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i got all of the frame pieces milled up for the bar today. To much damn work, but it's done. Maybe I can get it together tomorrow, or just sit in the hot tub and enjoy a stout. Hmmm....
 
It will be well worth it when it is all finished. Our basement was a disaster when we were building the bar, doing some renovations associated with the bar area.... sure was nice to have it all in place when it was finished though.
 
Braufessor said:
It will be well worth it when it is all finished. Our basement was a disaster when we were building the bar, doing some renovations associated with the bar area.... sure was nice to have it all in place when it was finished though.
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What upgrades are you doing Brau?
 
EZCyclone said:
What upgrades are you doing Brau?
Click to expand...

They are all done now. Put in the additional drop ceiling area over the bar. Put in the beer engine. Also put in a gas fireplace. Did it all about a year ago. It was a mess for a month, and lots of clean up....(dust) - but nice to have it all in place now.

bar 1.jpg


bar 2.jpg


bar 3.jpg


bar 4.jpg
 
I swore I saw you mention a brew cart on one of your posts. I guess I was mistaken. I have no idea what a brew cart is either that's why I was asking. I have a small table in my brew table on wheels that I have my ingredients on and was just seeing what others use.
 
Well I have no idea. Lol. If you find the post, I can try to figure out what I was talking about at the time. The only thing I can think of, is somewhere, recently I talked about my mobile beer cooler I'm building, so maybe I said brew cart there. Anyway, what THAT is, is a used monster drink cooler like you see in the gas stations by the counter. It's just a tube that goes up maybe 4 feet. Best part is the one I got is actually a refrigerator, full freon. Not a electronic cooler.

And it fits two, maybe three kegs perfectly. I'm going to build a topper for it, so I can put a nice tower on it like on my keezer design, and light it up and put faucets on it. Then when I'm having a party on the patio I can just set that up upstairs and have a few kegs on tap outside, and nice and cold.

I guess I could keep it on standby in the bar too. Hmm, then I'd have 8 kegs on tap...
 
So I got the gas manifolds anodized finally. Not the color I was looking for, but I need to get my new system figured out. It's thermal dynamics are far different from my old small tank. None the less, I got a healthy 1.36mil layer build on the surface. So they are definitely passivated and protected. I'll do some tank testing and really get it figured out later.

Now I have to go study for the rest of the day for both a Latin and GeoChem tomorrow exam, how exciting.

Hopefully Tuesday I will get to put a very full day into the new bar. There's a gal who says she wants to buy the old one, which is currently in my damn way, and she keeps postponing coming to buy it.

Anybody around Ames free mid day Tuesday? Lol.
 
Braufessor said:
They are all done now. Put in the additional drop ceiling area over the bar. Put in the beer engine. Also put in a gas fireplace. Did it all about a year ago. It was a mess for a month, and lots of clean up....(dust) - but nice to have it all in place now.
Click to expand...

Looking good Brau! What's on Tap?
 
Sadly..... not a lot right now. I have several beers kegged, but they need a little age yet - Dortmunder, Pilsner, Helles, Alt, Scottish 70 and British Dark Mild..... all need 3-5 more weeks + carbonation. I have a Blonde Ale that is about right, although I should really leave it alone for a week or two. I was really disappointed in my last to IPA/pale ales. I am going to dump one..... It just sucks. The other one is drinkable, and I hope it comes around a bit better, but it is nothing to write home about. Both were kind of experimental, and not sure exactly what was wrong with them.
So, just not a whole hell of a lot ready to go right now. I brewed an IPA on Friday (Heady Topper Clone) and brewed another IPA today (Hop-Fu). Hoping to get an american pale ale brewed Monday or wednesday night this week to get some hops back on tap ASAP.
 
Braufessor said:
I was really disappointed in my last to IPA/pale ales. I am going to dump one..... It just sucks.
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Sadly, I have done this myself. Last year I brewed up a "Lemon-coconut Cream Ale". Sounds good, doesn't it? Well..... it tasted like ass! It made for really good beer bread though!:cross:
 
Well I got the short wall framed up, now onto the long wall. Then out to Vday for the lady tonight, then celebrate her birthday tomorrow night, then have a Wild game on Sunday, so won't get a whole lot done this weekend.

What's everyone else doing for Vday? Big plans?
 
I'm an Iowa (DSM) brewer, but I'm ashamed that it's been a long time since I brewed last. Probably the summer...

I have only 1 keg with beer still in it, and I'm scared it's going to kick any day now. I need to have a nice long brew day and fill the other two back up!
 
Valentines day. ..jeez. I could be brewing, but NOOOOOOOOO! Gotta take the wifey out. You'd think that they would grow out of that ****.
 
My girlfriend works in the morning so I guess I might as well work too. Then wine and dine her.

How long does it take you to get up to a wild game from ames? They have been looking pretty good over the past week or so
 
signguy35 said:
How long does it take you to get up to a wild game from Ames? They have been looking pretty good over the past week or so
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They have been getting better for sure! It's only about 30 minutes for us. Not bad at all. The future wife's Dad has a suite at WF, so it makes games pretty enjoyable. Are you going Sunday?
 
