Cameron's Brew Journal

Double Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 15:13:00 +0000

By Agriculture And Stock Department,
Publicity Branch [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

I've got something planned. Actually two things.

But I will do them simultaneously. And, weather permitting, I'll try them tomorrow.

The first is Smash beer. Smash (or SMaSH) stands for Single Malt and Single Hop. What that means is just what it says, my recipe contains only one malted grain, and one hop variety. While there are relatively few beers that you can make successfully using SMaSH brewing, it is a unique way to truly understand what characteristics a particular hop or malt adds to the equation. With only one malt and one hop variant, you can understand the exact flavors that come from those varieties.

The other experiment that I am going to do is to split the batch and use two yeast strains. So basically, I will end up with two different beers, but with some very similar characteristics.

I've been interested in parti-gyle brewing (an experiment for a later day) wherein the first runnings are used to make one big beer and the remainder is used to make a second beer (perhaps even with a second mash), but that requires two boils and I am not sure that I have the time for that tomorrow.

So instead, I'm doing a single mash (with one grain) and then doing a single boil (with one hop variant) and then splitting the wort. Since I make 10 gallon batches, it should nicely give me 5 or so gallons of each.

What am I making? A Kolsch (at the high end of its OG range) and a Belgian Pale (just below the low end of its OG range).

The grain bill? 22.5 lbs of Pilsner malt
The hops? 2 additions of Czech Saaz
The yeast? Wyeast Kolsch and Wyeast Belgian Ardennes

That's it.

My guess is I will end up with two pretty bad beers from an overall perspective (but hopefully still drinkable) but a solid knowledge of what each ingredient brings to the table.

And, highly likely, I will be live tweeting the brewday over at The Twittersss

Brew day!

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:48:00 +0000

Well, this could very well be the last brew day that I have in this house. We are going to try to sell our house and move this year, and that means storing the brewing equipment in storage, so I most likely won't be brewing around here again. By the time this batch is ready to drink, it will be mid-March or so, and I'd love it if we could sell our house as soon as April. Either way, this is a fitting beer to be the last brew in the house where I started brewing, since I do so love Wee Heavy beers. I've tweaked this recipe again this time around, so we will see how it goes.

TEST - 5G - Wye Heavye Beastye

Brew Type: All Grain	Date: 1/21/2013
Style: Strong Scotch Ale	Brewer: Cameron Mathews
Batch Size: 5.50 gal	Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 10.83 gal	Boil Time: 75 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 50.00 %	Equipment: Cameron Mathews Brewery: Brew Pot (15 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal)
Actual Efficiency: 44.77 %

Taste Rating (50 possible points): 40.0

**Ingredients**
Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
20.00 lb	Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)	Grain	77.92 %
3.60 lb	Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)	Grain	14.03 %
0.75 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 90L (90.0 SRM)	Grain	2.92 %
0.50 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)	Grain	1.95 %
0.30 lb	Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)	Grain	1.17 %
0.30 lb	Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)	Grain	1.17 %
0.16 lb	Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM)	Grain	0.61 %
0.06 lb	Peat Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM)	Grain	0.23 %
0.50 oz	Williamette [4.60 %] (75 min)	Hops	7.6 IBU
0.50 oz	Nugget [12.00 %] (75 min)	Hops	19.9 IBU
0.50 oz	Williamette [4.60 %] (20 min)	Hops	4.4 IBU
1.00 tsp	Irish Moss (Boil 20.0 min)	Misc
1.23 gm	Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
1.23 gm	Salt (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
7.89 gm	Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
13.31 gm	Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
16.77 gm	Chalk (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
23.42 gm	Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
57.20 items	Bottle Caps - Gold (Bottling 1.0 min)	Misc
13.56 gal	Edinburg, Scotland	Water
3 Pkgs	Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728)	Yeast-Ale

**Beer Profile**
Estimated Original Gravity: 1.087 SG (1.070-1.130 SG)	Measured Original Gravity: 1.078 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.024 SG (1.018-1.030 SG)	Measured Final Gravity: 1.020 SG
Estimated Color: 24.6 SRM (14.0-25.0 SRM)	Color [Color]
Bitterness: 32.0 IBU (17.0-35.0 IBU)	Alpha Acid Units: 10.6 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 8.30 % (6.50-10.00 %)	Actual Alcohol by Volume: 7.59 %
Actual Calories: 358 cal/pint

**Mash Profile**
Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out, Thick Mash	Mash Tun Weight: 9.00 lb
Mash Grain Weight: 25.67 lb	Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F	Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 7.10 gal	Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE

Name	Description	Step Temp	Step Time
Mash In	Add 28.23 qt of water at 171.3 F	154.0 F	60 min

Mash Notes
Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).

**Carbonation and Storage**
Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar	Carbonation Volumes: 2.4 (1.6-2.4 vols)
Estimated Priming Weight: 4.2 oz	Temperature at Bottling: 60.0 F
Primer Used: -	Age for: 3.0 Weeks
Storage Temperature: 72.0 F

Punk! Pumpkin Ale test batch

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 04:02:00 +0000

I love pumpkin ales. I LUV LUV LUV them, and so this year I decided to make one. Just a couple weeks ago, on a nice windy morning, I sat out back and brewed this right up.

