tctenten said:
Don't flash any money at a red light, m'kay? =)
=[ Another GM Experimental Thread ]=
- Thread starter grantmichaels
- Start date
Don't flash any money at a red light, m'kay? =)
I'm really getting a good feel for how I'll go forward. It's not different from how I imagined it before, but now I'm pretty certain about it, whereas before I was uncertain ...
For light-colored beers, I'll brew them inside and brew them more frequently, and in very small volumes. I become bored with them quickly, don't appreciate them much beyond their freshness window at all, and will order the grain bill's pre-milled per batch. I'll probably also use dry yeast when possible, but these batches will have a 90 minute boil, and will cycle through my 1.75 and 2.5 gallon kegs. I will do these recirculating mash BIAB without true sparging, and I'll have the recirculating facilities for whirlpooling etc, and I think I'll also fashion my high temp filter housing for use as a hopback for certain cases. Basically, these beers will get made the same way I've been making beers inside thus far, except the batch volume will be a little bit less (1.75 to 2.5, instead of 2.5 to 3.5 gallon). That will fix the parts that have sucked - equipment at capacity all the time while brewing, and light-colored beers with 1-2 gallons remaining after I've grown tired of them. I will basically almost never bottle these beers.
Now for the good stuff ...
I'm going to go forth with my kettle modifications and do large-volume split batches of dark beer outside in the big kettle, where all of the differentiation happens inside towards the end of fermentation and in secondary. Many of these beers will have exceedingly simple needs brewing, in terms of being 60 min boils with largely straightforward bittering hop additions. All will probably be US-05, S-04, and/or Mangrove Ale yeast (basically all dry yeast, all the time). 60-70 minute boil's. I'll mash, sparge, lauter etc for these, using 100qt cooler and 82qt boil kettle. For these beers I'll basically be using a bulk sack of Maris Otter each time. I'll keep some unmilled Dark Munich, Carafa Special III, Roasted Barley, and Chocolate Malt etc on hand - and mill these batches. It's not too hard to imagine myself eventually getting a conical on casters and pumping the wort into it, but for now these batches will move through my 3 and 5 gallon kegs, fermenting in the latter, and getting served out of the former. Some portion of these beers will get bottled.
I have time over the Summer, so after I brew another quickie partial-mash extract stout this weekend, I'll transition to beginning to build my outside system, doing the kettle modification etc while I have the time - so it's ready, and tested, for the Fall.
For light-colored beers, I'll brew them inside and brew them more frequently, and in very small volumes. I become bored with them quickly, don't appreciate them much beyond their freshness window at all, and will order the grain bill's pre-milled per batch. I'll probably also use dry yeast when possible, but these batches will have a 90 minute boil, and will cycle through my 1.75 and 2.5 gallon kegs. I will do these recirculating mash BIAB without true sparging, and I'll have the recirculating facilities for whirlpooling etc, and I think I'll also fashion my high temp filter housing for use as a hopback for certain cases. Basically, these beers will get made the same way I've been making beers inside thus far, except the batch volume will be a little bit less (1.75 to 2.5, instead of 2.5 to 3.5 gallon). That will fix the parts that have sucked - equipment at capacity all the time while brewing, and light-colored beers with 1-2 gallons remaining after I've grown tired of them. I will basically almost never bottle these beers.
Now for the good stuff ...
I'm going to go forth with my kettle modifications and do large-volume split batches of dark beer outside in the big kettle, where all of the differentiation happens inside towards the end of fermentation and in secondary. Many of these beers will have exceedingly simple needs brewing, in terms of being 60 min boils with largely straightforward bittering hop additions. All will probably be US-05, S-04, and/or Mangrove Ale yeast (basically all dry yeast, all the time). 60-70 minute boil's. I'll mash, sparge, lauter etc for these, using 100qt cooler and 82qt boil kettle. For these beers I'll basically be using a bulk sack of Maris Otter each time. I'll keep some unmilled Dark Munich, Carafa Special III, Roasted Barley, and Chocolate Malt etc on hand - and mill these batches. It's not too hard to imagine myself eventually getting a conical on casters and pumping the wort into it, but for now these batches will move through my 3 and 5 gallon kegs, fermenting in the latter, and getting served out of the former. Some portion of these beers will get bottled.
I have time over the Summer, so after I brew another quickie partial-mash extract stout this weekend, I'll transition to beginning to build my outside system, doing the kettle modification etc while I have the time - so it's ready, and tested, for the Fall.
tctenten said:
From my side, having gotten ahead of myself in that regard - don't bother to expand until you have said to yourself AT LEAST TWICE, "Man, I really wish I had more of that beer!" ...
Have to have a temp-controlled fermentation chamber, though, I think ... but that can be an office fridge with a $40 Inkbird controller on it. FWIW, that's the other thing I plan to add, besides a conical for the big batches - a small, single-container ferm chamber, so I don't have to fuck with a temp change affecting multiple containers in a freezer.
grantmichaels said:
Waiting till I go hunting. Two of the guys are local 3 electricians. My circuit panel is in my garage and I am pretty sure I have an open 220 circuit that we used when we had a wall ac unit. I want to see if they think it is a good idea just to use that circuit and keep the freezer/fridge in my garage. I already have a spare fridge in basement and really do not have the outlets or space to put a chest freezer. Is it possible to mod a regular fridge to get the temps I would need?
tctenten said:
Yeah, Bumper has that, and so does Ozzy, I think ...
Fridges are 110V, anyways ...
Ozzy2001 said:
Yeah, that can definitely improve the experience, for sure. I already have an iron fish tank stand with a glass top on it out in my carport ... they're inexpensive, and designed to hold significant weight.
tctenten said:
The controller turns the fridge on and off ...
My Blichman stand is pretty awesome. It's sturdy and has cleats to hold the keggle in place. It's just 8-12" too short.grantmichaels said:
As it stands now I can barely get my counterflow chiller much lower than the keggle valve and higher than the carboy. Plus the chiller is only 3/8 OD tubing.
tctenten said:
Yeah, all of them ...
It's a temp probe that turns two outlets on and off (two stage) ...
One outlet runs a cooling device (the fridge), the other outlet runs a heating device (a lightbulb of miniature heater) ...
The controller's a PID-style device that learns and controls it as effectively as possible ...
I'm thinking that tctenten's even less likely to build his controller than I am, LOL ...
Heater - https://amzn.com/B003XDTWN2
Heater - https://amzn.com/B003XDTWN2