The Chamber of Fermentation

So I recently acquired some more brewing equipment this week. Glenn, one of my FD Captains and beer supporter, gave me a 17.5 cubic foot deep freezer chest to use as a fermentation chamber. If you read my last post, this will be controlled by the temperature controller I built last week. This thing is awesome. It will hold six 5 gallon glass carboy fermemters (30 gallons of wort) or four 6.5 gallon Ale Pail fermenters (24 gallons). Either way, definitely a huge boost in production. Here's a few pics.

New Brewing Contraption

Here's a peek at new newest brewing contraption. This is a Temperature Controller for my fermentation chamber (FC). This will help to maintain a constant temperature for fermentation. The FC will be a deep freezer chest, stored in the garage. The Controller has high and low temperature settings and will operate the two outlets below the control screen. If the temperature rises, the cooling circuit will turn on power to the deep freezer to reduce the temperature. If the temperature drops too low, the heating circuit will power a Brewpad (waterproof heating pad) to warm up the wort. Constant temps mean happy yeast and happy yeast means yummy beer.

2XIPA

Tried a new beer tonight. 2XIPA from Southern Tier Brewing. Great beer. 4 different hops and 3 different malts. 8.2% ABV. Definitely a keeper.

Southern Tier Brewing Company

Yes I am Stoopid.... Hop Stoopid that is!

So my friend Ray, from Nutmeg Fine Wine's and Spirits, suggests a new beer to me. Hop Stoopid from Lagunitas Brewing Co. Two words...... Holy Hop Bomb! Ok, that was three words, so sue me. What a great hoppy beer. Over 100 IBU's and 8% ABV. Wicked strong grapefruit hoppiness. Great color and head retention. Nice lacing on the glass. The best part is the price. $4.99 for a 22oz bomber. Awesome.

Lagunitas Brewing Company

Lagunitas Brewing's Hop Stoopid

The Brew Bucket

Check out my new tool in my homebrewing arsenal. Cheap and easy way to organize my brewing supplies. It still has quite a few open pockets so I can add more tools or utensils as needed. Not too bad for under $15.00 total for the bucket and organizer.

Ahhh, much better beer

I like hoppy beers. Not sure why, but I like them. Probably because I don't go with the mainstream beer lovers. I love craft beers. There is a huge selection among craft brewers. If you like beer, you will find something to like among the craft breweries. There is none of the consumer driven swill that is out there. Case and point. I just shared a bottle of Sierra Nevada's Northern Hemisphere Harvest with my friend and fellow homebrewer, Jeff Cathcart. That is one awesome beer. 6.7% ABV and really hoppy. It's also a Wet Hopped Ale, meaning the hops are brewed within 24 hours of harvesting. Like a smack in the head hoppy. But also a good beer to back up the hoppiness.




Cheers from Jeff!



Yummy!



Ugh, Canadian beer

So I'm sitting outside, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. I decide to start a fire in the fire put and have a few beers. Only beer I have is a 12 pack of Ricard's from Canada. It's made by Molson- Coors. I got this from my father-in-law's wedding a few weeks ago. So I figure what the hell, I'll try it. Ugh. It's ok but I really wish I stopped and bought a 6 pack yesterday. Thanks to an archaic CY Blue Law, you can't buy beer or alcohol on Sunday. Fan-friggin-tastic.

The Brew Room

So I really like beer, and I like brewing beer. I need to brew more beer. I haven't brewed since last Spring. I've been working on reading and learning as much as I can about it. I have also been buying bigger and better equipment. My wife gave me permission to take over an unused closet space that was left over from a bathroom remodeling. It's roughly 6 feet by 6 feet by 3 feet. That works out to about 108 square feet. I built a board and batten style door out of pine and a set of shelves from wooden bed set that was replaced. I'll post some pics later.  I have also amassed a large amount of equipment. One of my co-workers, husband used to homebrew, but has since stopped. She was nice enough to give me all of his equipment. I also bought a plastic bucket kit with two 6.5 gallon buckets. I now have four 6.5 gallon buckets, seven 5 gallon glass carboys, a five gallon brewpot, two bottle cappers and all sorts of miscellaneous utensils and tools. I can't wait to start brewing again. Just waiting for some more $$$ to start.

Here's a few pics. This is the Fermenting / Storage room.















Here is my door that I built. I must say, I love how it came out. Not bad for an amatuer carpenter.













Here's one of it in place.

This is the shelves I built with most of my equipment. I might build a set of door to enclose the bottom opening. I think that might neaten it up a bit.











I did get a chance to build one more contraption yesterday. I built my own Wort Chiller. It's basically a coil of 1/2" copper tubing that you place into the boiling wort. After flameout, you run cold water through it to cool the wort as sson as possible. Tis will reduce the chance in infection in the wort, improve clarity and reduce the temperature to pitch your yeast. It did cost me a little more than if I had just bought one online, but I couldn't say that I built it myself. Here's a pic or two.

It's roughly 23' of 1/2" copper tubing, ending in garden hose fittings.

Another view in the brewpot.

To beer or not to beer?

So I'm thinking about a making a beer blog. I know, I know.... another beer blog. Twitter is too complicated. Facebook is over-rated. I guess this might work.

I'm a home brewer. A new home brewer, but a brewer nonetheless. I've brewed two batches so far with varying results. The first was a dud, but the second showed promise.

So this will be a place to babble about my home brewing and beer in general. I'm sure I will throw in a random rant as well. I will also post pics of any projects that are beer related.

Here's the cool logo I made up just in case this brewing thing takes off.