Brew Day 8/24/13

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

Untamed IPA (Hoggetowne all-grain)

Re-making our first batch ever. First time around was via extract, this time we are doing all grain.

Ingredients:
Rahr 2-Row Malt
Briess US C-40 Malt
Briess US Victory Malt

Warrior (pellet)
Falconer's Flight (pellet)
Apollo (pellet)
Mosaic (pellet; dry hop)

Safale US-05 yeast

Stats:
OG: 1.060 (estimated); 1.040 (measured)
FG: 1.012 (estimated)
ABV: 6.3%%
IBU: 77
Color: 7 SRM

Brewing Steps:

• Heated just under 3.5 gallons of water to a strike temperature of approximately 162 degrees (measured with digital thermometer - inaccurate?)
• Added grains to mash tun
• Added water to mash tun by about 1/2 - 3/4 gallon at a time; poured last 1.5 gallons from brewpot straight into mash tun
• After all water added mash temperature approximately 135 degrees (measured with normal thermometer)
• Heated additional 2 gallons of water (1 gallon to 175, 1 gallon to boil); temperature raised about 5-10 degrees
• Mashed for 60 minutes; temperature maintained very well (although maintained low)
• After 60 minutes recycled 3/4 gallons twice and then lautered into sanitized bucket (note: used bucket so that we knew what volume we had)
• Heated about 3 gallons of sparge water to approximately 180 degrees and added to mash tun 
• Let sit for 5 minutes (temperature maintained at about 160/165, lid kept off), then lautered into bucket until we had about 6.5 gallons. Pour bucket into brew pot and brought to boil
• Boiled for 60 minutes, adding hops according to schedule
• Rehydrated yeast using 200 mL of approximately 100 degree sanitized water
• Chilled by adding pot to tub with ice and water (filled about 6-8 inches of tub with water) and wort chiller/pre-chiller to < 80 degrees in about 13 minutes
• Strained once through large strainer; didn't need to strain again because pretty clear
• Pitched yeast and then aerated wort by transferring between brew pot and bucket 6 times
• Poured into fermentation bucket, maybe slightly over 5 gallons (did not seem to lose much during the boil - potentially due to high [high] humidity?)
• Put bucket into fermentation fridge set at 62 +/-2 degrees
• Dry hop for 4 days

• Ferment 14 days

This batch will be transferred into a keg at the conclusion of fermentation. We'll see how it turns out after the OG was ridiculously low.

Red Rocket - Reloaded (Hoggetowne recipe)

Second batch for the day.

Maybe the first batch that from start to finish we felt like we kinda knew what we were doing, maybe?

Ingredients:
UK Pale Ale Malt
Victory Malt
CaraRed Malt
Roasted Barley
UK 120L Crystal Malt

Dextrose

Norther Brewer Hops
Willamette Hops
Irish Moss

Safale S-04 yeast

Stats:
OG: 1.056 (estimated); 1.059 (measured)
FG: 1.011 (estimated)
ABV: 5.9%
IBU: 33
Color: 16 SRM

Brewing Steps:

• Heated 3.5 gallons of water to a strike temperature of approximately 185 degrees (measured with digital thermometer - accurate?)
• Added grains to mash tun
• Added water to mash tun by about 1/2 - 3/4 gallon at a time; poured last 1.5 gallons from brewpot straight into mash tun
• After all water added mash temperature approximately 155 degrees
• Desired mash temperature 149-151, so left lid off for about 5-8 minutes; temperature dropped to about 152, lid closed
• Mashed for 60 minutes; temperature maintained very well (final 150/151 degrees)
• After 60 minutes recycled 3/4 gallons twice and then lautered into brew pot
• Heated about 3.5 gallons of sparge water to approximately 180 degrees and added to mash tun 
• Let sit for 5 minute, then lautered into brew pot (all of sparge water per instructions)
• Boiled for 60 minutes, adding hops according to schedule
• Rehydrated yeast using 200 mL of approximately 100 degree sanitized water
• Chilled with tub + ice and pre-chiller/wort chiller to about 80 degrees in 10 minutes.
• Strained wort through large strainer then medium strainer; too fine to go through funnel strainer
• Pitched yeast and then aerated wort by transferring between brew pot and bucket 6 times
• Poured into fermenting bucket (slightly over 5 gallons. Maybe due to high humidity that we didn't lose much during our boil?) and then placed into fermentation fridge set at 62 +/- 2 degrees

• Ferment for 2-3 weeks

This batch will be kegged at the end of fermentation. 

