Some Good News

Just placed the order for grain, hops, etc for a Citra Pale Ale and an American Amber Ale I wrote up. I can't wait to brew again. Shooting for first brewday in early February, so expect the walk-through around that time.

The Setup

Here's a quick run-through of my brewing setup.

The whole shebang. 

The Mash Tun. I'm running a stainless steel braid in this 10 gallon cooler. Depending on performance I may construct a copper manifold at a later date, but for now this method is cost effective and should still yield reasonable efficiency since I batch sparge. This is where the grains are "mashed" to produce the sweet, highly fermentable nectar of the beer gods that is called wort.

The Keggle. This baby took some time but turned out wonderfully. No pickup tube yet; I'm waiting to see how it will perform without. It is however equipped with a full port valve, sight glass, and thermometer. This vessel will hold the wort transferred from the mash tun through the boil on the 105,000 BTU Jet Burner.

The Immersion Chiller. Cool hose water will run through 25 ft of soft copper tubing immersed in boiling wort to quickly bring the heat down to yeast pitching temperatures (around 70° F). Once the wort is cooled it will be transferred to a primary fermenter, yeast will be pitched, and fermentation will commence.

I've seen much more intricate designs than my own, but the system and basic principles are essentially identical. I'll give a more thorough walk-through of the brewing process on my next brewday.

Cheers!

Breaking The Ice

Here is a bit of background information on me and the intent of this blog.

I began home-brewing in January 2012. My first several brews have been Extract and Partial Mash beer kits. For those that are unfamiliar these methods of brewing utilize malt extract with little to no grain actually used (think Mac 'n' Cheese from a box...good, but ultimately unsatisfying). Now, having gotten down the basics - along with literally hundreds of hours of research - I am confident enough in my knowledge of basic brewing principles and styles to move into all grain brewing (think Mama's homemade Mac 'n' Cheese... mm-mm, there are few things better in this world). With my AG conversion essentially complete and armed with roughly a dozen recipes I've put together while on hiatus I've decided now would be the perfect time to begin chronicling my experiences. I plan to share my inspirations, formulations (to some extent, at least), results, and anything else I deem relevant or noteworthy in my adventures. I will no longer use inferior powdered cheese in my mac; I will make MY OWN damn cheese!

Thanks and Gig'em.