Home Brew Forum

In the background are my two "experimental batch" mash tuns

Weighing out the grains




Grains ready to be crushed .......... yes the hopper is an empty water bottle with the bottom cut off , it works MINT!



4-5 minutes later, crushed grains.................. ROFL @ the Jesus boots




Making a Dortmunder Export because my daughter wants to make a beer thats "golden like mine hair daddy"

Next post the dough in

Here is the Hot Liquor tank (HLT)


Here is a top view of the HLT , it is fitted with a thermostatic temperature control and the water is heated with a 1500 Watt hot water heater element. I will fill it with hot water from my TANKLESS system and this weekend I am going to try and help it out with solar energy.



HLT thermostat set at 190 though I use 170-180 degree mash water



My mash tun
Simple 48 qt rubbermaid cooler fitted with a mini-keg bung in lieu of the drain. That is fitted with a stainless braid water line (yes, the ones at Home Depot) that is run through the bung to an in-line valve for flow control at sparge time.



I always pre-heat my mash tun with a gallon or so of 200 degree water so its nice and hot for the grains and will hold a temperature for a long time.

In go the grains and mash water, the amount of water is dependent on how many grains the recipe calls for. In this case 13lbs of grains = 4.5 gallons of 175 degree water. That is stirred in with the grains and the hope is you hit the mash temp you are looking for, this beer style called for a 152 degree mash.

I think I'll be alright



Batch sparge first run-off



THIS INITIAL RUN-OFF GOES INTO A PITCHER
Once it runs clear, as seen here:


Then I direct the hose into the BOTTOM of the boil kettle and vorlauf (recirculate GENTLY!!!!!) the quart or so that ran to the pitcher.



The second run-off will be equal to the other half of the boil volume. 3.55 gallons ( this was a 90 minute boil )

Here is the second run-off going into the kettle.



As the second run-off is progressing I hit the burner



...and put the bittering hops in.
PVC adapter, PVC pipe and a 5 gallon paint strainer bag (yup, from Home Depot) keep the hops where they need to be and out of my fermenter



Nothing to do now but more cleaning and get a carboy ready for fermenting

What about all those spent grains you rinsed................... why make bread. There is still some residual sugar and plenty of whole grain goodness. It makes great pizza dough as well



Boiling away...............................

Chilling the wort
I move the kettle off the burner because it holds A LOT of residual heat



I also have a pre-chiller..... chiller. Its my old wort chiller and it goes into a 5 gallon bucket of salted ice water to get the wort cold fast.

Here the wort is run into the fermenter, back on the burner which is cooled by now. Its a nice height for draining.
Milk crates make moving a carboy much safer


Here is the wort chilling the rest of the way down to the 46-48 degree mark for pitching of the lager yeast.
My basement is around 58-60 and by putting frozen juice bottles 2-3 at a time in twice daily I can maintain 50 degree for lager fermentation.
Its chock full of ice , ice packs etc to get it from 60 to 46 right now.
Yeast is Safelager 34/70 slurry from my Oktoberfest

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Oh very nice, good work

Great photos babalu

I like the water bottle used as a hopper idea, very nice

Great looking brew day, I think you may have done this before

delboy wrote:I like the water bottle used as a hopper idea, very nice

I can see one of those empties disappearing from the office next week
Great brewday pics.

What a great set up you have there & I love the pics. Thanks for sharing this with everyone here, nice one!

Thanks guys

There is a reason for the X support on the burner (that I built) it holds my Wok frame perfectly. THAT is the way to cook with a Wok but one needs to have everything organized for sure. Dinner is ready in about 5 minutes.

Its a great set-up for when the weather permits, doing it in my basement needs to have a few kinks worked out.

As long as the wood base for the water bottle is drilled correctly it can be filled with grain (20+ pounds)
The biggest test was the ESB I just kegged up, one keg force carbed and the other got sugar and finings The hopper held all 23 lbs of grain

The hop bag I have since amended as well, it now has a straight piece of PVC rather than two pieces for the hole in the middle. Much stronger and I can just pull it out a little to dump the hops in.

Thats great, the burner looks really beefy.

Dortmunder will be fantastic for the coming months, whats your recipe?

Smashing pics and a great brew day account

Heres the recipe
Vanguard was all I had for a noble style hop, It tasted nice going into the corney
Should be ready just in time for the heat of summer

Was 3 points high on the OG but I doubt anyone could tell the difference and since I'm American had to choose the high number for hopping

Cow Jumped over the Dortmunder Export

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

02-C European Pale Lager, Dortmunder Export

Min OG: 1.048 Max OG: 1.056
Min IBU: 23 Max IBU: 30
Min Clr: 4 Max Clr: 6 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 6.00 Wort Size (Gal): 6.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 13.00
Anticipated OG: 1.059 Plato: 14.51
Anticipated SRM: 5.4
Anticipated IBU: 29.7
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate: 15.00 Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 7.74 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.046 SG 11.37 Plato

Formulas Used
-------------

Brewhouse Efficiency and Predicted Gravity based on Method #1, Potential Used.
Final Gravity Calculation Based on Points.
Hard Value of Sucrose applied. Value for recipe: 46.2100 ppppg
Yield Type used in Gravity Prediction: Fine Grind Dry Basis.

Color Formula Used: Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Rager


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
65.4 8.50 lbs. Pilsener Malt(2-Row) Canada 1.035 1
30.8 4.00 lbs. Munich Malt (2 Row) France 1.038 7
3.8 0.50 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.25 oz. Vanguard Whole 5.70 28.0 90 min.
0.50 oz. Vanguard Whole 5.70 1.7 5 min.
0.50 oz. Vanguard Whole 5.70 0.0 0 min.


Yeast
-----

Saflager 34/70




Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Type: Single Step

Grain Lbs: 13.00
Water Qts: 10.00 - Before Additional Infusions
Water Gal: 2.50 - Before Additional Infusions

Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 0.77 - Before Additional Infusions

Saccharification Rest Temp : 152 Time: 0
Mash-out Rest Temp : 0 Time: 0
Sparge Temp : 0 Time: 0


Total Mash Volume Gal: 3.54 - Dough-In Infusion Only

All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.

Excellent pics. Bare feet in the brewery always worry me though

Great set of pictures & a good looking set-up, I think those toe nails could do with a clip though