Brewhouse Build - Outbuilding Conversion

[stevetk189]

First bay of the sloped floor concrete down. Not too bad all in all, considering it's the first time I've done a sloped floor... the first time I've done a floor full stop.

[floydmeddler]

I did a porter with some Apollo the other month, malty and quite a bit of flavour, I didn't dry hop though so the aroma aint up to much.

I haven't bothered to dry hop my Apollo IPA even though I originally planned to. There's been no need as they explode forth, I opened a bottle the other night and my mrs, sat 10 feet away commented on the nice smell.

The batch I had was via pdtnc and still a bit wet and sticky, I've not used any from other sources yet, maybe they're not quite as up there!

YES! Can't wait now. Will go in with 100g on a 25L batch I reckon. Cheers man.

[stevetk189]

I did a porter with some Apollo the other month, malty and quite a bit of flavour, I didn't dry hop though so the aroma aint up to much.

I haven't bothered to dry hop my Apollo IPA even though I originally planned to. There's been no need as they explode forth, I opened a bottle the other night and my mrs, sat 10 feet away commented on the nice smell.

The batch I had was via pdtnc and still a bit wet and sticky, I've not used any from other sources yet, maybe they're not quite as up there!

YES! Can't wait now. Will go in with 100g on a 25L batch I reckon. Cheers man.

Dude, what i have noticed so far with them is the early bottles can be a bit meh and the older bottles lose a lot of aroma. I now restrain myself not to try the first bottle until 4 or 5 weeks after bottling. I'd love to brew this as a seller as every single French person who's tried it loves it - they don't get any hoppy beers round here BUT unless they turnover quick ie 1 to 2 months I'm worried the older ones will lose too much.

[darkonnis]

Just a thought:
You could look into filtering for a commercial brew. Sending it carbonated & filtered of yeast would allow the aroma to last a bit longer. The likes of Brewdog do it, and their punk IPA which lived in my fridge for a few months seemed to still be smelling great by the time I worked back round to it.

[floydmeddler]

Dude, what i have noticed so far with them is the early bottles can be a bit meh and the older bottles lose a lot of aroma. I now restrain myself not to try the first bottle until 4 or 5 weeks after bottling. I'd love to brew this as a seller as every single French person who's tried it loves it - they don't get any hoppy beers round here BUT unless they turnover quick ie 1 to 2 months I'm worried the older ones will lose too much.

I think that's the thing with hoppy beers. The hop kick can be pretty harsh and unflattering at the beginning then it peaks for around 2 weeks then quickly dwindles. OK for cask pub beers as it's all drunk at once but for bottles... could be dangerous as in it could create an undeserved negative impression of you as a brewer if the customer doesn't open it for a few months. He'll see 'hop bomb' written on the label and think, hop bomb? I'm not getting much hops here. Tricky business!

[WishboneBrewery]

this is looking good, very impressive

[stevetk189]

@Darkonnis: I don't really want to go down the filtering route, my angle is to be as old fashioned and traditional artisan craft brewing but with a modern twist of new world flavours and aromas as well as some classic English styles. The French love the arty farty side of things but here (up to now) with the local craft beer that means, cloudy, boring and uninspired blonde amber or brown being the primary descriptors... sugary fizz piss for the most part.

I've gone through 4 local brewers ranges of beers from their blondes through to their bruns or in two cases noires and have been amazed at how totally different looking beers can all smell and taste the same. Utter shite. 1 hop used sparingly and 1 yeast across the range. Boring. Over primed too usually so really fizzy but with that sugary taste that indicates not all the priming sugar was converted. Not pleasant but what the locals are used to.

My process is finally getting me nicely cleared beers without having to filter or use gelatine etc I want to try and keep it all natural, no forced carbonated bottles as then they can't really be compared to what's currently available.

I'm not on a one man crusade either, there' a group of French brewers who are trying to get out of this blonde, amber. brun same old same old rubbish and encourage their local consumers to get passionate about great beer. Beer has every right to be treated as reverently as any wine or food.

@Floyd - yep my primary concern is a customer who doesn't drink the beer within a couple of months may not get the true HOP ON!!! experience and feel let down.

@pdtnc - Cheers, nearly got the floor finished and I road tested the floor drain which works nicely. My Kaixin pumps arrived in France within 2 days from Hong Kong, that was three days ago and they're still sat at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris according to UPS tracking.... Such speedy service until Franceland got involved and slowed the job up.

I have also drilled my first hole in a shiny. To fit a thermowell and thermometer to my HLT. 3 FU***NG hours to get the pilot through starting at 2mm and drilling it out mm by mm up to 10mm to get my 20mm Q-Max cutter in. Looking at the disc cut out the wall thickness of these pots is about 1.5mm they're incredibly hefty.

I'm now waiting for Starrett UK to reply to my email asking about postage to France as I want to get hold of a couple of proper TCT stainless hole saws for the rest of the drilling etc.

[stevetk189]

Here's a little more progress, I've been held up due to my Mrs unfortunately having to go back into hospital with an ongoing trapped nerve in her neck problem so I've been a bit busy visiting and, now she's home, doing her share of the housework and bits and bobs.

