Frivolous Frog brewery - first attempt!

[Naich]

Hopefully! My excuse is that to justify the investment of time and money it needs to produce lots and lots of beer over many years, or the price per pint will be ridiculous. Although secretly I did really enjoy building it too

Are we all still kidding ourselves we do this to save money, or is it just something to tell the wife so she thinks she understands?

M I D - L I F E - C R I S I S !

Totally. I can't afford a motorbike so I brew beer

[WishboneBrewery]

M I D - L I F E - C R I S I S !

Totally. I can't afford a motorbike so I brew beer

I'd have killed myself long since if I had a motorbike! So beer is obviously the safer option!

[Kev888]

Well if its a crisis its one of the good ones I'd thought of it as making hay whilst the sun shines, although now the possibility has been raised I am starting to feel suddenly a little old..

But anyway, this may not be the last brewery I ever build (a passing nod to polymoog's recent quality creation) but its certainly going to have to pay its way for a couple of decades or so with only minor maintenance and alterations. So it wasn't a cheap approach but with that in mind hopefully I spent the money where it counts and it'll last a good long time - I'll be disapointed if it doesn't. Its also taken too much spare time for quite a while now, so for that reason too I need to stop building and start getting back into the fun of recipies and brewing!

Cheers
kev

[Kev888]

Well I just racked it to secondary FV (I don't normally do that before two weeks, if at all, but it had got over enthusiastic and I wanted to clean up the mess).

Took a sample in the process: the gravity (which should be pretty much final at this stage) is 1.014 - almost spot on 1/4 of the OG so thats excellent and gives me about 5.5%ABV. More importantly I had a taste... and its beer! Its quite yeasty at the mo of course but seems nice - malty with some hoppiness coming through afterwards (though perhaps not as much as I'd like) and a slight warmth from the alcohol.

I wasn't aiming for anything specific or exciting - just left-overs in the first trial of the kit really - but its very heartening considering all the faffing about I did getting used to the unfamiliar temperature losses. I'll have to get a proper recipe together for next weekend, when the FV fridge will be free. Thinking of doing a stout which is a little unusual for me but it should be good for new-year and gives me the chance to smile smugly at finally having a big enough MT

Cheers
Kev

[Kegman]

Wow, love the kit! One day, one day

[Kev888]

Thanks! Its taken me over 20 years of brewing in one method or another to arrive at this stage, but I'm sure it can happen quicker and more cheaply. After spending so much time messing about with undersized kit I can't now understand why I didn't make at least something better much sooner; its going to be so much more enjoyable without all the topping up, supplimenting with spray malt and/or the constant spillages from rim-lappers.

Cheers
Kev

[leedsbrew]

rim-lappers.

Lol Are we still talking brewing here!

[Kev888]

Ha Ha! yes, strictly business when it comes to brewing

I often remember some years ago after ordering a computer, a pleasant sounding young lady rang to offer a memory upgrade and free cooling for my RIMM

[Kegman]

I often remember some years ago after ordering a computer, a pleasant sounding young lady rang to offer a memory upgrade and free cooling for my RIMM

Now why don't curry houses offer the same?!

[WishboneBrewery]

I often remember some years ago after ordering a computer, a pleasant sounding young lady rang to offer a memory upgrade and free cooling for my RIMM

Now why don't curry houses offer the same?!

Its just not on the menu... ask for it the next time you're there, I think it comes after the Chocy-Mint thing

[Kegman]

I often remember some years ago after ordering a computer, a pleasant sounding young lady rang to offer a memory upgrade and free cooling for my RIMM

Now why don't curry houses offer the same?!

Its just not on the menu... ask for it the next time you're there, I think it comes after the Chocy-Mint thing

[haz66]

Well I just racked it to secondary FV (I don't normally do that before two weeks, if at all, but it had got over enthusiastic and I wanted to clean up the mess).

Took a sample in the process: the gravity (which should be pretty much final at this stage) is 1.014 - almost spot on 1/4 of the OG so thats excellent and gives me about 5.5%ABV. More importantly I had a taste... and its beer! Its quite yeasty at the mo of course but seems nice - malty with some hoppiness coming through afterwards (though perhaps not as much as I'd like) and a slight warmth from the alcohol.

I wasn't aiming for anything specific or exciting - just left-overs in the first trial of the kit really - but its very heartening considering all the faffing about I did getting used to the unfamiliar temperature losses. I'll have to get a proper recipe together for next weekend, when the FV fridge will be free. Thinking of doing a stout which is a little unusual for me but it should be good for new-year and gives me the chance to smile smugly at finally having a big enough MT

Cheers
Kev

Well done Kev, glad its now paying you back with beer

[Kev888]

Well done Kev, glad its now paying you back with beer

Thanks! I'm relieved, it has to be said.

It looks nice and its going to be appropriate for the way I use it so I'm happy, but theres no doubt its really just a small turnover home-brew setup compared to the far more robust and powerful setup that you made. Months ago it was your build that inspired me to be going off to George Beck for the couple of tanks which kick-started it all, so thanks very much for posting about that, I could still be struggling along with an inadequate MT or have given up entirely by now without the inspiration.

Cheers
Kev

[Frothy]

great setup Kev! Couple of questions.
What is the second PID controller for? also, (please excuse me if this has already been explained) what is a valentine arm?

cheers
Frothy

[Kev888]

Thanks!

I've got two LED displays in that box on the wall - the big one is an ATC 800+ which controlls the HLT (through an external relay to increase its power handling capabilities) and the small one is just a digital thermometer, which I use to check the temperatures in the MT. The small LCD display in the white circular doofa is an immersion heater timer, so that I can have it heating ready for when I get up in the morning.

The valentine arm is a way to automatically maintain the height of liquid in the MT whilst you fly sparge. Its sort of like an enclosed spout on the outlet from the MT; by rotating it you can set the height of the spout and so that determines how deep the water in the MT gets before it starts to spill over and empty any extra. There's a sort of breather tube at the top as well, to stop liquid syphoning through it. There was a thread describing them before so i didn't cover it in any detail myself, but I think thats now been deleted so I can't point you to it unfortunately.

I really like them; the only real disadvantage is that it stops you using the syphon effect unless you swap it for a normal tube before emptying the MT - though I took account of that in this setup as my MT drains from the bottom anyway. It can still overfill if you get a stuck mash as well, so you you can't entirely trust it, but since I went to perforated stainless false bottoms I almost never get that issue - in fact I suspect the arm may help prevent it by keeping a steady back pressure on the grain bed. Heres a closer picture:


Cheers
Kev