TEST - (For Seasonal prelim) - PUNK Pumpkin

Brew Type: Extract	Date: 10/22/2012
Style: Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer	Brewer:
Batch Size: 5.50 gal	Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 8.84 gal	Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: Cameron Mathews Brewery: Brew Pot (15 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal)

Taste Rating (50 possible points): 35.0

**Ingredients**
Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
6.00 lb	Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM)	Extract	60.00 %
1.00 lb	Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)	Grain	10.00 %
0.50 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)	Grain	5.00 %
0.50 lb	Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)	Grain	5.00 %
1.00 oz	Mt. Hood [6.00 %] (60 min)	Hops	20.9 IBU
0.50 oz	Hallertauer [4.80 %] (5 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep)	Hops	-
0.25 tsp	Allspice (Boil 10.0 min)	Misc
0.25 tsp	Cloves, ground (Boil 10.0 min)	Misc
0.25 tsp	Ginger, powdered (Boil 10.0 min)	Misc
0.25 tsp	Nutmeg (Boil 10.0 min)	Misc
0.50 tsp	Vanilla Extract (Boil 15.0 min)	Misc
1.50 tsp	Cinnamon, powdered (Boil 10.0 min)	Misc
4.00 lb	Pumpkin (Roasted Pieces) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
52.80 items	Bottle Caps - Orange (Bottling 1.0 min)	Misc
1.00 lb	Brown Sugar, Light (8.0 SRM)	Sugar	10.00 %
1.00 lb	Molasses (80.0 SRM)	Sugar	10.00 %
8.84 gal	Dallas, TX	Water
1 Pkgs	American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272)	Yeast-Ale

**Beer Profile**
Estimated Original Gravity: 1.056 SG (1.030-1.110 SG)	Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.014 SG (1.005-1.025 SG)	Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Color: 16.8 SRM (5.0-50.0 SRM)	Color [Color]
Bitterness: 20.9 IBU (0.0-70.0 IBU)	Alpha Acid Units: 6.0 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.48 % (2.50-12.00 %)	Actual Alcohol by Volume: 0.65 %
Actual Calories: 43 cal/pint

**Carbonation and Storage**
Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar	Carbonation Volumes: 2.4 (2.0-3.0 vols)
Estimated Priming Weight: 4.2 oz	Temperature at Bottling: 60.0 F
Primer Used: -	Age for: 3.0 Weeks
Storage Temperature: 72.0 F

Notes

Used one and a half 4-5 lb pie pumpkins, cut into 8ths and peeled and roasted 1 hour at 325 degrees in the oven. Then added to the water with steeping grains and removed when water reached boiling temp to add extracts, molasses, etc.

Notes from http://www.thebrewsite.com/pumpkin-ale-recipe/The first thing to say is do not use canned pumpkin! Real pumpkin is the only way to go here, otherwise you’ll be dealing with a huge mess. You’ve been warned.

You’ll first need to roast the pumpkin in the oven, similar to cooking squash. This softens the pumpkin and begins breaking it down. Cut the pumpkin into manageable pieces (should be cleaned, of course—old jack-o’lanterns work great), place in a shallow baking pan and add a bit of water to the pan. Roast in a 325°-ish oven for about an hour, or until soft. Or check a cookbook .

There’s two ways you can incorporate the finished pumpkin: a partial mash-style method or simply a soak with the grains as the water heats. For the soak method, simply add the pumpkin and the grains to your pot of water, put it on the heat to boil. When it boils, remove the pumpkin and grains.

Chew with Incysers (it's a Cyser, get it?)

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:19:00 +0000

So I've made mead... but cyser is a specific kind of mead that uses apple juice as a base instead of water.

Think of it as mead & cider's offspring, if you will.

I decided to make a half batch (recipe was 6 gallons) and it looks like I might have exceeded even that. Here's the ingredients and the process I used...

2.5 gallons apple cider (no preservatives - I used generic Albertson's apple cider)
6 lbs honey (I used 4 lb Albertson's Clover and 2 lb local unfiltered)
1/2 gallon water
3 lb brown sugar (I used 2 lb light and 1 lb golden brown)
1.5 lb golden raisins (I used Sun-Maid)
3 tsp Yeast Nutrient
1.5 tsp Yeast Energizer
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp pectic enzyme
2 pkgs - Pasteur Champagne Yeast (Red Star)

OK, so first I dumped a gallon of apple cider in the carboy. Meanwhile I boiled the half gallon of water on the stove.

Then I proceeded to pour in the honey, jar after jar, and shake the carboy around to mix the honey with the cider.

Then, using some of the cider, I poured it in the honey jars, sealed them, and shook them vigorously to get all the honey out, pouring that in.

Dissolve brown sugar in the boiling water - use some ice or apple cider to cool it, then funnel it into the carboy.

Chop the raisins in the food processor - they become this big globby ball, so you have to work a bit to force them through the funnel in small chunks into the fermenter.

Drop in the cinnamon stick. Add the remaining apple cider. Shake again.

Add Yeast Nutrient and Yeast Energizer. Shake again.

*Note: This is where I am right now. Following steps to be completed tomorrow.

Wait at least 12 hours and add Pectic Enzyme.

Wait at least 12 more hours and pitch yeast (I will do this dry) into the fermenter.

Let it ferment for 3 or more weeks, swirling every day or two to keep the raisins in mixture.

Rack to secondary.

Let sit for up to 3 months before bottling. (I plan to bottle in November)

Bottle and let age in bottles - try one new, wait 3 months on most, and save some for a year.

We will see if I have the patience for that.

Psycho triple brew day - again! again! again!

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:49:00 +0000

So I'm at it again - trying to make three different "fermentable beverages" in a single day. This is how to wisely spend a vacation day, I tell you!

