Here is a little visual guide to some of the beers I’ve made since I started brewing. Click on each beer to get more details if you are that way inclined
Posts Tagged ‘Homebrewing’
I think there comes a point in every homebrewers life when you think, “God Damn but bottling sucks”
It takes a looong time to clean, sanitize and fill upwards on 2 cases per batch of beer you make. If only there were some way to make this easier.
And then like manna from the heavens you see draft systemns, kegerators, keezers, cold boxes….whatever you call them, but now they are everywhere. Like the cartoon hungry wolf who sees everything as a steak, now no matter where you look, faucets are appearing. In mail boxes, on cars. It’s a sign, you can’t ignore it anymore, you have to start kegging.
But holy crap, fridges are expensive…..or so you thought.
Dear Craigslist,
I love you, you’re awesome. Thanks for the fridge
Gavin
And then it begins. I got a fridge from craigslist… cost $0. It’s an older model, side by side, and needed some cleaning, but for that price, you don’t mind it.
Start with this…..
First thing you need to do is clean that bad boy. It’s not new, and it wasn’t yours, so you get out the bleach, the oxyclean (rip Billy Mays!!!) and the elbow grease and you clean that thing until it’s like new.
And now you are left with this doorless looking thing…
Now we transition this monstrosity from “fridge” to “Kegerator” (note the use of capital letters, because a fridge is just a fridge, the Kegerator is much more than that, therefore that K gets to stand upright)
First you need to tape off the doors and sand them gently, clean all the loose debris from the doors. Spray your undercoat (or paint, I used spray for the primer and the finish here since it wasn’t a huge area to cover).
Let it dry, spray again.
Now your door looks like this…
Next it’s on to the top coat. For this I’m using chalkboard paint. I’m doing this for 2 reasons.
1. I’m going to be brewing different beers, so I can just write above the tap what’s in each keg.
2. It’s common in brewpubs to have your beers listed on a chalkboard, so why not
Here is what the taped and coated door looks like…
Next step is to remount the doors onto the Kegerator…
The Kegs and fittings have arrived. After doing some measuring, I can get a couple of five gallon kegs and a 5 lb Co2 tank in the bottom. Whats even better is I can get, when the time to expand comes, 2 more kegs on top. I will have to make a more sturdy shelf to set them on that the ones that come on the fridge, but that’s a ways away yet.
Kegs fitted in place…
And now the final piece, and the most important piece. The faucets.
I drilled the holes with a 1″ hole saw (you can use a 7/8″ also, whatever you have) and spaced them about a fist width apart. There are several type of faucets you can use, I’m using Perlick 525’s because they are forward lean no drip faucets…..and they were on special. Which is a must if you are trying to build on a budget.
Faucets on the fridge….
A close up of the faucets…
So, there was only one thing left to do (well, two, I still have to install a drip tray), test the chalkboard paint to see if it actually works.
You will have to forgive my terrible writing, it is absolutely brutal, but it was only to test the actual paint. I’m sure it will be elegant and awesome soon.
I’ve installed a bottle opener on the other side of the fridge as that door looked lonely.
Last photo, I promise….
And that’s all there is to it… Easy right?
Ok, so I never claimed to be a mature brewer. Brewing is about fun, and making good beer. But why not have some fun with the naming of your brews (go on, say the name out loud).
This is another extract brew, it lets you familiarize yourself with dry hopping which is just another little step in expanding your skills as a brewer. Enjoy, and feel free to leave feedback, or ask questions if you have any.
Ingredients:
Specialty Grains:
1 LB Briess Crystal Malt – 60 L
Malt:
6 LB Briess Pilsen Light DME
Hops:
1 oz Nugget – 13% AA @ 60 minutes
1 oz Cascade – 5.9% AA @ 10 minutes
1 oz Cascade – 5.9% AA @ dry hopped
Yeast:
Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast
A couple of notes
And here is a picture of the final product
This is an easy recipe for an English style nut brown ale. I haven’t brewed a batch since starting this blog, but intend to do so next week, so I will have a step by step pictoral on the brewing process.
Our very good friends had their first child in August, so I named this batch for him. The end product is worth waiting for.
Baby Jack’s Nut Brown Ale
Ingredient List:
Specialty Grains
Fermentables
6 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup
Hop Additions
1 oz Argentina Cascade 3.2% AA @ 60 minutes
YeastSafale S-04
A couple of notes
Brewing is about making what you like, so experiment, enjoy and Relax, Don’t Worry, Have A Homebrew
And here is the end result, in the bottle and in the glass