Well, I should be fully kegging by this weekend. A friend and fellow homebrewer called while I was at work today and said he was going to All Seasons in Nashville and wanted to know if I needed anything. Not wanting to pass up a chance to buy more homebrewing "schwag", I asked him to pick me up a CO2 regulator, some beverage hose and some cobra/party faucets. All I need now is to pick up some gas line from Lowes and I'll be all set.

After working some more on my fermentation box I decided to clean and sanitize my (currently) one and only cornie keg. I filled it up with cleaner and sloshed it around a little. Then I attached the ball lock quick disconnects to the keg and hooked up my air pump that I use to aerate my wort and ran the cleaner thru the system. I then repeated the same with some Star San. After that I racked over my Belgian Pale Ale and sealed it up. Can't wait to pour me a glass from my very own kegging system.

Cheers!

I'm about to finish up on building my Fermentation Box. This will allow me to lock in a fermentation temperature that is ideal for fermenting a certain type of beer. It seems that the average temp for most Ales is 68f so that will be what I'll set it at initially. I think I can get two or three buckets and/or carboys inside the box so I'll have to make sure I get some that have similar "Ideal" temperatures.

Several of the comps I've entered the judges have said something about fruity esters in my beers. That can come from higher than ideal temps or temps going up and down during fermentations. Hopefully that will be a thing of the past now with this new toy.

The box is made from an old crate that contained an IBM server cabinet (that's why it's base is a pallet). It's insulated with two layers of 1" thick foam insulating boards. The door was a spare cabinet door that the previous owners of our house had left over after apparently redoing the kitchen.

I have a smaller door that I may add to the left side later on. I found out that the door is the perfect size for access to a corny keg. I may also divide the box inside so I can have a small section at a much lower temp (~35f) to serve the purpose of a place to store cornies used as bright tanks.

The temp in the basement while I was working on this was 41f after closing it all up and putting a small lamp with a 60 watt bulb inside the temp was up to 59f in a matter of about 10 minutes.

It's currently at 64f. I'd call that a success...

As per my flow chart, here are the steps in my brew process with pics:

1.) Enter Recipe in to ProMash

I have my brew house computer and my main computer on a network so that when I come up with a recipe or session and save it I can pull it up on the brew house computer.


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2.) Bring 1 Gallon of water to boil. Add to mash tun to adjust thermal mass

I boiled one gallon of water in my HLT and ran that into the mash tun. I figure in my HLT deadspace by running water into the HLT while the valve is open. Once water begins to run out (into a container of course) I let it run until it stops. From that point on I have basically set my deadspace to 0.



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3.) Weigh out Hops and Grain.

I would normally weigh out my grains on the scale pictured below. However this time I bought my grains at All Seasons and when I gave the lady my recipe she put them all in one bag.


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4.) Divide Hop additions into different bags.

I just use small snack bags to divide each addition. Then lable with type, order and time.


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5.) Take temperature of unmilled grains.

Decided once I put my flowchart to use that this step is pointless as long as you take the temp after milling.

6.) Have ProMash calculate strike water amount and temp.



7.) Add strike water to HLT and begin heating.

I have a large dowel with markings on one side for my HLT and on the other for my Boil Kettle giving the gallon amount. (They are different since my HLT has deadspace)


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8.) While strike water is heating mill grains.

I've got a Corona type mill that has been adjusted so that it mills/cracks and not grinds the grains into flour. I attached some air duct parts to fashion a ~5lb hopper. Then I attached a drill to the mill so I didn't wear out my arm. Sice this thing wasn't built to run that fast it will throw grains everywhere. To solve this I put a large bag over the milling plates and down into the shoot below (which is made from another duct piece). All the grains fall into a small (new) trash can sitting below.


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9.) Prepare 5.2 and Irish Moss bottles

I just use some small water bottles, ~3/4 of the way with hot water.


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10.) Verify no temp change in grains (*Change this to, Take temp of milled grains*)

Sorry, I never could get a good pic of the temp. I'm glad I took the temperature though. My grains were 51f, way lower than I had expected. Luckily I had my brew house computer handy to adjust my strike water temp.


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11.) When strike water is at temp, dump mash tun pre heat water

Didn't think you guys needed a pic of me pouring out water...

12.) Add milled grains to mash tun.

Again... no pic.

13.) Add strike water and 5.2 to grains while stiring to break up any dough balls and ensuring there are no dry spots.


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14.) Take mash temp reading.

Right on the money.


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15.) Temp correct? Adjust if needed.

I hit it right on first try so I didn't need to adjust. I did swing by Wally World and pick up a small camp stove to have some boiling water ready just in case. Since it was still kinda cool out, and my tap water was cold my plan was to use that if I over shot my mash temp.


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15b.) Didn't want to waste all that boiling water so...

Just a little pick-me-up.


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16.) Close mash tun & note time mash started.

17.) Have ProMash calculate sparge water amount and temp.

This should really not say "...and temp", I always sparge with 170f water



18.) Begin heating sparge water to desired temp


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19.) After grains have mashed 1 hr, begin draining wort sowly into 1/2 gallon pitcher until clear.


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20.) Once wort runs clear, drain into boil kettle & recirculate the runnings /w debris.


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21.) Once all wort has run into boil kettle begin adding sparge water (if to temp) to the mash. Stirring as before.


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22.)Let sparge sit for 15 - 20 mins to allow grains to settle.

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23.) After grain bed has settled begin draining wort to boil kettle as before.

Roughly 6.5 gallons to start with.


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24.) Once all wort has drained to boil kettle take a sample for pre-boil gravity.

I Just used a Pyrex measuring cup and scooped out some to set aside to cool so I could take a reading.

25.) Begin boil, once wort begins a rolling boil add hop additions per recipe.


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26.) Add Irish Moss and IM Chiller at last 15 mins of boil.


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27.) At the end of the boil, kill burner and start chiller water.

I ran the waste water back into the sink and watched the temp of the water to make sure I was getting a good heat transfer.


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28.) Once wort has reached pitching temps (<80f) transfer to fermenter.

Didn't take a pic while I was doing this (hands were a little tied up) but all I do is pour the wort thru two strainers into the fermenter.


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29.) Aerate the wort

This is my current aeration system. Next time it will be an O2 tank. I just forgot to pick one up before starting.


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30.) Pitch Yeast

31.) Seal up the fermenter

Didn't have any plastic ones clean, so I had to use a carboy this time.


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32.) Insert air lock

33.) Move fermenter to where ever it will be during fermentation.

That's it, my brew day in pictures....


Here's a few misc pics I took:

Water filter used for RVs. $16 at Wal-Mart


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Ball Valve on my mash tun. I had an issue with the hose kinking up since I didn't have a 90 degree barb so my friend and fellow homebrewer Rich came up with the idea of bending an old clothes hanger around it. Works like a charm!


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This is the Stainless Steel braided hose inside my mash tun.


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And of course, had to keep my check list handy...


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"A mash ratio of about 1.5 quarts of water per pound grain, pH of 5.3, temperature of 150-155° F and a time of about one hour. These conditions yield a wort with a nice maltiness and good fermentability." ~John Palmer