Today is running a little different than last time, though, partially because I had to stay outside the whole time, so I couldn't use the stove for a mash water heater which delayed my ability to get the extract brew on.

For those of you playing along at home, I've found that I can get three brews in pretty easily so long as they follow a certain pattern: one all-grain 10 gallon batch, one extract 5 gallon batch, and one no-boil (mead or cider or perry or something) batch. I also can build my water for the all grain batch, but I tend to use tap water for the extract batch. Today I added an RV carbon filter to that line to remove some excess chlorine or other bad flavors - the water tasted great coming out the other end of the (drinking water) hose. Total cost for that was under $20. Today, I'm throwing a half-batch of cyser in there today (only 2.5 gallons) so I will be targeting 17.5 gallons total, but still using all my carboy capacity. The cyser may rest a while longer, though, so that limits me to probably single 10 gallon brews or maybe a 2-batch day for the rest of the year or so...

So - what's in the lineup for today?

1- Kolsch - I won about 10 lbs of pilsner malt in a raffle so what do I do with that? Make a nice easy-drinking kolsch for Oktoberfest time! It is a 10 gallon all-grain batch with a simple grain bill.
2- Porter (plus something extra) - have been wondering for a while if there is a way to incorporate bacon into beer. Found a recipe and a commercial example, so I am guessing the answer is yes. So, here goes - Porker Porter - five gallon extract batch (grains steeping above in picture), bacon (cooked and dried of as much grease as possible) added to the secondary.
3 - Cyser - I was pleasantly surprised with my cider creation last time - so decided to spice it up a bit. Making a cyser with honey, white raisins, apple cider, and cinnamon. Sounds like a fall or winter treat. I will probably try to bottle it in November, I think - maybe earlier - and enjoy some young this fall, to see how it goes. I'll save some for next year, perhaps.

Now, here's the tricky part (to be figured out next week some time). I only have 4 carboys. I am using all 4. I want all three with beer in them (porter and two with kolsch) to be secondary fermented. Where I sit right now is either racking one to a sanitized bottling bucket, then holding while I clean and rack the other 2 carboys then return the bottle batch to a clean and sanitized carboy, OR saying forget it, bottling one of the batches of Kolsch, and daisy-chaining from there. I do think the Kolsch would benefit clarity-wise from a secondary rest, though. We will see (and by that I mean we will see how lazy I am). I also need to get some bottles cleared out to hold all this beer!

Will post recipes shortly. Enjoy!

Empty Carboys

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 21:20:00 +0000

Bottled up the cider Sunday, half sweetened/half dry, which leaves me with only one empty case of bottles, but another problem - four empty carboys.

I am not sure I'm going to pull off another 20 gallon brew day again, but I could very well pull off 15. We will see how it goes.

For now, though, I just have to figure out WHAT to brew. Probably something that can sit in a carboy a while as I clear out more bottles (time to get to work on that, eh?), so maybe something that has to age, alongside some drinkable beer that I can bottle up when it is ready. I'll go back to my planning board, while you all wait with bated breath.

In the meantime, what are you brewing?

Cheers!

Secondary Racking

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 16:42:00 +0000

Racking the cider to secondary today. Then going to bottle brown ale tonight. From the looks of the cider, I might even go with a tertiary rest on it, just to help a little with clarity, but I do think it looks pretty good overall - I may skip it. The brown ale looks just great, and I decided to go ahead and bottle it and free up the carboys instead of doing any sort of secondary business with it. I should get a good 70+ bottles of brown ale out of it, so that is a plus. Then I've got 10 lbs of Pilsner malt sitting around that I need to figure out what to do with. What to brew what to brew!?!

So starts the chain reaction

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 21:42:00 +0000

Decided to bottle the CDA/Dark IPA so I could use that carboy as a secondary for the browns and cider - and just clean and rack and clean and rack those over to it. It did not attenuate out as much as I would have liked but I also think my OG reading must have been low, otherwise I have an "IPA" with about 4% alcohol. I think based on the other number that I had floating around (and the fact that it does not taste like sweet malt), it's more like 6.4%.

Anyway, chose to do this one because it didn't need as much clarifying, though it is definitely lighter than I would have hoped. Will have to see how it looks in a glass, but probably need more black patent next time around.

Once I've racked this and cleaned out the carboy, time to rack over the browns and cider one-by-one to secondary fermentation and clearing for a few weeks...

Cheers!

Bottles, the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 14:26:00 +0000

Over the last several years of beer brewing, I have seen lots of bottles come and go.

I have purchased homebrew clean bottles directly from a homebrew store, and while those pristine glass containers are perfect for competition and zero effort, I have also found myself taking a much cheaper route of cleaning bottles from my last six pack and reusing those freebies.

Along the way I have noticed that some bottles are perfect and ideally suited for "conversion" into "competition-ready" bottles with little or no effort, and some bottles are just never going to make it. So I decided to keep this post as an ongoing post to track which commercially available bottles I have tried to clean for reuse and which ones generally aren't worth my effort. This is a personal list, you may have found different results.

So first, the criteria for my verdict: My process for cleaning the bottles has to be the result of a rinse and soak in hot water, followed by potentially peeling off of labels (if they didn't float off) and a light scrubbing of glue with a scrubber sponge. A subsequent soak in sanitizing solution will result in a usable bottle.

