Fermentation Chamber Build

I have brewed a few beers since my last post which was about 4 months ago, an Apfelwein (not really a beer, but a brew nontehless), a Cascadian Dark Ale (Black IPA), a Rye Pale Ale, and I have a Strawberry Blonde that I added 12 pounds of crushed strawberries to about a week ago.

Needless to say I have been busy!

Living in Arizona makes it difficult to brew quality beer without some type of fermentation control. Previously I was using the "swamp cooler" method in which I had room for two fermenters in a 70 quart Coleman Xtreme chest cooler filled with water, and I was swapping ice bottles out multiple times a day.

With a donated fridge, and a little work I finally put together a fermentation chamber that will hold 3 fermenters, pales, or carboys, or 2 fermenters with 2 corny kegs.

So on with the show:

This is what the fridge looked like before. An older model Sanyo that was an R-12, opposed to an R-134 refrigerant.

 I removed the door, the door hinges, the feet, and the plastic top (no images) and all other hardware from the topof the unit.
The power cord was in bad shape, and I neded to replace it.

The first step was to frame the chamber, naturally I started with the base (ground up, right?).

Starting the skeleton, forgive the cloth diapers drying in the background ;P.

After I finished framig the walls, I mocked it up to make sure the fridge would fit, needless to say the fridge was not square whatsoever.

After the frame was all finished up, it was time to add the insulation. I used R-max 1.5" Polyiso insulation, it has the highest rating of the sheathing insulation that I could find, with a R rating of 9.5 (that's good!). As you can see I used bucket lids to ensure I could get three fermenters inside.

Side view with some insulation.

A view from the back. Nice thing about this older style fridge is that the cooling coils are all on the rear, outside of the unit, so it doesn't matter if I were cover the entire fridge.  The reason the back half of the fridge sticks out of the frame is because there is a ledge on the underside for the compressor mount, and the compressor mount itself is offset which would have made it un-level.

Top view; I built the chamber with a little extra room to spare.  I wanted the footprint to be as small as I could get it, but didn't want things so tight that it would become problematic to fit fermenters comfortably.

This is a semi-complete shot, I have the lid finished, still needs some temp control though.

Hinged, and a nice tight fit.

After all the inner-insulation was installed, all the seams were caulked with silicone sealant, and foil-taped.

I added a piece of scrap vinyl flooring I had lying around. It serves two purposes:
1. The polyiso insulation's foil skin tears and punctures easily, so the viny will keep the floor from being damaged by the fermenters.
2. In the event of a spill or an active fermentation that blows-off and makes a mess, clean up will be less difficult.

Time for some temperature control.  I like the Love TS-2 temperature controller made by Dwyer Instruments (the same type I have installed on my kegerator).  I like the blue LED that they are available in.  The installation cut is 29mm x 71mm.  My freebie wireless Dremel made easy work of the fridge's metal.

The foam insulation makes a mess when dug out, FYI.

I unfortunately didn't take the opportunity to photograph the actual wiring of the controller. I wanted to get this project done since it was taking longer than anticipated.  With school, and my one year old son, time is not something I have an abundance of right now.

However, a fellow Home Brew Talk member (Claudius B), helped me out with a wiring schematic, very precise. Thanks Claudius!

Controller installed, outer insulation installed, and all insulation seams foil-taped.

The finished product came out quite nice with the insulation between the 2x4's on the outside, everything came out flush.

Temperature probe is approximately 5' long, and will be long enough for my needs.

I have been contemplating covering the outside with some very thin paneling or whiteboard, or chalkboard, possibly even a vinyl wrap, just to make it look a little nicer since it is inside our bedroom.  Luckily this fridge is really quiet, and the TS-2 relay click isn't obnoxious either.

The chamber holds temps really well, I do need to add a fan inside, some weather stripping around the lid, and I did not know exactly where my wife was going to allow me to put the fermentation chamber inside the house, so I need to turn the lid around since it opens away from the wall, so after I get those three little things done, I will update this post to be thorough.

Regardless, I can't wait to get some full fermenters in it to see exactly how it performs.  Next brew day, whenever that is, will be a 10 gallon brew day which will allow me to get 2 full fermenters in the chamber.

Stay tuned for an update!

Burner Windguard build

I wish I would have snapped some photos of the actual fabrication process. In particular the shapes of the cuts for this wind guard.  I think it came out quite nice.  It is very practical, and works very well.

I used a 10' roll of 14" wide aluminum flashing and some aluminum short-rivets.

I used tin snips to cut the flashing, but in all honesty I think a decent pair of heavy duty scissors, similar to the type that come with a knife set for cutting meat and poultry bones and such would work better  The flashing was almost too thin for the snips.

Regardless, a few calculated cuts aside, an 1/8" drill bit, a rivet gun, and a small amount of foil tape, made a very effective wind guard that isn't too hideous.

