Investigating to start my own "picobrewery"

Wallacebiy

cavedave wrote: »

That does sound like a good idea just to make sure your intended workflow (or drinkflow) makes sense.

There are a few guys on this thread who brew great beer (ive tasted it) so Ill leave it to them to advise on setups and recipes.

Cheers.

I'm a serious head though , If I do something I generally do it well.And I generally trust my gut instinct as it's usually right . I've gotten great advice and info from the guys in here , and I'm looking forward to getting a batch , to really be able to compare notes properly .

bionic.laura

Brew your own magazine is definitely worth subscribing to if you're planning on building a brewery in the shed. They had a recent article on converting a keg to a kettle.
They also had all the plans for a brutus 10 system (sorry if it was mentioned before) which sounds like the kind of thing you want.

Don't dismiss 'pot and bucket' brewing a lot of us do it with great results!

I'd be interested in what technique Beamish use. They don't use a lauter tun at all? Seems odd to me, most breweries I've been in do. I made a Beamish style stout there a while ago, it was lovely.

Wallacebiy

bionic.laura wrote: »

Brew your own magazine is definitely worth subscribing to if you're planning on building a brewery in the shed. They had a recent article on converting a keg to a kettle.
They also had all the plans for a brutus 10 system (sorry if it was mentioned before) which sounds like the kind of thing you want.

Don't dismiss 'pot and bucket' brewing a lot of us do it with great results!

I'd be interested in what technique Beamish use. They don't use a lauter tun at all? Seems odd to me, most breweries I've been in do. I made a Beamish style stout there a while ago, it was lovely.

I don't dismiss pot and Bucket brewing . I really enjoyed it when the brother and I did it, and I'd say for most the fun is in being able to experiment with different brews more frequently . I just really want to do things this time with
a bit more of an eye on a repeatable cost effective low labour solution . ( I'm a man of plain tastes in reality lol )


The Tun in B&C is a combined mash and lauter tun , and is capable of sparging , but as far as I can remember they either don't sparge their stout or they only sparge a little if necessary to adjust pH when recirculating . they would likely sparge the lagers ( Miller, Carling and Fosters.) The Day I toured there they were in the middle of a mash for Beamish ( they were recirculating it when I passed the Tun ) but hadn't reached the hopping Kettle.

The Tun Plate basically compartmented the Tun into a top and bottom and a batch of wort from the top could fit into the bottom. the top was about twice the size of the bottom , You could see the difference between the wort on top and the Bottom where it had filtered through the grainbed

bionic.laura

That's interesting, most places have a separate lauter tun. Pity it's all going to be gone soon. Ireland has too few breweries and losing Beamish as well is a blow.

Wallacebiy

bionic.laura wrote: »

That's interesting, most places have a separate lauter tun. Pity it's all going to be gone soon. Ireland has too few breweries and losing Beamish as well is a blow.

Being honest and from looking at the tun plate from 1792 that's set in the floor
of the lobby I think they might have always done things that way . They actually have a lot of stuff in there preserved from the original brewery including the old brew floor and kit . Hope Heineken don't dump it all into a shed somewhere.

BeerNut

Wallacebiy wrote: »

Hope Heineken don't dump it all into a shed somewhere.

The metal's probably worth too much.

guildofevil

Wallacebiy wrote: »

Being honest and from looking at the tun plate from 1792 that's set in the floor
of the lobby I think they might have always done things that way . They actually have a lot of stuff in there preserved from the original brewery including the old brew floor and kit . Hope Heineken don't dump it all into a shed somewhere.

They probably have. The separate lauter tun is a German brewing thing, while English brewing techniques traditionally relied on a combined mash/lauter tun.

Wallacebiy

Took possession yesterday of two kegs .

Must now souce heating elements, fittings, piping and tun plate . And start building !!

Wallacebiy

Tried evals of Promash and Beersmith brewing software ,
I like Beersmith a bit better.

Attached is the recipe I intend to try .

BeerNut

I'd have thought you'd want some roast barley in there too, for an Irish stout.

oblivious

its a lot of of black malt for a low gravity beer, but ashness can be intresting in a sotut.

Hallertau are normally for lager not that you can used then thought, I would have through that bemish would have used something like north down.


The brew teck yeast company are no longer in business, starting of I would suggest a dry yeast like Nottingham or US-05

oblivious

Also your efficiency is set for 75%, this is usually designed for some from of sparge. If you drop the efficiency to 50-60%, this depend on you system and increases the grist you should hit your Original gravity

Wallacebiy

BeerNut wrote: »

I'd have thought you'd want some roast barley in there too, for an Irish stout.

What I'm actually going to really try is to "roast my own " so I'll be trying for a
dark roast barley in the oven at home ( same pale malt as the rest of the bill ) I Won't be trying to mix light and dark roast here . I only picked the black patent as a guess really , I'll look through and see if there's anything in the list more like what I'll roast at home
Obviously all you can do with software is attempt a guess and see if you're in the right neighbourhood. for what your doing .