The result will be one of the following:

Competition Grade: A clean 12 oz. brown bottle free of labels, with a crimp cap top with a wide enough collar to accommodate my two handed capper as well as the stand capper. Bottle should have no raised glass lettering, no glue, and no printing remaining that would render it unusable in competition.
Personal Use: A bottle that is easily devoid of paper labels or glue and has sufficient collar for crimp top cap. Some feature of the bottle (size, raised lettering, silk screen printing) would prevent use in competitions, but these are excellent for personal consumption.
Trash: Requires too much effort to clean or has bottle characteristics making it undesirable for even my personal use.

I'll start with what I know and update this the more beers I try. And yes, I know this is scarce right now, but just a starting point for tracking this stuff.

Brewery	Beer(s)	Cleaning Effort	Result	Notes
Ballast Point	Big Eye IPA Calico Amber	Minimal	Competition Grade
Dogfish Head	Festina Peche 60 Minute IPA 90 Minute IPA	Minimal	Competition Grade
Magic Hat	Blind Faith IPA #9	Moderate	Competition Grade	Some heavy glue to remove
Samuel Adams			Personal Use	Raised Lettering
Stone Brewing Co.	Arrogant Bastard Oaked Arrogant Bastard	N/A	Personal Use	Printed Logos 22 oz. Size
Widmer Brothers			Personal Use	Raised Lettering
Rogue Ales	Santa's Private Reserve Dead Guy Ale Morimoto Soba Ale Chocolate Stout Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout	N/A	Personal Use	Printed Logos 22 oz. Size
New Belgium	Fat Tire		Personal Use	Raised Lettering Odd Size
Abita	Purple Haze Amber		Trash	Squat Size Profile

More to come.

Cheers!

The Cardinal Puff Puff Puff will (or will not) post his third and final recipe of the day

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Oops. I realized that I didn't actually circle back and post the third recipe from the giant brewday last week.

No worries - it was a 10 Gallon Southbound and Brown Ale batch. I've made it a ton. So, you can get the recipe links here.

At this point, the beer is a week old and all the furious bubble bubble pop has settled down. I'm going to let everything settle another week and then I'll bottle SOMETHING and rack the other three to secondaries in succession (yeah, I'll probably bottle half of the brown ale, since I've got 10 gallons).

Anyway, consider this your circleback

Happy brewing!

Cidah

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 19:48:00 +0000

OK I have never done hard cider before, but that was enough reason to try. So here's what I did - and keep in mind I got lots of the ideas from the Making Homemade Hard Cider site.

I upped the scale from them, though.

I couldn't find enough of the right kind of juice, and thought blending might give me an interesting approach, so that's what I did.

In a clean and sanitized fermenter, here goes (in this order):
1 can Albertson's frozen Apple Juice Concentrate
just under 2 gallons (4 bottles) Simply Apple pure pressed apple juice (no water or preservatives)
2 gallons Albertson's Unfiltered Apple Juice (no preservatives)

5 tsp Yeast Nutrient (because yeast needs nutrients)
2.5 tsp Pectin Enzyme (for clarity)

1 gallon Musselman's Pasteurized Apple Juice (no preservatives)

1 pkg Lalvin EC-1118 yeast (wine yeast)

Then I'll wait a few weeks, rack it to a secondary, and then after some settlilng, it will be time to bottle.

Cheers!

Black IPA, Black not Pale, CDA, something of the sort

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 19:44:00 +0000

First brew of the triple brew day is... an extract-based dark/black IPA (also known as Cascadian Dark Ale for those that can't fit Black and Pale into their same beer description).

First time making one of these, but I wanted to try one, and needed to make an extract brew while the other was mashing. So here goes - also of note, coming out of the boil, it looked more "dark brown" than "black" but I think most of that (after some settling in the hydrometer test jar) was hops and it will be pretty darn black.

Batch TEST - Black Not Pale

Recipe Specifications

Brew Date: 6/22/2012
Recipe Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Recipe Boil Size: 8.84 gal
Estimated Pre-boil OG: 1.054
Estimated OG: 1.079 SG
Estimated Color: 25.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 77.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.060 SG
Actual FG: 1.018 SG
Actual ABV: 5.48 %

Ingredients

Water Additions

Prepare 8.84 gal Water for Brewing

Grain Bill

**Steep Grains at 165.0 F**
Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
1.00 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)	Grain	7.48 %
0.25 lb	Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)	Grain	1.87 %
0.13 lb	Black (Patent) Malt (Paul's) (500.0 SRM)	Grain	0.93 %

Hop Schedule/Boil Additions

**Boil Ingredients**
Boil	Amount	Item	Type
60 min	12.00 lb	Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM)	Extract
60 min	1.00 oz	Cascade [6.40 %] (60 min)	Hops
60 min	1.00 oz	Warrior [16.70 %] (60 min)	Hops
20 min	0.50 oz	Cascade [6.40 %] (20 min)	Hops
5 min	0.50 oz	Cascade [6.40 %] (5 min)	Hops

Yeast/Other

**Ingredients for Fermentation**
Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
2 Pkgs	Safale US (LeSaffre #05)	Yeast-Ale

Mash

Mash Schedule: None
Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
Steep grains as desired (30-60 minutes)

Notes

Brewed low with about 3 gallons water after marking fill line on carboy

Generated with a custom BeerSmith template created by Cameron Mathews

Brewing to Capacity

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 13:37:00 +0000

So I have reached a sad state of affairs. I'm out of homebrew. Well, not completely out, but with only about 4 bottles mixed between stout and that "turned out too dark brown Irish Red" - functionally, I'm out. I DO have another five gallons of the Irish "Brown" in a carboy ready for bottling, but nary a drop to drink. Oh, and while my mead from a few years ago has aged quite nicely, it is not a session beverage in the slightest.

