twilliams an outdoor kitchen is where itās at! It is definitely a dream of mine. I donāt cook anything in the house from ate Spring to Fall.
Brewing Up Some Inspiration
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processhead Power User Regular Contributors Smoker Build Expert Bowl Choppers Nebraska Veteran Team Camo last edited by processhead
I think Dave in AZ was wanting someone to post some beer brewing pictures to get him motivated to do some brewing. calldoctoday has made, or is getting ready to make, the jump over to beer brewing as well. I also know johnsbrewhouse is also an experienced brewer and distiller.
Who else is brewing, besides making sausages and cured meats?
It has been a while and my stockpiles are dwindling. So today I did a 10 gallon batch of German Pils to get the pipeline refilled. Looking at two months before it is ready to drink, so it was time to get something going.
Here is some crushed barley malt waiting to be put in my mash-lauter tun to be mashed. Mashing is where you convert the starches in the grain to sugars that become yeast food and beer flavors.
In the mash-lauter tun, the crushed malt is mixed with warm water and the mixture is held at 150 degrees. When mixed with water at this temperature, natural enzymes in the crushed grain and the water start the conversion.
After an hour the conversion is complete and the sugar/water solution is rinsed out of the mash during a process called sparging. If you were to taste the mash at this point it would be very sweet and tasty. Might remind you of eating oatmeal with lots of sugar added.
Enough hot water is added and collected to the mash to give the requisite 10 gallon volume of beer wort.My mash-lauter tun has a recirculating pump, an in-line electric heater and a screen in the bottom. It works a lot like an old fashioned coffee percolator in that it extracts the flavored liquid but contains all the solids which get composted into the garden when done. I built and assembled most all of the pieces of my brewing system about 14 years ago, but you can buy ready-built plug and play systems now. But, what fun is that?
For this particular recipe, it requires about 19 lbs of crushed grain to get the right ratio of extracted sugars to water. The way we know the ratio is right is to measure the specific gravity of the beer wort with a hydrometer. For this recipe, the target SG is 1.049. When everything goes right, it looks like this:
After mashing, all the runnings are collected and pumped up to my electric boil kettle which is just a repurpose 15 gallon beer keg with a 5500 watt heating element in it. The heating element has some controls on it so I can run it at full power to bring it to a boil and then cut back the power to just enough to maintain a roiling boil for the hour it takes to complete. During the boil, hops are added at different time intervals and different amounts to add bitterness and flavors to the beer. At the end spanish moss is added which acts as a flocculant which helps to clarify the finished beer later on.
After the beer wort has finished boiling, it is transferred by gravity to two carboys for aeration and addition of yeast.
Before that happens, the temperature has to be lowered from 212 degrees F to approximately 72 degrees, or else the hot beer wort will kill the yeast and probably crack the glass carboy.
To cool the hot beer wort, it is run through a counter-flow chiller, which is just a coil of copper tubing with a hose on the outside. Cold tap water is circulated through the outer hose and the hot wort is run out of the boil kettle and into the fermenter through the inner copper coil. The heat is transferred out of the hot wort through tubing wall and absorbed by the cold water flowing on the outside.
Without a chiller, It would take many hours for 10 gallons of hot beer wort to be cool enough to add the yeast. With the chiller, it takes about 30 minutes and it is cool enough for adding yeast.After the yeast is added, fermentation will start in 8-12 hours. The yeast will metabolize the sugars in the beer wort with alcohol, beer flavors, and CO2 gas as the byproducts. After fermentation is complete, I will transfer the beer from the fermentors into 5 gallon kegs where it will mature.
Cheers! And Merry Christmas, Meatgistics!
Paul
- How hard can it be?
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processhead Nice!
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Denny O Iowa Team Camo Canning Gardening Cast Iron Regular Contributors Power User Green Mountain Grill last edited by
Merry Christmas to you as well, Chef Paul!
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Denny O Iowa Team Camo Canning Gardening Cast Iron Regular Contributors Power User Green Mountain Grill last edited by Denny O
Why do you put the poly tubing over the soft copper tube?
The old āMouse Trapā game has nothing on your set up!Denny O's-Smokey Bones
I'd rather be sit'in in a boat fish'in and thinking about God,
Than sit'n in church and thinking about fish'in! -
processhead Power User Regular Contributors Smoker Build Expert Bowl Choppers Nebraska Veteran Team Camo last edited by processhead
Denny O said in Brewing Up Some Inspiration:
Why do you put the poly tubing over the soft copper tube?
The poly tubing is the cold water jacket. Cold water flows through the jacket and extracts the heat out of the hot beer wort that is flowing through the inner copper coil.