Oblivious - Cheers about the Brewtek - What I really want is a mid fermenting yeast that is relatively forgiving on temperature , any suggestions on that ( I'll have a look at those suggested already )


on the Hallertau , I was looking for german Hops in the software and I saw that as the only one with the kind of bittering I'm looking for . It'll be interesting


I have spoken to someone on the water I'll be using , Low to negligble calcium , lots of bicarbonates low magnesium , iron , sodium , low chorine and chlorates , basically ideal brewing water ( as long as I agitate it sufficiently to draw off the chlorine ) Cork City water is passed through a sandstone aquifer .
Can't wait to get going , it'll be really interesting to find out what my efficiency really is .


Collecting the heating Elements today , ( two three Kilowatt Burco elements, one for each Keg they'll be fitted into the bottoms )
and a simmerstat. total cost , about 110 euros.

Pleased with that , as now with a little effort I'll have two 50l stainless steel boilers for less than 200 euro .
The brother is going looking for an old fermenter of his so I might even try a small batch in that before sourcing my stainless steel conical fermenter.

BeerNut

Wallacebiy wrote: »

( same pale malt as the rest of the bill )

I meant roasted unmalted barley.

Wallacebiy

BeerNut wrote: »

I meant roasted unmalted barley.

Could do , but I'd like to see how this turns out first ( as it would make for a very simple recipe ) If it isn't right I'll have to probably try a kilo half and half of unmalted and malted roast barley. But I think it'll be fine .

oblivious

Wallacebiy wrote: »

Could do , but I'd like to see how this turns out first ( as it would make for a very simple recipe ) If it isn't right I'll have to probably try a kilo half and half of unmalted and malted roast barley. But I think it'll be fine .

Mixing roasted gains is very nice:)

BeerNut

Wallacebiy wrote: »

I'd like to see how this turns out first

Good idea. I definitely reckon that getting the process down is more important than fiddling with recipes

Wallacebiy

BeerNut wrote: »

Good idea. I definitely reckon that getting the process down is more important than fiddling with recipes

Exactly what I'm thinking , First learn to make beer , then perfect the beer ,

It shouldn't take very long ( 30 - 40 years maybe )

Wallacebiy

OK
So I have 2 Kegs
One will be the Mash tun , and I'm going to do that this weekend .

I sourced a 3kwh Burco circular Boiling Element , and a simmerstat controller for it , so that lot is going into the first Keg this weekend . the Boiler element will be installed in the Bottom centre of the Keg ( hopefully ) and I am intending putting a 1/2 inch tank outlet at the bottom side with ball Valve and some piping .

Cost less than a 100 Euro for these and the sundries . Did need to spend money on a hole saw ( 27 euro with Jib), but if it works for the element I'll use the same holesaw for installing the element in the Hop kettle.

Still need to source or manufature a false floor , but by the end of this weekend I should have an electric 50l stainless steel boiler made



I'm looking into a chinese manufacturer of fermenters at the , I've requested prices delivered etc, would anyone be interested in 20 - 100l stainless steel conical bottom fermenters ? If I had to get a pallette or something to make delivery cost effective it might be better to club together for them . If I'm lucky though they might just send the 2 I want on spec for samples or something .

Wallacebiy

Mashing keg is nearly complete .
Element installed and water tight , Oulet pipe installed and Watertight , element wired to simmerstat and working fine and dandy .

LIttle bit of tidying to do ,and a lid to source and a false floor ( Tun Plate) , but I'm pleased with this afternoons work.

Tasting a Goliath at the moment , it's alright . can't wait to brew my own beer ....

Wallacebiy

Things always go slower than you expect ,.

Anyway ,
Waiting on the second element , considering cutting the second keg differently to use the steel from the top as the false floor , not sure yet whether I'll do this or not .

After lots of research I may have a line on something that will be great as a homebrew S/S fermenter . basically it is possible to get food grade stainless steel drums in a variety of sizes with silicone gaskets and sealable lids ,
You can get ones with a drain at the bottom , but I'm waiting for a guy to get back to me with the specs of what kind of outlet they have.

I'll be able to drill the lid to fit an airlock , the whole lid will come off to facilitate cleaning and I'll probably have to drill my sample tap myself .
He's gonna price 20L , 30L and 50L drums for me .

there's really interesting ( if expensive ) configurations to these things . they can be fitted with hoppers and pumps and insulated jackets and double walled to allow heating and cooling . all sorts of configurations are possible.
I'd say if I was starting again I'd be tempted to get these for mashing lautering and hopping


If anyone's interested I have a brochure in PDF for the stuff .

guildofevil

Those do sound interesting. Mind sharing the info you get on them with us on ICB?

Wallacebiy

guildofevil wrote: »

Those do sound interesting. Mind sharing the info you get on them with us on ICB?

Yep , Will I be able to upload a PDF there ??



I've posted up a jpeg of the barrel I've selected up on ICB


http://gallery.me.com/seanwallace/100013/21_05-1/web.jpg?ver=12382789580001

Wallacebiy

Finally got my second Burco boiler element today , I think it took yerman by surprise , probably doesn't get a lot of call for em, but got it today anyway .

Should have the second Keg done this week !!


Getting closer to a brew now.