It is this utter dearth of beverage that caused me pause to consider - how much could I possibly have at once? Given that I only have five gallons in any state of progress, how much could I actually max out? Turns out, the answer is about 50 gallons. With 4 carboys, 2 kegs, and 8 cases of bottles, I do have room to produce and store a quarter of my limit at once (limit in the U.S. for those playing at home is 100 gallons a year for an individual of 200 gallons a year for a household with two or more individuals over the age of 21. More adults does not increase the personal consumption limit above 200). Now, were I to be maxed out, I would run into a consumption bottleneck rather than a production bottleneck, but that's a problem I could try to work through.

Since I'm not FULLY keg capable yet, we'll call my maximum capacity 40 gallons - which means with only 5 gallons I'm at a meager 12.5% of my available load. With one day off of work (today), the question was, how do I pump so much into the front-end of the production line that I fill up more more more of that capacity to last me throughout the summer. The answer? A 20 gallon brewday.

What?

A 20 gallon brewday.

Now, while I could theoretically start at 7:30 AM with boiling and mash in around 8:30 with the first of two 10 gallon batches, that just wouldn't be my lazy procrastinative style (yes, I think I made up procrastinative, but I like the way it rolls). Rather, I didn't truly PLAN to brew until last night, meaning that I don't actually have any ingredients, which also limits my start time, since my Homebrew store of choice does not open until 10:00. This leaves me with the dilemma that there is no way to do two 10 gallon all-grain batches by a reasonable time this evening. So I made some plan adjustments. The new plan is: one 5 gallon batch of something experimental (I'm trying a Black IPA or CDA or whatever you want to call it), that I will source primarily with extract. Then one 10 gallon batch of a standard (we're doing the American Brown). Then, for my last trick (after clearing a carboy by bottling), I will be attempting 5 gallons of hard cider (another test, using some tips from this site).

After all that, I'll have 5 gallons bottle conditioning and 20 gallons fermenting. 62.5% of my carrying capacity of 40 gallons. Much much better. One more 20 gallon (double 10g batch?) psycho-brewday in a month or two and I'd be loaded up for the rest of the year, most likely.

I'll be live tweeting my exciting day, along with posting updates and recipes here on the blog, Hope you enjoy it. Oh, and such a carefully constructed day requires carefully constructed timing. So I have a strict down-to 15 minutes schedule. Here it is:

Time	General	10G Brown Ale	5G Black IPA	Cider	Red Bottling
7:00 AM	WAKE UP
7:15 AM	WAKE UP
7:30 AM	Donuts & Water
7:45 AM	Donuts & Water
8:00 AM	Load Propane,Take Dogs
8:15 AM	Get Propane
8:30 AM		Measure Chemicals
8:45 AM				Buy Apple Juice?
9:00 AM	Get Equipment Out
9:15 AM	Prep/Clean
9:30 AM	Drive to HBHQ
9:45 AM	Drive to HBHQ
10:00 AM	HBHQ
10:15 AM	HBHQ
10:30 AM	HBHQ
10:45 AM	HBHQ
11:00 AM	Drive Home
11:15 AM	Drive Home
11:30 AM			Boil 8 G/Steep Grains
11:45 AM		Boil 6.25 G Water for Mash In	Boil 8 G/Steep Grains
12:00 PM	Eat	Boil 6.25 G Water for Mash In	Boil 8 G/Steep Grains
12:15 PM		Boil 6.25 G Water for Mash In	Boil
12:30 PM		Boil 6.25 G Water for Mash In	Boil
12:45 PM		Boil 10.5 G for Mash Out	Boil
1:00 PM		Mash	Boil
1:15 PM		Mash	Transfer to Carboy
1:30 PM		Mash	Transfer to Carboy
1:45 PM		Mash	Transfer to Carboy
2:00 PM		Sparge	Transfer to Carboy
2:15 PM		Sparge	Pitch Yeast
2:30 PM		Sparge
2:45 PM		Sparge
3:00 PM		Heat to Boil			Sanitize Bottles
3:15 PM		Heat to Boil			Sanitize Bottles
3:30 PM		Heat to Boil			Sanitize Bottles
3:45 PM		Heat to Boil			Transfer to Bottling Bucket
4:00 PM		Boil			Transfer to Bottling Bucket
4:15 PM		Boil			Bottle
4:30 PM		Boil			Bottle
4:45 PM		Boil			Clean Carboy
5:00 PM		Transfer to Carboys		Fill & Pitch
5:15 PM		Transfer to Carboys
5:30 PM		Transfer to Carboys
5:45 PM		Transfer to Carboys
6:00 PM
6:15 PM
6:30 PM
6:45 PM
7:00 PM
7:15 PM
7:30 PM
7:45 PM
8:00 PM		CLEAN
8:15 PM		CLEAN
8:30 PM		CLEAN
8:45 PM
9:00 PM

Competition update

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:44:00 +0000

Well, poor planning on my part has already caused me to drop some of the ball on competition this year. I intended to have a nice chunk of entries for the Bluebonnet, and I ended up with only three (and one was a cross-category entry, so it probably won't fare too well there).

Then I missed the deadline for the Club Only Competition on Stouts, despite having about a case and a half of Shadow's Shadow Stout in my closet. Argh.

