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Hogarth
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Happy days are here again

Post by Hogarth » Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:09 am

... for one week only. That's according to the BBC, who say the temperature's not going to rise above 20°C until the weekend. Time to stick the HLT on for a Timothy Taylor Landlord...

23 Litres
4.6kg Maris Otter
45g Styrians, 3.8% (90 mins)
20g Fuggles, 4.5% (90 mins)
24g Goldings, 5.3 (15 mins)
Windsor Yeast, all that was in the fridge.

Mash 90mins, Boil 90 mins

OG: 1042

Here's the brewery at present, with new mash tun on right. (It's the old thermos coolbox mash tun in a new case and a zillion camping mats in between. Today is its maiden voyage.)
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Filling the HLT: (EDIT: um, the MT, I mean.)
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The grains, and some last minute plumbing:
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Filling it up for the first batch. The mash had dropped about half a degree over 60mins. Annoyingly, the corners were still much cooler.
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Mash tun doesn't have a tap yet. Might not even need one. I plugged the pipe with the lid of a felt tip pen...
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... recirculating is easy enough...
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... and so is the run-off into boiler:
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The boil:
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The hops. Time to defrost the fridge, perhaps. But I swear that's not a frozen guinea pig in the centre.
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The run-off: It's the first time ever I've had the cooling water going full blast through the CFC and still not getting the wort down to 20C. Blooming August.

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Cameraman gets bored and starts trying arty shots:
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23 Litres @ exactly 1042, happy about that. Beer put to bed and a much-needed pint.
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Last edited by Hogarth on Mon Aug 11, 2008 11:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

Gurgeh

Post by Gurgeh » Mon Aug 11, 2008 7:51 am

good job that man!

I like the space saving feature of having the CFC wrapped around a vessel, very tidy.

Bigster

Post by Bigster » Mon Aug 11, 2008 8:17 am

excellent set up :D

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Jim
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Post by Jim » Mon Aug 11, 2008 8:17 am

Nice set up, Hogarth.

I'm surprised you're having trouble cooling with a cfc - even in the height of summer I find I just need a trickle of cooling water. :?
NURSE!! He's out of bed again!

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SiHoltye

Post by SiHoltye » Mon Aug 11, 2008 8:21 am

Great photo's H, lovely job on the beer too. Hope that ceiling light is SELV though :shock: , or shoot your spark :wink:

steve_flack

Post by steve_flack » Mon Aug 11, 2008 9:16 am

Jim wrote: I'm surprised you're having trouble cooling with a cfc - even in the height of summer I find I just need a trickle of cooling water. :?
The best way to describe my tap water at the moment is tepid...which is odd considering the weather.

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Hogarth
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Post by Hogarth » Mon Aug 11, 2008 11:05 am

Thanks guys. It's bubbling away like a nutter already, and a lovely fruity smell coming from it, like mangoes ... a pleasant change from the sulphurous stench I got from my last brew. I'm assuming this is down to the yeast -- Windsor this time and WLP013 last time.

Wort temperature is 21.5°C and shows no sign of coming down. Ah well.

Jim, the problem was that the cooling water itself was above 20°C. It comes from the tank in the attic, and it's like an oven up there in the summer. Even my super-efficient CFC can't deal with that. :D

The lighting's low-voltage, SiHoltye, but I'm not sure about SELV. Dangling the bulbs off cup hooks is probably not approved practice.

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Jim
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Post by Jim » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:50 pm

Hogarth wrote:.... [the cooling water] comes from the tank in the attic, and it's like an oven up there in the summer....
Ah, now I understand - my water comes straight from the mains.
NURSE!! He's out of bed again!

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flytact
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Post by flytact » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:52 pm

Great job and great pics!
Johnny Clueless was there
With his simulated wood grain

BlightyBrewer

Post by BlightyBrewer » Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:05 pm

That's a real tight space your are brewing in - excellent job on the brewery design. 8) Do you have extraction during the boil?

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spearmint-wino
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Post by spearmint-wino » Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:13 pm

nice 8)

drinking: ~ | conditioning: ~ | primary: ~ | Looks like I need to get brewing then...
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maxashton

Post by maxashton » Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:20 pm

Very nice setup, that man.

Vossy1

Post by Vossy1 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:22 pm

Good work H 8)

russt1969

Post by russt1969 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:27 pm

Nice one :)

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Hogarth
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Post by Hogarth » Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:54 pm

Thanks!

There's a little window to the left, Blighty, and the steam's not so bad in warmer weather. But in the winter it's like a sauna, so extraction is definitely the way forward.

I hope this Windsor yeast doesn't mind higher temps because it's bubbling away at 22.4°C despite the ambient being only 19°C.

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