It is a type of heat exchanger, kind of sorta like a car radiator.
Paul
- How hard can it be?
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Denny O Iowa Team Camo Canning Gardening Cast Iron Regular Contributors Power User Green Mountain Grill last edited by
processhead I see it now!
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processhead Thank you for those photos 1000000 fold. They are extremely helpful in helping us make the jump & Andrew & I were just talking about it again this morning as we are preparing to rack another cask of wine. We HAVE GOT TO DO IT! Your photos are beyond helpful, you may have no idea.
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processhead PS: I had been wondering this week about taking the pump from my Tile Saw & run ice water from a bucket though the Tygon Jacket to cool the wort faster. Do you think that would be helpful or a waste of time & a no-no, as just the tap water would be more than sufficient?
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processhead Power User Regular Contributors Smoker Build Expert Bowl Choppers Nebraska Veteran Team Camo last edited by
calldoctoday said in Brewing Up Some Inspiration:
processhead PS: I had been wondering this weak about taking the pump from my Tile Saw & run ice water from a bucket though the Tygon Jacket to cool the wort faster. Do you think that would be helpful or a waste of time & a no-no, as just the tap water would be more than sufficient?
To some degree it depends on your tap water temperature there. We have 60 degree well water which works great.
What temperature is your tap water? -
Dave in AZ Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Power User Arizona Dry Cured Sausage Dry-Cured Expert last edited by
processhead gaaahhhh I love this post!!
You got me so excited hereā¦ going out to look at my brew equipment now lolā¦ -
processhead Power User Regular Contributors Smoker Build Expert Bowl Choppers Nebraska Veteran Team Camo last edited by processhead
Dave in AZ said in Brewing Up Some Inspiration:
processhead gaaahhhh I love this post!!
You got me so excited hereā¦ going out to look at my brew equipment now lolā¦Heh Heh Hehā¦I hoped I would push a few of your buttons, Dave. lol
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processhead Yes, that was what Andrew & I were talking about too this week. I cannot recall what our temps are & will have to remeasure. I am certain it is pretty cool right now, but sometimes not as cool. We are not on a well any more like you are & as I recall, whenever we were on a well, it was always a pretty consistent temp as you mentioned.
As always, I really like your set up & designated area. Good idea too using the old Milk Crates for your carboy bases, that is nifty. I am wondering if you use them to speed up drying after cleaning too, but just sitting them upside down & the slight lift allows enough air circulation to facilitate better drying.Merry Christmas to you & your family as well. Go have another home brew!
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Dave in AZ Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Power User Arizona Dry Cured Sausage Dry-Cured Expert last edited by
calldoctoday yes, that milk crate idea is good! I need to get some, was always worried about slippery carboys!
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bocephus Team Orange Power User Canning Masterbuilt Regular Contributors Veteran New Mexico Sous Vide Gardening last edited by
processhead I donāt think I will ever brew at home, but it is interesting to see your process and set up.
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processhead Power User Regular Contributors Smoker Build Expert Bowl Choppers Nebraska Veteran Team Camo last edited by
Dave in AZ said in Brewing Up Some Inspiration:
calldoctoday yes, that milk crate idea is good! I need to get some, was always worried about slippery carboys!
Milk crates for carboys takes most, but not all, of the risk out of working with glass. I hardly ever take them out of the milk crates, even while cleaning them. I put these extenders on this one and it makes them more manageable since you really canāt reach the built in handles after the carboy is in there.
I have a molded plastic stand for inverting the carboys for drying after cleaning them
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Dave in AZ We have a few of those mesh, carrying things for the glass carboys, but I really like the looks of the dairy crate for the simple sitting & waiting part & maybe the drying.
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processhead Now that even takes it up to another level. I have a molded plastic gizmo that is made for the 6.5 gallon carboys, but it works for the 5 gallon carboys as well.
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Denny O Iowa Team Camo Canning Gardening Cast Iron Regular Contributors Power User Green Mountain Grill last edited by Denny O
processhead Gorgeous tap room Paul!
Oh, could you use a cheater for the press?
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cdavis Masterbuilt Canning Kamado Joes Regular Contributors Power User Sous Vide Oklahoma Team Camo last edited by cdavis
processhead BRAVO!!! And Merry Christmas
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wdaly Cast Iron Canning Green Mountain Grill Team Orange Masterbuilt Power User Military Veterans Regular Contributors Yearling Nebraska last edited by
processhead Thanks for an excellent intro to beer brewing. Iāve never made beer. Have done several batches of wine. Beer sounds pretty complicated. There v end result appears to make it worthwhile however.
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