Here she is in all of her glory:

By the way, I used a wire coat hanger to hold up the burner. It was hanging down some, and the burner wasn't level; I assume from the intense heat. Although the heat rises, it has gotten hot enough to crack the porcelain tile I set this on top of when brewing. I hope you like it, feel free to comment, or ask any questions about the actual fabrication.

Belgian Wit II Brewday...

No pictures of this brew-day unfortunately, but a blog update nonetheless.

I brewed up a batch of my BelgianWit recipe.  This time I was able to get the pale 6-row, instead of subbing the pale 2-row malt.

Brew-day started off well, I used my newly acquired hops, so a second difference in this recipe was the substitution of Chinook for Northern Brewer for bittering, and Saaz in place of Tettnang for flavor and aroma additions. I was able to source bitter oranges locally and I believe the bitter orange to be the one item absolutely necessary for Witbiers. Unfortunately could not get the whole Chamomile flowers like last time, so I used some 100% organic Chamomile Tea instead.  So substitutions aside everything that needed to be in the brew made it in.

Here is what went wrong with brew-day...

1. Beersmith calculated strike-water temp at 163.5°F, my strike-water temp was actually about 167°F. In the past I have normally added my strike water about 10°F warmer, but I usually end up stirring the crap out of the mash for 10-15 minutes to reduce the temperature to the proper rest temp.  So this time I tried to shave a few minutes off by starting a little cooler.  We did have some colder weather here in AZ, and I used a bucket to transfer my water, so I'm sure  I lost a degree or two there. I believe last time I emptied the strike water directly from the pot into the MLT, why I did it differently this time is any one's guess. 

2. So my rest temperature for this brew was 148°F but after stirring in my grain and such and allowing 10 minutes for the MLT temp to equalize my rest temp was about 145°F, I added a gallon of 180°F water, which remedied the situation...

3. ...oh but wait a second I forgot the oats in the mash, and I noticed with 25 minutes left out of the 60 minute mash,so I stirred in the flaked oats as quickly as I could attempting to lose as little heat as possible, and reset the timer for 60 minutes, therefore my total sacharification rest lasted bout 95 minutes, not too bad, a little extra time for conversion, I've done it before, but the 6-row was added for the extra diastatic power it had to convert the oat starch...

4.  So when I began to vorlauf, my mash temperature was about 145°F. I hope the wort did not become too fermentable.

5. Pre-boil gravity should have been 1.090, actually came out to 1.076, Original Gravity should have been 1.056, actually 1.050...

6.  I ended up with about 7 gallons instead of 6, so I did not have the boil-off rate that I am accustomed too.  Again, I'll chalk it up to the cooler temperatures we have had here.

What went right with brew-day you might ask?

1.  I got my boil going quickly

2. All of my hop and spice additions were on schedule

3. I hate the chilling process, and instead of the 40lbs of ice i go through in the summer, I was able to get my wort chilled to about 67°F in about 30 minutes with only 20lbs of ice...that is actually really impressive with my setup.

4. I made a nice size starter, and my wort was fermenting within a couple hours

5. For some reason, clean-up didn't seem too bad this brew-day, maybe because it is cooler, and the last time I brewed it was in the 100's!

This beer will probably be fermented out within 4-5 days, but I will allow it 14 days in the primary.  I am an advocate of the extended primary, most beers I would let sit for at least 3 weeks, usually 4, but Wits are meant to be drank young (one of the reasons I chose this beer to be my first to brew out of the 4 I plan to produce over the winter school break), I'll rack to a keg after the two week primary,  and let it carb up for an additional two weeks, and then it will be ready to drink!

I thank those of you who stopped by for brew day, and shun those of you who didn't...asses!

Well that's about it for this update, oh I did want to add, be on the lookout for my next project which will be mini-fridge fermentation chamber build, I hope to get that done early in the NewYear, so if you are following keep your eyes peeled!

Hops Arrived!

My hops order arrived!

I was really excited to be receiving 6 lbs of hops. so here they are, nothing to exciting to the lay person.

As you may be able to tell, the Chinook bag didn't have an airtight seal, so I wanted to repackage them to ensure their freshness.

It appears that only 8 oz of pellets will fit into a pint mason jar.  I vacuum sealed my jars with my nifty $3 yardsale foodsaver, and jar attachment.

As usual, HopsDirect is famous for tossing in a couple extra ounces.  I ended up with an additoinal 2.5 oz of Chinook, I'll assume the same with all of my other pellet varieties.

Unfortunately, HopsDirect didn't have any Simcoe, I don't know if they grow that variety. So I placed an order from Brewmaster's Warehouse, for an additional 5 oz of Somcoe that one of my next recipes calls for, a Balck IPA, or Cascadian Dark Ale, whichever moniker you prefer.

