Hey all. I'm a Zymatic owner, and haven't brewed in three years. Looking to get back into it, but I need to seriously simplify & cut down on the human effort and time required. I'm going to outline my plans & see if anyone has good suggestions for me going forward.
Priority 1 is TIME. I have precious little of it. Priority 2 is making good beer.
Location: my basement. We live in a rented townhouse, and I'll need to hire a plumber to put in a water faucet, but it's the only indoor location I could possibly brew. Our garage has an outdoor water faucet but no drain so that's a disaster waiting to happen.
Brewing process: will be using my Zymatic, and, I think, one of those stainless brew buckets instead of a corny keg. I have a few reasons for this, chiefly that it is a pain in the butt to clean krausen off corny kegs, *even with my Mark's Carboy Cleaner*. I'll be passing the zymatic wort through a stainless chiller immersed in a utility sink with water running to chill.
I'm loosely considering doing double 2.5gal batches & fermenting in a 7gal brew bucket so that I can keep using my 5gal corny kegs. It'll be either that or switch to 2.5gal serving kegs.
Cleaning: going to try and source an oversize utility sink so that I can hand-wash the Zymatic components. will use a drip tray to dry. I've found that my dishwasher doesn't do the job 100%, and cleaning / storing in situ is actually time saving for me. I'm also going to use a large collander to hold my grains after removing them from the zymatic so that they can A: cool and b: continue to drip dry.
Fermenting: I'm thinking tabletop ferments, transfers using gravity / built up pressure so that I don't have to move or jostle the fermenting vessel. I have a cheapo temp controller and a heat wrap which I'll be using for positive temperature control. Going to be 100% kveik yeast from now on - fementer fridges were a pain in the ass and I'm happy that there's a yeast out there that can eliminate the need for refrigerated temps. With the kveiks there's no need for stir starters either so I'll be dispensing with those as well.
Serving: I'll be buying a kegerator, a proper one I think. I *considered* bottling and using a fridge, but I so much prefer forced carbing and if I go that far, why not just get a kegerator. It'll be a three tap affair. I'll be testing out our basement's ambient temperature to see if, just maybe, it's in cellaring range, so that I could maybe age some really high ABV brews in serving kegs.
So - any have any recommendations or insights for me? I'm looking to do maybe 2-3 brews per month and need to keep "hobby" time to less than 4 hours per week.
Priority 1 is TIME. I have precious little of it. Priority 2 is making good beer.
Location: my basement. We live in a rented townhouse, and I'll need to hire a plumber to put in a water faucet, but it's the only indoor location I could possibly brew. Our garage has an outdoor water faucet but no drain so that's a disaster waiting to happen.
Brewing process: will be using my Zymatic, and, I think, one of those stainless brew buckets instead of a corny keg. I have a few reasons for this, chiefly that it is a pain in the butt to clean krausen off corny kegs, *even with my Mark's Carboy Cleaner*. I'll be passing the zymatic wort through a stainless chiller immersed in a utility sink with water running to chill.
I'm loosely considering doing double 2.5gal batches & fermenting in a 7gal brew bucket so that I can keep using my 5gal corny kegs. It'll be either that or switch to 2.5gal serving kegs.
Cleaning: going to try and source an oversize utility sink so that I can hand-wash the Zymatic components. will use a drip tray to dry. I've found that my dishwasher doesn't do the job 100%, and cleaning / storing in situ is actually time saving for me. I'm also going to use a large collander to hold my grains after removing them from the zymatic so that they can A: cool and b: continue to drip dry.
Fermenting: I'm thinking tabletop ferments, transfers using gravity / built up pressure so that I don't have to move or jostle the fermenting vessel. I have a cheapo temp controller and a heat wrap which I'll be using for positive temperature control. Going to be 100% kveik yeast from now on - fementer fridges were a pain in the ass and I'm happy that there's a yeast out there that can eliminate the need for refrigerated temps. With the kveiks there's no need for stir starters either so I'll be dispensing with those as well.
Serving: I'll be buying a kegerator, a proper one I think. I *considered* bottling and using a fridge, but I so much prefer forced carbing and if I go that far, why not just get a kegerator. It'll be a three tap affair. I'll be testing out our basement's ambient temperature to see if, just maybe, it's in cellaring range, so that I could maybe age some really high ABV brews in serving kegs.
So - any have any recommendations or insights for me? I'm looking to do maybe 2-3 brews per month and need to keep "hobby" time to less than 4 hours per week.