Next up for me is the Celtic Brewoff - where I should have a Stout, Mead, Scottish, and Irish Red Ale to enter. Hopefully I can make the deadline - it's not until April. Then the Scottish and Irish can double duty over to the May Club Only Competition with Scottish/Irish Ales.

Onward!

Brewing today - Irish Red

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:11:00 +0000

Here's the recipe and I'm tweeting this...

Batch TEST - Shillelagh Whack Irish Red (10G)
Recipe Specifications
Brew Date: 1/31/2012
Recipe Batch Size: 11.00 gal
Recipe Boil Size: 13.50 gal
Estimated Pre-boil OG: 1.043
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 15.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 22.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.043 SG
Actual FG: 1.010 SG
Actual ABV: 4.29 %

Ingredients
Water Additions
Prepare 16.90 gal Water for Brewing Amount Item Type
0.88 gm Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1.54 gm Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
4.62 gm Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
4.62 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
7.04 gm Salt (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
11.66 gm Chalk (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
11.00 gal Dublin, Ireland - Modified for Irish Red Water

Grain Bill
Ingredients for Mashing Amount Item Type % or IBU
18.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (Paul's) (3.0 SRM) Grain 68.57 %
4.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (Briess) (2.0 SRM) Grain 15.24 %
2.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (Briess) (10.0 SRM) Grain 9.52 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt British - 35L (Hugh Baird Carastan) (35.0 SRM) Grain 3.81 %
0.75 lb Roasted Barley (Paul's) (300.0 SRM) Grain 2.86 %

Hop Schedule/Boil Additions
Boil Ingredients Boil Amount Item Type
60 min 3.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops
15 min 2.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0 min 1.00 items Hop Sock (Boil 0.0 min) Misc

Yeast/Other
Ingredients for Fermentation Amount Item Type % or IBU
2 Pkgs Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) Yeast-Ale

Mash
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out, Brown Ale 10G Thick Mash
Total Grain Weight: 26.25 lb
Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out, Brown Ale 10G Thick Mash Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 26.25 qt of water at 174.2 F 155.0 F

Notes

Generated with a custom BeerSmith template created by Cameron Mathews

What's Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:42:00 +0000

Well, not much, I guess. It's been a while since I posted, mostly because my last round was a double-brew madness experiment that left me with about 5 gallons of strong Scotch Ale, and 8 gallons or so of Stout.

Now I'm headed out to get some ingredients this afternoon, and we'll go to brew an Irish Red this Tuesday.

As usually is the case, I will try to send lovely updates via Twitter throughout the brew along with pictures occasionally thrown in. If you want to brew along with me, you need about 16 gallons of water, a good 10 gallon brew system, and the following:

18 lb Pale Malt (2 row)
4 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine Malt
2.5 lb Crystal 10L
1 lb Crystal 35L (or 40 if you can't find 35)
0.75 lb Roasted Barley

3 oz Fuggles at 4.5%AA

2 packs of Wyeast Irish Ale #1084

And a pile of water adjusting ingredients if you build water like I do (baking soda, epsom salt, salt, gypsum, chalk, etc.)

See you Tuesday!

Jalapeno Update

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:32:00 +0000

Bottled the Jalapeno today - got 24 22oz. bottles and another 30 or so 12 oz.

Now I will be transferring the brown ale later this week.

Taste tests showed me that the jalapeno does have some heat and a decent peppery smoke flavor.

Batch Standard - 10G Southbound Brown Ale

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:33:00 +0000

Lovely day for a brewday. I'll be tweeting this brew session (and I've already started) over in the Twitterverse.

Recipe Specifications

Brew Date: 9/1/2011
Recipe Batch Size: 11.00 gal
Recipe Boil Size: 13.50 gal
Estimated Pre-boil OG: 1.043
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 24.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.042 SG
Actual FG: 1.017 SG
Actual ABV: 3.25 %

Ingredients

Water Additions

**Prepare 16.75 gal Water for Brewing**
Amount	Item	Type
1.22 gm	Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
1.22 gm	Salt (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
7.61 gm	Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
16.14 gm	Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
24.67 gm	Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
28.93 gm	Chalk (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
16.75 gal	RO Modified - Brown Ale (Malty)	Water

Grain Bill

**Ingredients for Mashing**
Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
18.00 lb	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	70.59 %
4.00 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)	Grain	15.69 %
2.00 lb	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)	Grain	7.84 %
1.00 lb	Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)	Grain	3.92 %

Hop Schedule/Boil Additions

**Boil Ingredients**
Boil	Amount	Item	Type
60 min	2.02 oz	Centennial [8.70 %] (60 min)	Hops
60 min	0.50 lb	Brown Sugar, Light (8.0 SRM)	Sugar

**Steep Aroma Hops**
Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
2.00 oz	Liberty [4.50 %] (5 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep)	Hops	-

Yeast/Other

**Ingredients for Fermentation**
Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
2 Pkgs	American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272)	Yeast-Ale

Mash

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out, Brown Ale 10G Thick Mash
Total Grain Weight: 25.00 lb

**Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out, Brown Ale 10G Thick Mash**
Step Time	Name	Description	Step Temp
60 min	Mash In	Add 25.00 qt of water at 174.4 F	155.0 F

Notes

First time scaling up to 10G - we will see how this works.
Generated with a custom BeerSmith template created by Cameron Mathews

Jalapeno Update

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:49:00 +0000

Quick update - last Thursday I transferred the jalapeno to secondary (I tend to find secondary fermenting helps settling out for better clarity in extract brews - less so in my all grain batches).

