My setup changes a little every time I brew. I am always trying to figure out new and better ways to brew.
I started extract brewing in January 2009 with a very basic setup. In Summer 2009 I altered my brew
kettle and a couple coolers with ball valves and started doing all-grain batches.
Brewing is fun and it can save money. For example: the Holiday Spiced Ale I recently brewed would be comparable to beer costing a minimum of $8 a 6-pack. 5 gallons is roughly 50 beers and would be a cost of about $67. All of the ingredients for this home brew were bought locally for $24. That is a cost savings of about $43.
Mashing/Lautering Setup: it works great in the kitchen or in the garage.
7 gallon brew kettle, large enough for 5 gallon all grain batches. I can boil on the stove or in the garage on a propane burner.
Wort Chiller for quick cooling. I also made a pre-chiller I can drop in an ice bath to cool my wort on hot days in Fort Worth, TX.
Water flows from the sink through the submerged pre-chiller to cool the water, then through the hot wort to cool from boiling to 75F in a short time.
To keep control of the fermentation process I designed a temperature controller that I can adjust to keep my chest freezer at any temperature I need.
The first picture was taken before the controller was finished, and next to it is the circuit board I etched. It has already worked great for several batches.
This is the view inside of the chest freezer, my temperature probe coming through the drain hole.
This the a bottle tree for draining beer bottles after sanitizing. Reusing is better than recycling.
Malcolm is an expert bottler and loves to help me out.
I am increasing my mash tun cooler to 10 gallons so I can make higher gravity beer than possible with a 5 gallon mash tun.
I have begun experimenting with harvesting, freezing and re-propagating yeast, I just got in 100 test tubes for easy freezing.
The chest freezer will be turned into a kegerator, and I plan to build a fermentation chamber cooled by it.
I am also considering using a pump for recirculation and possibly experimenting with no-sparge brewing.
I also plan to get a larger brew kettle. Boiling 6+ gallons of wort in a 7 gallon kettle can get kind of sticky!
Thanks for checking this out. Feel free to email me if you have any questions/comments.
jgibbs@jgibbs.net
October 30, 2009