in. Great choice of beer as well! Going to brew alot of pilsner on that system?
 
Looks like I'm not the only one that thought a stainless brew table would be awesome. Congrats!
 
Looks phenomenal! I love the beautiful keggles. Mine have the brushed look and I'm pleased with those as well. The entire area looks great.

And the hydro sensor is amazingly clear!
 
Thanks everyone.

They kegs are actually polished. about 6 hours into each one. LOL. Done during the cooler winter evenings with a cigar and some beer.

I used Gator Grit pads on my angle grinder (medium, then fine), and then finally 2 steps of metal polish on a felt pad.

Surprisingly, these WERE all nasty beat up kegs I got off of craigslist!
 
Really nice job there, wow! While the first electric brew for me was awesome, personally, I found the first electric brew done whilst having electric-brewed beer on tap was joyful.
 
Very nice! Can I ask where you got the diamond plate and how much it ran?
 
Here are some pics of the progress on the beer keezer (keggerator/freezer).

This will have the ability to serve 3 flavors of home brew, each at their own CO2 serving pressure (unit has primary and secondary regulators). This will also have a Johnson digital temperature controller to regulate power to the compressor to keep the temperature at the desired 38 degrees (versus freezing the beer!)


Lastly, I have built this keezer with the entire collar lifting up so that you don't have to lift the heavy kegs as high!

I still have to bond the original lid to the top of the wooden collar, add the drip tray beneath the taps and fire her up!




dl.dropbox.com-271-1338432420.1.jpg



dl.dropbox.com-271-1338432422.2.jpg



dl.dropbox.com-271-1338432423.3.jpg



dl.dropbox.com-271-1338432424.4.jpg



dl.dropbox.com-271-1338432425.5.jpg



dl.dropbox.com-271-1338432426.6.jpg
 
I actually have cork mats, but since I had just finished some cleaning, they were out.

Photo%20Jan%2013%2C%2011%2027%2013%20PM.jpg
 
Really impressive system. Congratulations on getting it up and running!
 
I had them custom made. I got sheets of 1/2" cork on Amazon (24x48) and brought them to a waterjet cutter to get cut to size.
 
Back
Top