Hello all!
Quick Background: We have a Lagoon 440 sailing catamaran that has some pretty decent room in it for brewing. When you are sailing down island beer is ridiculously expensive and rarely are you presented with that "oh damn - this is awesome!" beer experience. Usually very few choices with very little flavor - at least for me. So my girl and I are going to make it! I come form a distilling background...
Here are my issues;
One, everything possible needs to be stainless steel or extremely hardy. Even where I live things on the boat get CRUSHED by the environment - and the further south we go it gets exponentially words.
Secondly, we have a real issue with heat. We can't run the air while we are sailing - nor wold we want to. If it is a still night and above 90 - we will - but other than that - you get used to it. My concern isn't the fermenting side because I have these 12v chillers on the way from BrewJacket. That should do the trick for keeping the beer cool during fermentation. It is the storage of the beer after it is brewed.....
So my questions to you
1. How long can I keep beer after I bottle it if it is in a 80 degree area?
2. Bottling. I am not against kegging. I do have some of those 12 oz stainless steel bottles coming and could put a good portion of the beer into those... I can't have a bunch glass on a blue water boat nor do I like the plastic or aluminum solutions JUST because I'm worried bout the high heat environment and what type of leaching could occur... but I could be talked out of this. Or can I get a few of these? http://deepwoodbrew.com/stainless-steel-growlers/10-stainless-steel-growler-2l-mini-keg.html
3. Fermenter / boiler I'm thinking of getting one of these:
http://wholesale.oliveoilsource.com/content/minox-welded-fusti-stainless-steel-lever-spigot-50-liter
Any advice? Going to use the Brewjacket on this. The Brewjacket is a lifesaver because there is NO WAY I could keep any beer under 80 degrees on a cool day on the boat....
Lastly - I need a solution that is tough.... things get knocked around on the boat. We do have some decent storage so that is a huge positive - just the weather is hot...
Thanks all for your help / opinions / jokes....! _steve
Quick Background: We have a Lagoon 440 sailing catamaran that has some pretty decent room in it for brewing. When you are sailing down island beer is ridiculously expensive and rarely are you presented with that "oh damn - this is awesome!" beer experience. Usually very few choices with very little flavor - at least for me. So my girl and I are going to make it! I come form a distilling background...
Here are my issues;
One, everything possible needs to be stainless steel or extremely hardy. Even where I live things on the boat get CRUSHED by the environment - and the further south we go it gets exponentially words.
Secondly, we have a real issue with heat. We can't run the air while we are sailing - nor wold we want to. If it is a still night and above 90 - we will - but other than that - you get used to it. My concern isn't the fermenting side because I have these 12v chillers on the way from BrewJacket. That should do the trick for keeping the beer cool during fermentation. It is the storage of the beer after it is brewed.....
So my questions to you
1. How long can I keep beer after I bottle it if it is in a 80 degree area?
2. Bottling. I am not against kegging. I do have some of those 12 oz stainless steel bottles coming and could put a good portion of the beer into those... I can't have a bunch glass on a blue water boat nor do I like the plastic or aluminum solutions JUST because I'm worried bout the high heat environment and what type of leaching could occur... but I could be talked out of this. Or can I get a few of these? http://deepwoodbrew.com/stainless-steel-growlers/10-stainless-steel-growler-2l-mini-keg.html
3. Fermenter / boiler I'm thinking of getting one of these:
http://wholesale.oliveoilsource.com/content/minox-welded-fusti-stainless-steel-lever-spigot-50-liter
Any advice? Going to use the Brewjacket on this. The Brewjacket is a lifesaver because there is NO WAY I could keep any beer under 80 degrees on a cool day on the boat....
Lastly - I need a solution that is tough.... things get knocked around on the boat. We do have some decent storage so that is a huge positive - just the weather is hot...
Thanks all for your help / opinions / jokes....! _steve