Before I did, I cut up two more jalapenos and threw them on a piece of aluminum foil on the grill on high heat. After about 10 minutes, it had a nice black char on some of the skin and the jalapenos had gone soft, so I dropped them into the secondary along with the transferred beer.

Next up - a brown ale brew tomorrow and bottling the jalapeno towards the middle of labor day week (possibly Tuesday).

Batch TEST - 10G Texas Firewater Hand-Picked Jalapeno Pale Ale

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:45:00 +0000

I am live Tweeting this brew day over at Twitter. Come follow along for fun.

Recipe Specifications

Brew Date: 8/18/2011
Recipe Batch Size: 11.00 gal
Recipe Boil Size: 13.50 gal
Estimated Pre-boil OG: 1.037
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 9.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 47.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.059 SG
Actual FG: 1.010 SG
Actual ABV: 6.39 %

Ingredients

Water Additions

**Prepare 11.50 gal Water for Brewing**
Amount	Item	Type
0.98 gm	Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
0.98 gm	Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
5.15 gm	Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
9.57 gm	Chalk (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
11.50 gal	Munich, Germany - Jalapeno Modified	Water

(Liquid Extract Adds Lots of Volume)

Grain Bill

**Steep Grains at 165.0 F**
Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
1.00 lb	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)	Grain	6.58 %
1.00 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)	Grain	6.58 %

Hop Schedule/Boil Additions

**Boil Ingredients**
Boil	Amount	Item	Type
60 min	13.20 lb	Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM)	Extract
60 min	2.00 oz	Chinook [11.00 %] (60 min)	Hops
60 min	2.00 items	Jalapeno Pepper, Raw (Boil 60.0 min)	Misc
15 min	2.00 oz	Cascade [5.00 %] (15 min)	Hops
5 min	2.00 oz	Cascade [5.00 %] (5 min)	Hops
0 min	4.00 items	Hop Sock (Boil 0.0 min)	Misc

Yeast/Other

**Ingredients for Fermentation**
Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
4 Pkgs	Safale US (LeSaffre #05)	Yeast-Ale

Mash

Mash Schedule: None
Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
Steep grains as desired (30-60 minutes)

Secondary Additions
When transferring to the secondary after a week (if you do such things), or just after a week (if you don't), grill 2 jalapenos on aluminum foil until they collapse and are gooey. Add one to each secondary.

Generated with a custom BeerSmith template created by Cameron Mathews

Upcoming Brew Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:48:00 +0000

Just a placeholder for some planning for brew days (red means I did not do that batch as planned):

~~August 2011 - Jalapeno Pale Ale (10G batch experiment)~~
September 2011 - Brown Ale (Standard 10G Batch)
October 2011 - Christmas Ale (10G batch experiment)
November 2011 - Stout (10G batch experiment)
December 2011 - Wye Heavye (5G "final" experiment before this goes standard)
January 2012 - Irish Red (5G or 10G experiment)
Feb/Mar 2012 - IPA (Standard 5G Batch)
Apr/May/June/July 2012 - Belgian Dubbel (5G experiment - untested category)
Apr/May 2012 - Brown Ale (Standard 10G Batch)
June/July 2012 - Jalapeno Pale Ale (hopefully should be 10G standard by then)
Aug/Sept 2012 - APA (Standard 10G Batch)
October 2012 - Christmas Ale (may still be 10G batch experiment)
November 2012 - Stout(should be 10G standard by then)
December 2012 - Wee Heavy(should be 5G standard by then)

Update

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:03:00 +0000

Brewed a Wee Beastye Wee Heavye this past weekend - and I've got that American Brown Ale in the hopper waiting on my laziness to bottle it (after Thanksgiving, I am sure).

Giving some thought to trying to keep a "stock" set of beers available for 2011, which would mean a good bit of front-loaded brewing, and then some replacement pace brewing on the rest. Not sure if that's possible, but also separating the styles by cap color (to keep me-self organized). Here's what I'm thinking of keeping in stock:

American Brown Ale - red caps
IPA - silver caps
Stout - black caps
APA (if I can find a recipe I like) - blue caps? white caps?
Dark IPA (might try this one in 2011 to see if I like em) - dark blue caps?

Then the seasonals:
Jalapeno Pale Ale - Brew Summer for Fall - yellow caps
Christmas Ale - Brew Fall for Winter - green caps
Wee Beastye Wee Heavye - Brew Early Winter for Winter/Spring - gold caps
Blonde Ale (if I can find a recipe I like) - white or blue caps?

Then one to two additional brews per year (kind of like St. Arnold does with Divine Reserve) just trying something new. For these I'd use some overrun caps.

Now I just need to bottle that brown ale. And then the wee heavye in a couple of weeks. And get brewing on the rest!

Batch 25.2 - American Brown Ale and Mash Tun Inauguration and Calibrating Stuffs

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 02:34:00 +0000

So, I finished the mash tun upgrades (put barbs and high temp tubing on the inside) and am testing it out with my American Brown Ale. I'm also using this brew to calibrate and figure out the variances on some of my equipment.

So here's the hose barb and high temp tubing:

And then here's the barb and elbow for the other end where the false bottom is:

Here's the finished mash tun inside:

One problem I found early - the thermometer in my HLT is off by several degrees. This was verified with my new lab thermometer, and could be the reason my sparges are not getting hot enough and perhaps I'm not mashing at a high enough temp either. So, with the help of some more precision measurements, I successfully got my mash in at EXACTLY 154, which is what I was going for.