Wallacebiy

Been a little lazy of late but rejigged my plans a little ,

I'm going to do my first batch in the Single Keggle , using a large muslin cloth to keep the grains off the floor of it and then pulling them out . Hopefully it'll work .

I bought the grain and Roasted a kilo of it nicely in the oven for an hour turned out well.

Ended up buying an Irish ale smackpack yeast from Brouwland, and building a temporary fermentor from a plastic bucket I have from an online packaging company ( I bought 11 25l buckets , they're really handy for storing and stacking and whatnot )

Hopefully test a brew this weekend !!

oblivious

Good luck with the brew

Wallacebiy wrote: »

Ended up buying an Irish ale smackpack yeast from Brouwland,

You will need to allow that pack to swell and then make a starter give it 2-3 days to ferment out as they will loss viability due to storage and travel on this side of the pond.

Wallacebiy

oblivious wrote: »

Good luck with the brew



You will need to allow that pack to swell and then make a starter give it 2-3 days to ferment out as they will loss viability due to storage and travel on this side of the pond.

Didn't realise I'd need to give it 2 -3 days in the starter ,

Better smack it tonight so .....

oblivious

You can pitch when the starter reaches karasun (high fermentation), but people generally let it ferment out decant of some of the liquid and pitch the yeast. But if you are under pressure you can do the first option.

Wallacebiy

I'm never under pressure

But cheers , I actually remembered to get DME from the Homebrewcompany , specifically for making a starter , ( at the time I was thinking of saving some of the culture and using it at a later date )

So tonight I'll be smacking the pack and cooking up a little wort from the DME to use for the starter and then letting it until It's coming good , might actually brew on Sunday if it's right .

oblivious

Don't make the starter till you ready to pitch the yeast as you don't want anything else to get started in their.

An for the starter you want 10g/100ml of DME, so a 20 liters of wort would will want around 1.5 liter starter to pitch with a gravity around 1.040-1.045

Wallacebiy

oblivious wrote: »

Don't make the starter till you ready to pitch the yeast as you don't want anything else to get started in their.

An for the starter you want 10g/100ml of DME, so a 20 liters of wort would will want around 1.5 liter starter to pitch with a gravity around 1.040-1.045

Made a 1.4l starter with a gravity of about 1050 last night from the smack pack .
I'll check on it later today and see how I'm going . Might do a midnight brew , or start in the Morning early before heading to the Franciscan for the BIY exhibition .












while there's many a slip twixt cup and lip a good look at the lay of the land always helps

Wallacebiy

Definitely going to do this tonight ,



Even if I end up red eyed falling into bed at 4 in the morning I'm doing it today.















I did test my boiler on Sat though so think everything is good to go !!

Wallacebiy

Did .


Very tired now , But I have beer fermenting ( hopefully )

Wallacebiy

beer will be bottled at the end of this week ( hopefully )


Ended up quite a light colour , with a hint of reddish tinge , bitter but with good body , pleased , at the moment it just tastes like a slightly flat beer.


Going to keg and bottle it and see how it is in a few weeks time .

in the mean time I better get started on the second beer , and maybe a cider too .


Loving this !!

azzeretti

Wallacebiy wrote: »

beer will be bottled at the end of this week ( hopefully )


Ended up quite a light colour , with a hint of reddish tinge , bitter but with good body , pleased , at the moment it just tastes like a slightly flat beer.


Going to keg and bottle it and see how it is in a few weeks time .

in the mean time I better get started on the second beer , and maybe a cider too .


Loving this !!

Just over a week in primary? It might need a little bit more than that to finish off fermentation and drop out. What yeast are you using? Do you usually bottle/keg so soon?

sunnyjim

Have you gotten any customers?

Wallacebiy

azzeretti wrote: »

Just over a week in primary? It might need a little bit more than that to finish off fermentation and drop out. What yeast are you using? Do you usually bottle/keg so soon?

It's my first ever Brew,
Yeast was Wyeast Irish ale, and it'd gotten a good few days in a starter before pitching, It worked really well .

I probably won't actually get around to bottling until this weekend though, so it will have had 2 weeks

sunnyjim wrote: »

Have you gotten any customers?

Customers ? nah , plenty of offers of testers though :Lol:

Wallacebiy

This beer turned out nice enough, weak at 3.8 % , which was a shame , but I happily drank 15l from three keggies , Flavour was ok , it was beery and quite sluggable , head came out grand from the keggie , proper draught beer , held in the fridge for 4 days after opening .



Gonna try to do a stout today, looking forward to it , Brewing is great fun !!!

Wallacebiy

The stout needed a kilo of sugar in two additions , it stopped fermenting at about 2.5 % , so I have a few things to work out with my mashing technique . The kilo of sugar should have brought it close to 5 %. Tastes pretty good though, but I haven't taken it off the trub just yet .


All in all I'm very happy with homebrewing, it's great !!

Wallacebiy

Stout turned out very well

Drinking it since the weekend and I'm about 6 litres in , tastes pretty damn good , I reckon most would find it hard to tell the difference between it and canned draught stout , or would possible like it better .



On to the next brew !! Gonna up the grain bill on this one and see how that goes . !!