NickTheGreat said:
I'm an Iowa (DSM) brewer, but I'm ashamed that it's been a long time since I brewed last. Probably the summer...

I have only 1 keg with beer still in it, and I'm scared it's going to kick any day now. I need to have a nice long brew day and fill the other two back up!
Click to expand...

If you could find any time during the day next week, I'd say come up and brew on my gear if ya want. I'd gladly trade ya brew time for a extra set of hands working on the bar room. I'm plumbed into the main NG line so a full brew day runs me about $1.21. :)

Actually that goes for any of my local folks, you bring your ingredients and come on up! If of course you can make it during the day. Night mostly get dedicated to the lady and homework.
 
Oh, and I was able to get my long wall built today too. Measured across the whole thing it's out of square less than 0.0625" Not flocking bad for junk framing lumber! Should make the rest of the build up very nice.

So the gal that was supposed to buy the bar sent her poor brother instead. Guy shows up to pick up a full 8 foot bar set with 6 foot back bar, in a Ford short bed with a tool box AND 4 giant ass 4X4 tires in the back. WTF?!? I mean seriously. Anyway, somehow by the grace of god we got his junk moved around and my old bar packed in there and shipped out. So cash in hand, it pays for some of the new bar stuff.
 
On another note, I love that we have a IOWA thread going now. It's nice to be able to talk directly at folks that are "local"

I was thinking, should we make a new post that better reflects who we are? Something that when others see it they know "Hey, these are Iowa folks, maybe I should stop in". I asked an admin, who is from Iowa, if we could change it to "IOWA, Echo, Echo, Echo..." Lol.

Thoughts?
 
I'm a Blackhawks fan. I have a cousin up in lake city who is a wild dude and I hope sometime I can get both of us up to a game to show him how real hockey is played...Thank god the hawks won tonight.
 
Stupid Vday, all I can think about is working on the bar, but to damn tired to do anything now. Guess I will give up my sleeping in to get something done before we have to go to that game.

Everyone having a good weekend?
 
Brewed a batch of Blonde ale yesterday. 4th time I have brewed it now. Just trying to dial in the water on it. Great drinking beer that is going to be the "what do you have that is like regular beer" option in my line up. But, truth be told, I actually love it too.

Going to brew something hoppy today.... not sure what. Probably an american pale ale/session IPA in the 4.5% alcohol range as I have 2 IPA's getting close to kegging stage anyway.

Cautiously optimistic about my latest Heady Topper Clone. I tried some out of the fermenter yesterday and it was really good. I am a little worried though as it was still in the 1.018 range.... Hopping there are still a few more gravity points to come off of it. It has been fermenting for 8 days, Started at 1.070 and my house is pretty cool right now. So, I am going to let it go another week and dry hop it next week. If it can get down to 1.012-14 range, I think it will be great.
 
Braufessor said:
Brewed a batch of Blonde ale yesterday. 4th time I have brewed it now. Just trying to dial in the water on it. Great drinking beer that is going to be the "what do you have that is like regular beer" option in my line up. But, truth be told, I actually love it too.

Going to brew something hoppy today.... not sure what. Probably an american pale ale/session IPA in the 4.5% alcohol range as I have 2 IPA's getting close to kegging stage anyway.

Cautiously optimistic about my latest Heady Topper Clone. I tried some out of the fermenter yesterday and it was really good. I am a little worried though as it was still in the 1.018 range.... Hopping there are still a few more gravity points to come off of it. It has been fermenting for 8 days, Started at 1.070 and my house is pretty cool right now. So, I am going to let it go another week and dry hop it next week. If it can get down to 1.012-14 range, I think it will be great.
Click to expand...

All above sound tasty! I've got to find some time to do some brewing, I've been so busy with the bar room, school and wedding stuff (not to mention all the other honey do's) I've not found any time to do any brewing. Nor do I see any coming soon. The bar room has taken an unexpected turn and ballooned in scope. Anybody have an itch to brew but no gear? Lol want to come brew for me? Lol.

So I was able to get some work done on the bar room today. Not a ton, but a decent list. Now I'm off to the game.
 
Well will ya look at that! This thread has a new name! Nice to see it now represents Iowa!
 
Worked my ass off today and get all the electrical done in the walls and got the sheet rock back up.

What the hell is everyone else up to this week?
 
Anyone new coming into this thread, it's just a place for us Iowa folks to BS about life, brewing or what have you. Join in and say hi!
 
Sounds like you are making progress on the build.... Looking forward to seeing the final product when you are done. I bet it will look great.

I have an ambitious brew day planned for Saturday - I have a college buddy and homebrewer coming down from the cities for the weekend. We brew something crazy every once in a while...... This is the plan (the plan hinges heavily on us not getting into the sauce too much).

We are going to brew a big (1.1-1.2) Imperial Stout. We are going to do 2 mashes, with about 15lbs of grain in each, and collect about 4-5 gallons of first runnings off of each mash. We will collect the runnings off mash #1 and start boiling down. We will also collect second runnings in a bucket (about 3-4 gallons). We will start mash #2 as Mash #1 first runnings are boiling. As mash #2 finishes, we will drain first runnings of that into the boil kettle and continue to boil down. We will again collect second runnings in a bucket.

