Naked City Imperial Rye on tap in Seattle!

[weetodd]

Sounds like a group trip to Stix is in order.

 

[seawort]

Sounds like a group trip to Stix is in order.

A fine idea indeed. We should get together to toast the first commercially available naked city together.

 

[Brewtopia]

Brewed this today. Overall a very good brew day. We were a little low on our target numbers but still should end up with an 8% abv, 90 IBU Imperial Rye IPA.

Here are some pictures of the brew day

Running the strike water to the mash tun

Mashing in. At Stix, this is very labor intensive. The mash tun is much like the insulated coolers we use in homebrewing. This one just happens to be 8.5 barrels.

The flaked rye goes in last

Nailed our mash temp of 154 degrees

All mashed in. 20 minutes

 

[Brewtopia]

The lid goes on and we wait

Filling the brewkettle so that we can heat the sparge water. Stix doesn't have a HLT so we have to heat water in the brew kettle a nd transfer over to a fermenter which acts as a holding tank. Very time consuming but it works.


Adding sanitizer to the fermenter we will be tranfering the beer into.

Recirculating the wort

 

[Brewtopia]

Attaching the sparge arm to the mash tun

Running off into the kettle

Sparging

Adding first wort hops (Galena)

First wort hops are in the kettle

 

[landhoney]

I hate when people post in the middle but couldn't resist. WOW

Must be the tits! Really happy for you topia, you're living the dream( is that getting old?, sorry but you are - my dream anyway )

 

[Brewtopia]

Sparge complete

A rolling boil

Head Brewer Tomas Munoz adds the 60 minute hops

Time to clean out the mash tun

Got to make sure it gets a good rinse

 

[Brewtopia]

Time for another hop addition

Adding finings

Whirlpool hop addition ready to go

Final hop addition going in

Wort chiller and pump is set up and ready to tranfer from kettle to fermenter.

 

[Ryanh1801]

sweet. Looks like an awesome brew day.. Congrates again.

 

[Brewtopia]

Hooking up the O2 line to aerate the wort on it's way to the fermenter

Temp guage and sight glass between the wort chiller and fermenter

Closeup of sight glass where you can see oxygenated wort on it's way to the fermenter

Hosing down the floor after pitching the yeast. Yeast is pitched by putting 10 lbs of head pressure on the fermenter next to this one and pushing the yeast from the bottom of the cone into the newly transferred beer. The yeast we are using is Rogue's Pacman yeast.

Trub at the bottom of the brew kettle. Guess who gets to clean this out as well? It's all part of the job.

 

[Brewtopia]

Brew is complete and the brewery is all cleaned up. All total, 8 hours.

Hey, that sticker looks familiar


and this one's for landhoney

We took about 13 gallons of Stix Red Ale and racked it into a keg. We pitched Wyeast's Lambic Blend and I attached the one dollar barrel. (Rubber stopper with an oak dowel) The keg is sitting in the restaurant at Stix.

 

[Brewtopia]

I somehow missed a few photos that should have come at the beginning. Oh well, here they are now

This is the exterior of Stix on a beautiful winter day in Seattle

Stix buys their grain pre-crushed from Larry's Brewing Supply in Kent WA because there's no room to mill the grain onsite. Here's the grain for today's batch. Initially staged in the restaurant then brought into the brewery when we're ready to mash in.


Another picture of the brewery. It's so small, it's like brewing in a German U-boat, We nicknamed the brewery "Das Boot"

 

[Yooper]

Wow- those pictures are awesome! What a great way to show us your brewday. That's so cool! Thanks for showing all those pictures to us. We can brew vicariously through you!

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Wow, I've never seen so much brewing equipment in such a small space. I bet that took a fair amount of planning cramming it all in there.

Great pics.

 

[landhoney]

and this one's for landhoney...

The whole thing? You're too kind. When can I pick it up?
Your second beer is a sour, great way to strart!

 

[RichBrewer]

Thank you for the fantastic picks Brewtopia! That looked like a lot of work and a lot of fun!

I'm extremely jealous!

 

[Warped04]

Brewtopia! Congrats....Looks like that was an exhausting day.

 

[sause]

That is awesome Brewtopia!!! I wish I could have been there. You are an inspiration to us all.

 

[Brewtopia]

Originally posted by landhoney
The whole thing? You're too kind. When can I pick it up?

LOL. It's all yours man. Come by anytime!

Thanks everyone, it was a great time. If anyone finds themselves in Seattle and it happens to be a brewday at Stix, you're more than welcome to come on by and help out. Tomas is a lot of fun to work with and with 17 years as a professional brewer, he's a wealth of knowledge.

I'll be sure and update when the beer goes on tap. Would love to meet up with some fellow HBTer's.

 

[Brewsmith]

That is totally awesome! :rockin: Congrats on the brew. As much work as it was, it still looked like fun to me.

 

[Warped04]

LOL. It's all yours man. Come by anytime!

Thanks everyone, it was a great time. If anyone finds themselves in Seattle and it happens to be a brewday at Stix, you're more than welcome to come on by and help out. Tomas is a lot of fun to work with and with 17 years as a professional brewer, he's a wealth of knowledge.

I'll be sure and update when the beer goes on tap. Would love to meet up with some fellow HBTer's.

Yeah, but we have to bring our own hops...Where the heck am I going to find 10 lbs of hops...No seriously...Where can I find 10 lbs of hops.

 

[Brewpastor]

Absolutely amazing and no better to enjoy it then you. Congrats!

 

[Spyk'd]

I'm sure this was mentioned before, but one, I can't recall and two, I'm 'on my way', so what was the production capacity of that brewhouse? (i.e. how many barrels can you brew at a time with their mash/kettle config?)



Just curious...

 

[Brewtopia]

It's an 8.5 barrel (263.5 gallon) brewhouse. Annual production last year was around 500 barrels.

 

[Brewing Clamper]

Wow, I can't believe I missed this thread! Ok, I can.. I've been slacking... anyway, dude that rocks! When will it be served? I've been meaning to take a trip up to Seattle to see my bother, might have to do it earlier now!

 

[Deofol]

Best thread ever! The pics of the brew day were awesome! Thanks!

Too bad I couldn't get a taste of this brew on tap, I'm sure it will be great!

 

[Soulive]

Wow great stuff BT. I like how their pump is on wheels. That chiller is the same one we use at my local brewpub. Good job man! :rockin:

 

[IndyPABrewGuy]

Jealous am I. That's awesome, BrewTopia, Congrats! Just another reason to get to Wash State.

Cheers, man!! Livin' it!:rockin:

 

[shunoshi]

Wow, that is awesome. When I make it out to the Seattle area (and someday I will), I'll make sure to look up some Naked City! Congrats!!

 

[Brewtopia]

Went into Stix on Friday and casked two Firkins that will be served from the bar top at Stix. The draft version should be on tap by next Friday. There will be a keg or two going to Collins Pub as well.

I tasted it off of the fermenter on Friday and it's really good. Huge grapefruit aroma from copius amounts of Centennial, Cascade & Amarillo hops. We also dry hopped the Firkins with the same three varities.

I'll post here when I know for sure when it's going on tap. It would be great to get some local HBT members together for the occasion.