Beach Brew

I am going to provide you an introduction to my all grain brewing set up. This is one way things can be done. It certainly is not the only way. There is no right or wrong way just lots of different methods. This has all been done reasonably cheaply and I have built a lot of things myself. It will cost you a little more if you choose not to build anything yourself and a little less if you build more yourself. I will refer to and have links to photos throughout this article. All of the pictures can be found on this page. I have to thank John Palmer and his fantastic book �How To Brew�, the people of Aussie Home Brewer and the local brewers for all their help.

The basic components of an all grain system are the Hot Liquor Tank(HLT), the Mash Tun and the Kettle. In the first generation of my system the HLT and Kettle were one and the same but this made things very difficult. The HLT is where you heat up your water for brewing. This is the water that you transfer to the mash tun for the mash and the sparge. The mash tun is where you mix the cracked and malted grain and hot water together to extract the sugars from the grain. The kettle is where you boil the wort(the solution that comes out of the mash, raw beer). Normally hops are also added to the kettle during the boil.

The other parts that of the brewery that are optional are the grain mill and the chiller. The grain mill is to crack open the malted grain allowing you to extract the sugars from it. It is nice to have your own mill but most home brew shops will crack it for you if you like. I personally have a Barley Crusher mill, pics. I got a mill as it allows me to buy grain in bulk and crush as I need rather than going to the brew shop and buying my grain on a brew by brew basis. The Barley Crusher can be obtained from Barley Crusher for around A$200. I picked mine up second hand for less than this but these are not very common second hand. Other models are available so have a look around.

The chiller can take on many forms. The chiller is used to cool the wort after boiling to temperatures that the yeast can be pitched at. You can get away without having a chiller by leaving the wort to cool over night in a fridge or a basin or bath of water. The chiller allows you to get the temperature down faster and pitch yeast sooner. This can reduce the chance of infection. The most common are immersion and counter flow. An immersion chiller is normally a spiral of copper pipe that you immerse in the wort after boiling and run cool water through. A counter flow chiller is two hoses configured one inside the other. The hot wort is run through the inside hose while cool water is run through the outside hose. There are a few variations of this but they are very similar. This is normally done with copper pipe on the inside and a garden type hose on the outside. I have the counter flow type chiller, pics. This is one item I decided not to build myself. Seemed like too much effort to me. I got mine from a home brew shop. These can be picked up at many brew stores for around A$100.

In explaining the main components I will talk about the design of each and how they flow into the next item. I will do more specific explanations of how each item was built in future posts. First up is the HLT. My HLT is an old commercial beer keg, see pics. The keg has had the top cut out and a hole cut near the bottom for a tap. You could make these cuts with saw or angle grinder but I had it done by a plasma cutter. This makes for nice clean cuts. The cutting cost A$20 and I picked the old keg up for A$30. I then fitted the fixtures for the tap and associated seal in the bottom, about $5 for all fittings. These came from a plumbing supply store. Also included is a bit of copper pipe that acts as a pick up. This allows me to get all the liquid out as it dips right to the bottom. I use a lid from another pot in the kitchen if I need a lid. This sits on a ring burner, pics, which you can get from outdoor shops and places that specialise in bbq and the like. You obviously also need a gas bottle, about A$30 and a HP regulator, about A$20. The burners themselves can be picked up new with stand for about A$20.

I get the hot water into the mash tun just by gravity. Open the valve and let I run in. My mash tun is a 36l round plastic esky/cooler , see pics. These can be purchased from hardware and outdoor stores. I have heard of them going for about A$80-105. This is certainly not the only way you can build a mash tun. However, it holds the heat well and is simple. Inside the mash tun I have constructed a manifold made from � inch copper pipe. This is to draw out liquid whilst leaving the grain behind. You will notice it looks a little asymmetrical. I was given a bunch of bits of copper so just used what I had, see pics. The copper pipe can be purchased from any hardware or plumbing store for a couple of dollars a metre. If you want to be technical about this have a look at Palmer as he has done some work on manifold configurations. This manifold is connected to a similar thread and tap set up as the HLT. On the mash tun there is more seals involved as it has to go through the insulation material. I batch sparge so I don�t have a lauter tun or any other attachments. The building of the manifold is very simple and just requires a few cuts with a hacksaw and everything is press fit. I will go into detail in my mash tun article.