Also good to know - I put about half of my strike water in at 10 degrees high (181) to pre-heat the mash tun. While it pre-heated it, I let it go 8 minutes and it had dropped 20 degrees. Need to adjust to hotter water or shorter time in the mash tun. Regardless, I cleared it up this time by just heating additional strike water.

And I had to pour myself one of these for any brew day (this is the tart cherry beer from back in May):

Here's the Recipe:

Batch 25.2 - American Brown Ale

Recipe Specifications

Brew Date: 10/17/2010
Recipe Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Recipe Boil Size: 10.38 gal
Estimated Pre-boil OG: 1.024
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated Color: 24.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 49.70 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.042 SG
Actual FG: 1.012 SG
Actual ABV: 3.90 %

Ingredients

Water Additions

**Prepare 12.13 gal Water for Brewing**
Amount	Item	Type
0.40 gm	Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
0.40 gm	Salt (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
2.50 gm	Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
5.30 gm	Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
8.10 gm	Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
9.50 gm	Chalk (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
5.50 gal	RO Modified - Brown Ale (Malty)	Water

Grain Bill

**Ingredients for Mashing**
Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
9.00 lb	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	70.59 %
2.00 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)	Grain	15.69 %
1.00 lb	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)	Grain	7.84 %
0.50 lb	Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)	Grain	3.92 %

Hop Schedule/Boil Additions

**Boil Ingredients**
Boil	Amount	Item	Type
60 min	1.00 oz	Centennial [9.70 %] (60 min)	Hops
60 min	0.25 lb	Brown Sugar, Light (8.0 SRM)	Sugar

**Steep Aroma Hops**
Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
1.00 oz	Liberty [4.50 %] (5 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep)	Hops	-

Yeast/Other

**Ingredients for Fermentation**
Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
1 Pkgs	American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272)	Yeast-Ale

Mash

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 12.50 lb

**Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out**
Step Time	Name	Description	Step Temp
60 min	Mash In	Add 15.63 qt of water at 170.1 F	154.0 F

Notes

Generated with a custom BeerSmith template created by Cameron Mathews

Mash Tun Upgrade Part One: New Valve

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 22:31:00 +0000

So I have been fighting with lower than desired efficiency for a while on my mash, and have decided that part of the problem may be in the way the false bottom I have is connected to my valve. I bought the entire cooler pre-set up as a kit, and it has a few things that I don't particularly like.

First, almost all of the fittings are brass. I wanted to upgrade as part of this effort and convert everything to stainless steel. I know brass can be used, but it isn't as SHINY. In addition, the false bottom was connected to the valve via a piece of pipe that I felt was potentially too short, and a bunch of compression fittings that I could never get tight enough. So, I feared that part of the problem might be some leakage at the compression fittings, generating somewhat of a spiral.

Finally, the whole thing leaked. Twice. It leaked liquid slowly out the front bottom underneath the valve, and it leaked air into my tube as I was draining.

All of this needs to be fixed. So, while I am not sure this will fix any of these issues, I have decided to replace the hardware in there and give it a little change. I'll have to brew once I get it all set up to determine if there is any actual change. And there are some additional upgrades I want as well (sparge arm or other sparging device, valve on my HLT, etc.) that may help.

As for this part, I bought a stainless bulkhead weldless keg kit from BargainFittings.com and installed it (more to come in a subsequent post).

Remove all of the hardware from the cooler and wipe it down.

Wash all the new parts in PBW.

Rinse the parts thoroughly, and let them air dry.

Wrap both sides of the nipple with teflon plumbers tape. Add an O-ring to the nipple and screw on the lock nut

Thread the nipple through the cooler wall and attach a washer and then the valve on the front, hand tighten, then tighten with a locking set of pliers (vise grips) on the inside. I just used my hand to hold the valve on the outside.

Screw on the coupling on the inside.

Add teflon tape to barb and screw it into the valve on the outside.

Fill with water to a level above the coupling.

Check outside for leaks (YAY no leaks!!!)

So now that that is done, I'll be replacing the inside with a silicone tube kit and barbs and hose clamps... Should be exciting. Until next time.

Bottled the Cherry Beer

noreply@blogger.com (Cameron) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 01:54:00 +0000

Tastes like (shocking) tart cherries. Bottled today and should be ready in a couple of weeks. Need to bottle the IPA soon and then get back go brewing.

Couple of things I've been thinking about lately on brewing are to create a set of "standards" that I would like to have "in stock" pretty much all the time, and then intersperse the experimentals in there as needed.

Thoughts on the standards:
American Brown Ale
Blonde Ale
IPA
Stout
and possible an APA or one of these "Dark IPAs or Dark India Ales or Cascadian Dark Ales" if I can find a good recipe

Then 4 seasonals:
Scottish Strong Ale - Wee Beastye (Spring)

Jalapeno Pale Ale (Summer/Fall)
Annual Rotator (Summer/Fall) - Brew something different as a special brew
Christmas Ale (Winter)

Of course, I will probably brew whatever I want, but this is just something I was thinking about in terms of if I were to ever "upscale" the production (aka buy/build a brewery).

The other things I have been thinking about is getting a little more precise with my equipment. I intend to add some temperature gauges to my cooler and possibly the HLT and then also potentially come up with some other efficiency gaining equipment improvements. In addition, I am going to try to calibrate all of my stuff (this really means boiling lots of water most likely and wasting propane). I might can work some of it into a really long brew day, but otherwise, it will be a less-than-exciting effort that I'll still document here.

Enjoy.