craftedales-blog

[craftedales-blog]

Stovetop pilsner! Made the starter for Wyeast strain 1469 West Yorkshire, used a pilsner DME idea is to have it not get in the way at all. I picked the 1469 for the accentuated malt flavor, moderate nutty and stone fruit. That and the high flocculation. Ergo its gonna make a clean nut brown, well thats the plan anyway

[craftedales-blog]

Today was the run up. Valve check full run up to temp on everything. Ran the whole cycle, boil times, cool times, basically a mock brew. All went well. But not hugely happy with the liquor tank. Lets see on brew day. T minus two

[craftedales-blog]

Building the grain bill is easier with a beer, southern home brewing gets two thumbs up.

[craftedales-blog]

This is my third world hose repair. The black and yellow hose was my first attempt at the wort chiller, but it had a bead of plastic inside and could not feed the copper line in it. The gray one is the remaining hose that is the wort chiller. Used left over copper pipe and some clamps, feel like NASA in Apolo 13.

[craftedales-blog]

Save a horse, ride a carboy.

[craftedales-blog]

This was a lot more work than I thought. The first hose didn't work, it was left over from when we bought the house. It had a rubber bead on the inside, could not thread the copper line in it. Got a second, with an inordinate about of liquid soap it fit. I made copper T with 1/2" copper pipe, used a 1/2 to 3/8 reducer that I drilled the stops out of. Soldiered it all together, jammed the hose on it and used tube clamps to cinch it all. Works well, and no leaks! May have to add a flow valve to the wort, to ensure it's cool on the way out.

[craftedales-blog]

I was looking up mash paddles to buy and let me say, they seem uselessly expensive. Cheapest I found was $19. They went to over $40. Im calling BS on that. I bought a 7' Oak 1x3 for $23. Cut it in half. Using a jig saw, drill, key hole bits, & sander i made two of them in less than an hour. Really happy!

[craftedales-blog]

The basic brewery is done. It is three level gravity set up. The liquor tank shelf is 39" high. Using some chain for stability. Also there is an added heat shield on the wall. The mash tun sits on the good old safe. And boil kettle on the floor.

[craftedales-blog]

Building the brewery

The brewery build started in earnest today, there was a lot to do. The garage needed some paint. It turns out it is the same color as the fence. What are the odds? I'll post the important projects along the way. There was a huge design change. Wench is gone. I just couldn't make the platform stable enough to hoist 8 gallons of boiling water safely.

[craftedales-blog]

I received a bunch of tubing today. Absolutely unremarkable thing. This remarkable beer is from the cellar safari. Aged so well.

[craftedales-blog]

[craftedales-blog]

Its just so pretty. The ball valve and thermometer are all installed. I boiled the valve, o rings and all the fittings to clean them, calibrated the thermometer as well.

The thermometer is slow to respond though it took about a minute to get to 212, but it dropped quickly so that is good.

[craftedales-blog]

Buying O2

Having never bought oxygen before I stumbled around Home Depot looking for it. Finally I had to flag down an employee (I was in plumbing in front of soldering tools). I asked for an oxygen tank, he asked “What you use that for?” I said, “breathing, welding, or possibly climbing Everest.” He said all they had in tank gases was the soldering sets. I asked where welding equipment was (seemed more logical than sporting goods). He said “I’ll show you”. Off we set, he asked every employee along the way, “Do we sell bottled oxygen?” Every time the answer was no. About halfway he stopped “we don’t sell it.” I pressed on asking for the welding equipment. Finally we got to the tool crib, I was looking at welding, it was all arc, so I thought, “crud they don’t sell O, where am I going to get that reasonably priced?” The doubtful employee who was at my side said, “Yeah I didn’t think we sold oxygen” as if he was spiking the ball after a touchdown.

Luckily their was an employee in tools. He came over reached way under the shelf on the bottom below dremels next to welding, and pulled out a small red oxygen tank. And said “We don’t sell any oxygen except for this one.” Laughed and continued “Frank don’t have a heart attack from shock, ‘cause if you need mouth to mouth you will die”. Playing along I added “If you do, too bad you don’t have any oxygen!”

As I checked out, the lovely cashier, Queen, held up the compact red tank and said, “what’s this?” I said, “oxygen.” Queen replied, “I didn’t know we sold that, what you use it for?” I said, “breathing, mountain climbing, I hear oxygen is vey useful.” Queen said, “I certainly seem to need it, what are YOU using it for?” I replied, “making beer”. She said, “light beer?” I looked at her, not sure what to say, I said “no that’s helium, you don’t sell that here.” She looked at me and we both broke out laughing.

I liked Queen, she made my day

[craftedales-blog]

Bill of lading

Here is what arrived today. -Two bayou classic 185,000 btu gas cookers, these are a lot bigger than I expected, luckily the height is still below the safe, just barely though. Gravity will work, -10 gallon Igloo cooler. -Bayou classic tri-ply stainless steel 10 gallon brew kettle (Some assembly required, luckily it came with the lid on.) this came with a false bottom, bazooka, ball valve and thermometer) -Two Rubbermaid clear 1 gallon plastic pitcher -Two electronic kitchen thermometers with 4’ probes -Electronic Kitchen scale in .5 gram increments -Hydrometer -10" bazooka -Carboy carrier -Analog Fridge thermometer -Two bung air locks

Also I picked up some O rings, hose clamps, and a oxygen tank locally.

[craftedales-blog]

Well half the brewery arrived today as well. It’s about time, I ordered it Friday, took forever. There was an amazonvalanch at the front door.

[craftedales-blog]

The wall is all repaired, and I installed a one ton chain wench, this will haul what ever I need up and down. If my calculations are correct, the liquor tank has 3 inches of play above the mash tun.

[craftedales-blog]

Here it is clear and clean, and the safe which is the platform for the Mash Tun is in location.