I run the hot wort from the mash tun into the kettle through a piece of food grade plastic hose. This pushes the heat tolerance of the hose but it seems to handle it. This can also be picked up at hardware stores for a couple of dollars a meter. The kettle is a 60L aluminium pot, pics. I would prefer to use Stainless but a similar sized stainless pot is more than three times the price so I made the decision, after talking to a lot of people and seeing these pots in use, to go with the aluminium. They can be purchased for around A$85 and are good for batch sizes up to about 40L. The pot has a hole drilled near the bottom for fitting the same thread and tap as the other vessels. You want to be careful and get some good washers in here for sealing and to separate the metal of the tap from that of the aluminium pot as aluminium can be very reactive when contacting other metals. I also have a piece of copper pipe to use as a pick up in the kettle to get all of the wort out of it. This pick up takes the wort from the outside of the kettle as I whirlpool after the boil to get all the hop debris to sit in the middle of the pot. From the pot I run the hot wort through the counter flow chiller and into a fermenter.

So that is the basics of my brewery and how it all fits together. Now I have to put together the specifics of each of the major parts of the system. I will post these as I get them done and if there is a want for them. Please post comments if you find this information useful or if you have constructive comments about it.

Welcome to MARKSPROJECTS

These are awesone. If I ever were to wear a costume to a party it would be one of these. So cool.

The idea behind this is giving a bit of a tutorial on my brewing set up for new brewers. My setup is effective simple and reasonably cheap for an all grain set up.

The plan is to do a general write up with photos of my brewery. This will give a general overview of the whole thing. This will include all the bits and how they go together the types of places to source them and what you can expect to pay.

Then I will do a series of articles on each of the major components. I will include specific instructions on how to put these together and where to get everything. Well I will tell you the types of places anyway as there is no point making it specific to my area. I will put up a bunch of photos with this to try and make it easier. All mine has been done with very basic tools so most people should be able accomplish it.

I will start putting this together this weekend so will hopefully have the first article up this weekend. No promisees though.

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Photo Gallery (Water Bridge)

This is just amazing engineering. Things like this just blow me away. This is an amazingly innovative solution. When I see things like this it amazes and excites me in a way I imagine people who like fine art feel when they see an amazing piece of art.

I sampled my two latest brews today after taking a sample to have a look at. Just small samples to check with the refractometer. As I imagined the level has barely moved since being in cc.

I would have liked to see both beers a little clearer. I used a fining I was give called Lucilite. This some silica based thing that is supposed to drop the yeast out really well when it is cold conditioning. They are still quite cloudy. This is after a week and a half. I was only going to lager for two weeks rather than my normal four so I could brew again. I may have to leave it for the four weeks. I will take a small sample again on the weekend to check it.

Both of the beers tasted pretty good. Unfortunately I have never tasted any commercial versions and only a couple of home brewed alt. I have never tasted a Kolsch of any kind so will have to get opinions from others once it is ready.

Another random pointless post. I am sure everybody has their pet hates when it comes to other drivers. I certainly do so I thought I would share them. Some of them are irrational others are even more irrational. What really sends me over the top is when I see the police observe one of these despicable acts and do nothing about it.

One of the big ones and probably the one that bugs me most is people sliding across lanes when making a turn. This can be turning left in a slip lane or doing a right hand turn(We drive on the left here). When you make one of these turns you should start and finish in the same lane. So when making a right hand turn you should start and finish in the right hand lane. It really is simple. However, what happens nine times out of ten is that someone makes their left hand turn through the slip lane and slide straight across to the right hand lane. Alternatively the person makes a right hand turn but slide straight across to the left hand lane. This doesn’t seem like a big deal to most but it is against the law and dangerous. For example I am making a left hand turn into a road and a bunch of cretins are making a right hand turn into the same road. We should be able to make our turns at the same time with no issue. These semi evolved morons will make their right hand turns into the left hand lane. This at the very least stops me making my turn or at the worst they come ploughing into me. Don’t these people understand it is a road and not a track? There is no need to follow the race line when you are making a turn on a suburban road!

That kind of leads into another one that I hate. I guess it is related and is probably even done in conjunction with my first gripe on many occasions. Once again it is involving turning. Imagine you are following along behind someone and the put on their left indicator to make a turn (remembering we are driving on the left so reverse this if you are in a country that drives incorrectly.). So to avoid stopping and reducing the amount you need to decelerate you move to the right hand side of the lane thinking you will be able to slip past while the other driver makes their turn. Then for some unfathomable reason the driver in front of you moves to the right to make a left had turn. If they were on a race track and trying to follow the race line this may be appropriate, but not on a public road. The law clearly states “as nears as practicable to the left hand side of the road”. Is that some how unclear or are these people just idiots? Besides being against the law it is also dangerous. This also happens often with people making right hand turns.

There are plenty more but I think I will live with this for now. I shall now go on about how the police really should be spending their time on this to alleviate my annoyances, just kidding.