BREWDAY
So I am finally pushing my brewing skills a little bit by trying to do a fifteen gallon batch – my uncle George had prepared the equipment but never put it into use, and since I acquired the equipment I’d only used it as space and weight during moves to at least three different living situations. As with all my brewing episodes, the first time is a lot of excitement, learning, mess, and wonder if it will come out alright.
Process for all grain brewing: Add crushed malted grain to 150 degree water and maintain temperature for one hour. Raise temperature of mash to 170 degrees for ten minutes. Pour off liquid (wort) into secondary container, add hops at varying schedules, and boil wort for one hour. Chill wort as rapidly as possible, pour into tertiary container and when cooled to room temperature add yeast and stand back.
Fortunately Lindsey was around for brew day – and was a tremendous help in the process, especially since the false bottom in the mash container failed to keep the grain from pouring out as we attempted to pour the wort into the boil container. As a result, we used a couple of pots and filters / screens to quart by quart strain the wort to avoid getting grain into the boil pot (boiling the grains would lead to super bitter beer). The lack of elbow joints at the outlets also cause scalding liquid to go all over. We managed to complete the transfers and a shopping list for my next trip to home depot.
Pictures: a) the equipment pre brew; b) the ingredients pre brew – my home brew only contains water, grain, hops, and yeast; c) Lindsey adding about thirty pounds of crushed grain (in stages);
So I am finally pushing my brewing skills a little bit by trying to do a fifteen gallon batch – my uncle George had prepared the equipment but never put it into use, and since I acquired the equipment I’d only used it as space and weight during moves to at least three different living situations. As with all my brewing episodes, the first time is a lot of excitement, learning, mess, and wonder if it will come out alright.
Process for all grain brewing: Add crushed malted grain to 150 degree water and maintain temperature for one hour. Raise temperature of mash to 170 degrees for ten minutes. Pour off liquid (wort) into secondary container, add hops at varying schedules, and boil wort for one hour. Chill wort as rapidly as possible, pour into tertiary container and when cooled to room temperature add yeast and stand back.
Fortunately Lindsey was around for brew day – and was a tremendous help in the process, especially since the false bottom in the mash container failed to keep the grain from pouring out as we attempted to pour the wort into the boil container. As a result, we used a couple of pots and filters / screens to quart by quart strain the wort to avoid getting grain into the boil pot (boiling the grains would lead to super bitter beer). The lack of elbow joints at the outlets also cause scalding liquid to go all over. We managed to complete the transfers and a shopping list for my next trip to home depot.
Pictures: a) the equipment pre brew; b) the ingredients pre brew – my home brew only contains water, grain, hops, and yeast; c) Lindsey adding about thirty pounds of crushed grain (in stages);
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d) hop pellets that condense and preserve the delicate flowers/leaves; e) yeast that comes in a bag in a bag – the smack-pack allows one to break the inner bag, allowing yeast to mingle with starter and by the time it is pitched billyuns and billyuns of yeast cells are ready; f) the full equipment, on the rack, after I’d added the elbow joints
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The aftermath: adding thirty pounds of semi-depleted grains to my modest compost pile caused the mini-ecosystem to crash. the smell of the rotting grains has brought a bunch of flies and other baddies to my pile... I have covered it with potting soil to try to mask the smell lest my neighbors believe I am burying bodies.
Video (be patient): www.mackatwork.com/videos/20090628-BREWDAY(9).MOV - That is a six gallon carboy about 24 hours after brewing and adding yeast. The plastic contraption on top providing audio is an air-lock that prevents contaminants from being introduced - the bubbling gas is alcohol infused carbon dioxide.
2 comments:
That seems like a very interesting project. Thank you for the effort involved in providing this update.
brilliant adaptation! who knew about elbow joints? (you, i guess...)
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