At conclusion of 2 mashes, we will basically have collected about 9 gallons of first runnings that we will boil down to make 7 gallons of wort for the Imperial Stout. We will also have collected about 7-8 gallons of second runnings that we will return to the pot we used for mashing (after it is cleaned out) and start a second boil on that. I think we are going to pitch lager yeast to the second runnings and make a black lager/baltic porter out of that (supplementing with some DME if we need to for gravity).

So, in the end, we should have about 7-8 gallons of high gravity wort we can use for imperial stout. Going to split that into 2 buckets and pitch scottish ale yeast to both...... 2 buckets will allow much more head space for anticipated fermentation/blow off.......

We will also have 5-6 gallons of 1.05ish wort that we can pitch German Lager X yeast to for a black lager.

We are going to primary the stout for 3 weeks. Move to secondary for 3-6 months. We are then going to get a 5 gallon used bourbon barrel and age another 3-5 weeks in that. Move to keg. Force carbonate and cold age some more - bottle with beer gun, enjoy.

Hopefully time things right and have another beer ready to go into the barrel when we take this one out. Looking forward to it. Always good to do something over the top from time to time.
 
Braufessor said:
Sounds like you are making progress on the build.... Looking forward to seeing the final product when you are done. I bet it will look great.

I have an ambitious brew day planned for Saturday - I have a college buddy and homebrewer coming down from the cities for the weekend. We brew something crazy every once in a while...... This is the plan (the plan hinges heavily on us not getting into the sauce too much).

We are going to brew a big (1.1-1.2) Imperial Stout. We are going to do 2 mashes, with about 15lbs of grain in each, and collect about 4-5 gallons of first runnings off of each mash. We will collect the runnings off mash #1 and start boiling down. We will also collect second runnings in a bucket (about 3-4 gallons). We will start mash #2 as Mash #1 first runnings are boiling. As mash #2 finishes, we will drain first runnings of that into the boil kettle and continue to boil down. We will again collect second runnings in a bucket.

At conclusion of 2 mashes, we will basically have collected about 9 gallons of first runnings that we will boil down to make 7 gallons of wort for the Imperial Stout. We will also have collected about 7-8 gallons of second runnings that we will return to the pot we used for mashing (after it is cleaned out) and start a second boil on that. I think we are going to pitch lager yeast to the second runnings and make a black lager/baltic porter out of that (supplementing with some DME if we need to for gravity).

So, in the end, we should have about 7-8 gallons of high gravity wort we can use for imperial stout. Going to split that into 2 buckets and pitch scottish ale yeast to both...... 2 buckets will allow much more head space for anticipated fermentation/blow off.......

We will also have 5-6 gallons of 1.05ish wort that we can pitch German Lager X yeast to for a black lager.

We are going to primary the stout for 3 weeks. Move to secondary for 3-6 months. We are then going to get a 5 gallon used bourbon barrel and age another 3-5 weeks in that. Move to keg. Force carbonate and cold age some more - bottle with beer gun, enjoy.

Hopefully time things right and have another beer ready to go into the barrel when we take this one out. Looking forward to it. Always good to do something over the top from time to time.
Click to expand...

Holy Crap! Now that's a brew day! lol. That's one hell of a list of things to do. Beware of the sauce! :tank: I don't think I would survive a brew day like that. But the double double is kinda fun.

Make sure to take and post some brew day pics on here, that would allow us to live through you. lol
 
Braufessor said:
Sounds like you are making progress on the build.... Looking forward to seeing the final product when you are done. I bet it will look great.
Click to expand...

Lol you and me both! Thanks. I'm going to get the projector wires run in the ceiling, and run a few more outlets. Then somehow, I have to get some speaker wires moved that are really buried in the wall. Then get the new plumbing in the ceiling and pull the trim. If all goes well I'll have paint on the walls tonight.
 
I was born in Sioux City. Cool to see there's a brewshop in spirit lake. I'm visiting family for the first time in ages here soon. Don't think I'll have time for brewing adventures, unfortunately, but glad to see that you guys are keeping it real!
:mug:
 
I am in daydream mode. Got a new job offer last night for a lot more $$ and the wife just got a serious raise also. Once we knock out my wife's masters degree loan later this year I want to justify an indoor brew setup. I will keep my cooler MT and 10gal BK to brew on nice days outside or at club events.

Dreaming of what I would want in a dedicated basement brewery. Small space that includes my 15cf keezer/ferm chamber and hopefully a sink over the summer. I want to go electric no matter what. Induction or elements in the kettles (likely spring for stainless)? HERMS, RIMS? Control panel from Ebrewsupply, electric brewery, hosehead? I know there are a ton more. I do not have the knowledge to build one myself so that is out. Once I get that set, I will decide on what kettles I would purchase. I hate keggles, had them not a fan. Batches will be 5 gallons and I may consider the ability to do 10's.

Spew out your dream system within reason. I need a place to earmark and store what others would do given a good chunk of cheddar.
 

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