More gizmos have arrived in the post, 3 x 1.5kw kettle elements - 2 for the HLT and one spare or maybe for a RIMS heat exchanger pot somewhere down the line....

I've been into town today and got a load of brass plumbing fittings. I was going to go all stainless but it takes things way over budget so for now, it's brass - gradually being swapped out with stainless as and when I can afford/justify it. Dearest piece was a three port manifold so i can run one Kaixin pump on the HLT to a) recird the HLT (b) pump across to the MT and (c) feed a hand held spray head for part of my CIP idea. Step C is due to me deciding (for now) to use the HLT to also heat washing/rinsing water until i can get an electric or gas instant water heater.

I've also managed to get the door done, I opted for a stable type door as it looks nice but will also allow me to keep the top part open to help with steam venting. I've got one extractor fitted but due to a bit of a layout re-shuffle will probably have to fit another one too.

Some pics.


Top bit of door and the finished floor and floordrain visible.


Door.


Well deserved pint of my Old Boar (A dark ESB) along with Autumnal bonfire and a chicken.

[darkonnis]

Yeah I know what you're meaning about sticking to the traditional methods, was just a thought. Nice to see the brauhaus is getting there mate. Giving me ideas for getting mine sorted Will this double as the actual brewery when you get set up? or will this remain just the "hobby" side of it? Either way it's looking good.
I think, the biggest thing that is overlooked is yeast. So many breweries do it probably because its easy but it doesn't half make such a difference. That said, this is a good thing because it separates the men from the boys and it'll mean when you get going you'll make a much stronger impression eh?
Cooky

[stevetk189]

Yeah I know what you're meaning about sticking to the traditional methods, was just a thought. Nice to see the brauhaus is getting there mate. Giving me ideas for getting mine sorted Will this double as the actual brewery when you get set up? or will this remain just the "hobby" side of it? Either way it's looking good.
I think, the biggest thing that is overlooked is yeast. So many breweries do it probably because its easy but it doesn't half make such a difference. That said, this is a good thing because it separates the men from the boys and it'll mean when you get going you'll make a much stronger impression eh?
Cooky

Cheers. The finished brewery as it will be will handle up to a 200l boiler (100l at the mo), beyond that and if I'm turning out enough to need larger then it'll be an extension/new build required.

I'm building in a couple of fold down worktops so they can be out of the way when I'm brewing and then set up for bottling. If all goes to plan everything except fermentation and conditioning will be do-able in the current space.

I do plan to keep two or maybe three different yeast cultures on the go, having read the great Yeast book it's given me a lot of ideas on setting up a small yeast lab. For now I'm getting nicer character than the other local brews using S04 and WLP002. Not sure what yeast the other local brewers use but they have a distinctly similar and unpleasant fusty aroma that I can't place to a specific hop, so put down to the yeast. They do tend to shy away from using hops so the beers I've tried to date are quite unbalanced. BUT, it's what the local consumers are used to so my tough job is getting them to try more than a taste and accept, yes it's different and... bloody hell it's better! That's going to be the toughest part.

For the early days there are a tonne of expats around here clamouring for better beer but I am gradually getting more and more French to try it and their comments are very positive. They actually look surprised as they get their nose near the glass and can smell something not fusty but inviting, then the sip, then a smile, a nod and a good old proper drink.

There's a growing movement of younger generation brewers springing up across France who are all about balance, good hops and getting France out of the Blonde, Amber, Brown classification they stick to. Blonde must taste like this, Amber must taste like this etc To present 4 identically coloured, amber beers that each smell and taste different to one another surprises them. I use the argument that red wine is red yet they don't expect all the different cepages to taste and smell the same. Good beer is as good as any wine in it's own right.

Huzzah!

[darkonnis]

More than that! Wine was but a twinkle in the beer gods eyes when ale first started
I am beginning to think the whole "fresh" approach to brewing is a world wide thing. Over here there is now more microbreweries than ever before, the majority being rather mediocre and producing the same basic 4% drink, but theres a few wild cards chucking out awesome stuff. The US has really taken off with it all (not a new thing but even now its still growing) mate of mine was in norway with work and he said he found craft beer over there without looking, this can only be a good thing!

[WishboneBrewery]

Nice one, it looks like you'll be Horsing around with that Stable door

[barneey]

Good looking brew shed mate and am liking the pint

[stevetk189]

We're in a global beer revival muthaf****ZZZZZZZ!

@Darkonnis, totally agree.

@PDTNC - I see what you did thar!

@Barneey - Just having another, damn pleased with it - I expected to brew it 3 times to fine tune it but it's all there to my liking as it is. Couple more weeks to make sure it keeps behaving and then I'll pop up the recipe.

[stevetk189]

Here's a few more piccies of progress so far, not a lot of text, I'm too tired to type lol


Reshuffle of HLT and MT, HLT now higher too.


One of my Kaixin pumps and some bits and bobs. I'll gradually swap out the brass and copper stuff for Stainless Steel as my budget allows.


Valves and dial thermometers fitted to HLT and copper


Hop filter (upside down to show holes) fitted into the copper.

Couple more on my blog.