Also, 1 lb of leaf hops is a ton! I purchased leaf varieties for dry hopping, and once the bag was opened and the vaccuum seal broken, I had hops coming out the wazoo.  Smelled good though, and my fingers were sticky-icky with lupulin glands.

Hops, Hops, Hops, Hops, Hops, Hops...pt.1

I just placed an order for hops through Hops Direct. They had a 5% off the order promotion for black Friday.

I purchased one pound each of 6 varieties:

Chinook - pellets
Willamette - pellets
Fuggle (UK) - pellets
Saaz (US) - pellets
Amarillo - leaf
Cascade - leaf

I should be set on hops for Witbier, Stout, APA, IPA, and other hoppy brews.  I will make sure to post pics of my stash when they arrive. I'm excited.

I plan to brew 4 beers, in 4 days during the winter break, we'll see if it happens.  If so I'll have a 4 beers/4days post in about a month, till then stay tuned for pics of the hop shipment!

GABF 2010 Denver, CO.

We had a blast in Denver at this year’s GABF.  I hoped to take more photos than I did, but I was too busy sampling the awesome brews, and taking care of my 6 month old, who also attended, and loved it!
The top 5 breweries I sampled were:

5. Short’s Brewing
4. Lost Abbey
3. Dogfish Head
2. Jolly Pumpkin
1. New Glarus

By far,  New Glarus was the best!  I am on a sour beer kick right now, and I loved their beers, it is a shame, and a blessing that they do not sell their beer outside of Wisconsin. It’s a shame because it is so good, but it is a blessing, because they keep their quality high, and it gives me a reason to visit their brewery!

Jolly Pumpkin was a treat, once again, at this time I am really into the sours, and they have some delicious beers, don’t ask me to remember exactly what I had, but they were good.

It was a tough decision to place Dogfish Head and Lost abbey, I chose Dogfish Head above Lost Abbey because they had some really off the wall brews there and Bitche's Brew through a coffee bean randall was awesome, however, Lost Abbey’s Angel’s share was really, really tasty.

As far as Short’s Brewing goes I threw them in there because they had some really interesting beers, like a spruce infused pilsner, and a black licorice lager, and a very good barley wine aged on raisins, very different tastes. Plus their line was never ending.

So there you have it, hopefully I can make it back next year. If you are planning to attend and are an AHA member, only go to the Friday night session, and the Saturday afternoon members only session. It will give you plenty of time at the show to enjoy it. Do not attend the Saturday night session, it is the busiest, the crowd is more rowdy, and the vendors start to run out of beer.

If you are not a member, I suggest going to the Thursday evening session, it is by far the least busy other than the Saturday afternoon session.
When you do make it, be sure to stop by the American Homebrewer’s Association booth to say high to Gary Glass, tell him Tyson and Cheryl sent you!

Enjoy the few pics I managed to take:

Gary Glass, Tyler Keith, and Charlie Papazian.  I think Tyler approves of Gary's superb goatee.

Yours truly, Gary Glass, Tyler, and my better half.  I think Tyler is thirsty! Hurry get him a sample!

Tyler and Dad having a blast! (BTW, see the guy behind me on the left side of the photo, he was security, and was talking to some chick who was freaking the 'F' out because she was seperated from her boyfriend, and had severe anxiety issues...can you say freak? Better yet can you say make a plan before coming to an event like this so if you do get seperated you can meet somewhere, maybe bring cell phones?  Even better, maybe don't put yourself in situations where you are bound to have a problem with you anxiety issues!)

(Notice the guy over my shoulder still there, yeah it was a long ordeal...)

Happy mother and son, especially son after a diaper change!

Some of the people at the show are hardcore with their pretzel bandoliers. (Dude nice shirt, and skirt, real kilts are plaid, poser!)

We stopped at Rock Bottom Brewery to have some lunch and a couple of beverages, Tyler was not impressed with the beer selection.

On the last day we were there, we went to the Glass house and Tyler got to meet his cousin Mya, to the left is Erin Glass, Gary's wife, and the Brewer's Association coordinator.

There is a couple of other photos I want to upload, but they are not on my computer yet, so I'll add them to this post later.

Otherwise, go to GABF when you get the chanceit is a blast, there is a lt to learn, alot to taste, and some beers you may not be able to find in your local area.

Great American Beer Festival Tickets Arrived!!!

I received my GABF tickets in the mail yesterday!!! I am very excited!

Lets take a look shall we?

The envelope is open, the suspense is killing me!

Awesome!

Members get their own entrance to the event, makes me feel like a VIP!  ;P

Saturday afternoon is just for AHA members. Ah, privileges.

Ouch! That stings...I guess being in a drunken stupor for 4 days wills help ease the pain!

FWIW, I plan on taking a shit-load of photos during the festival, so I will post those near the end of September...

Next time Sour Project update, stay tuned.