Nicole drew the logo on the fridge below.

Building the Keezer

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

The Keezer

We knew we wanted to keg our beer eventually and to do that we knew we would a) need kegging equipment, and b) need a kegerator (something to house the kegs and keep them cold). Not much we can really build on our own for option (a) (other than putting it all together), so I found a kit online that included three 5 gallon kegs (kegs are old soda kegs, "Corny kegs"), a 5 lb CO2 tank (not pictured), a regulator, a distributor, and the taps, shanks, and tubing needed to connect everything. Also, the kit was 90% assembled out of the box - a big bonus. A place here in town named Praxair does CO2 tank exchange similar to the way stores exchange propane tanks for grills, making it really easy to get a filled CO2 tank as they have to ship empty by law. We found online that a 5 lb tank will carbonate and dispense about 6 of the 5 gallon kegs.

 For part (b), we could have bought something professionally done and specifically made for what we needed, but it probably would have cost a ton of money. Instead, we did some research online and decided to convert a chest freezer into a keezer; we found a video from Northern Brewer that explained the steps. Using a chest freezer instead of a fridge has the advantage of being really well insulated (to help cut energy costs) and being much cheaper, even brand new.

Fortunately for us, we have really great friends in Shelley and Daniel who bought us a chest freezer as a house warming gift (pictured below). I know I already posted the pictures of it, but I wanted to show the progression from the chest freezer to the finished keezer, and I also wanted to thank Shelley and Daniel again for their very generous gift.

The keezer has to have taps to actually function as a kegerator. Instead of drilling holes into the actual chest freezer the solution we found online was to install a wood collar using 2x4s; the collar will also provide some more room for the lines and connections inside the keezer. 

First step was to remove the lid from the chest freezer, measure the width and length. and cut the 2x4s to the appropriate dimensions. 

We decided to stain the wood a darker chestnut type color to try to give it a nice finish that would look good with the black chalk board paint. We also needed to seal the wood to protect it from moisture, so a 2 in 1 polyurethane stain/sealant did the trick nicely.

We also drilled three 1" holes into the front piece that will house the taps and shanks and allow us to dispense the beer from the kegs inside (can faintly see the holes in the long piece on top). 

After everything dried we connected the wood pieces together using 4" wood screws, 2 in each corner. Then we set the collar on top of the chest freezer to inspect the fit and get a preview of what the finished product would look like.

We knew we wanted to paint the chest freezer with chalk board paint (like the fermentation fridge we made) so we could write on the outside and keep track of what is inside. We also used a magnetic primer so we could put magnets on it as well (same as the fridge). Waited to do the trim later once it was finished and in place and so Nicole could do it, who would do it much more precisely than I would.

Now that the chest freezer was painted and the wood was stained, we set the collar on top of the freezer and then set the lid on top of the collar to see how it would look and how the lid fit. We noticed that the lid didn't quite fit into the collar due to a part on the inside of the lid that extended down into the freezer. Luckily my neighbor John was helping out and had the tools needed to cut a bevel into the collar to allow the lid to fit better into it. After the adjustment it was a much better fit.

After we made sure everything fit right and looked the way we wanted it we glued the collar to the fridge; we still haven't reattached the lid yet to the collar. Again, my neighbor John suggested we use some rubber-like tape that was sticky on one side to put the tape on the freezer and then glue the collar directly to that; the tape was used to help ensure a good seal between the collar and the chest freezer. We then filled two tubs up with water and put them on top of the lid of the chest freezer to push the collar down onto the freezer. Originally when just the collar was placed on the chest freezer the opposite corners were slightly raised off the chest freezer and we hope the weight would essentially bend the wood a little bit and put everything down flush with the chest freezer. The tubs are in the very top of the picture.

We let it sit for a couple days and I moved the tubs around to opposite corners for a full 24 hours in each spot (again, to help "bend" the collar). After the 2-3 days I took the tubs off and removed the lid to inspect the collar and the seal. The wood bent nicely and there was a very nice smooth seal all the way around the collar and the chest freezer. Using the rubber tape proved to be a great idea to make a good seal.

Next step was to install the taps and then reattach the lid to the collar. 

In order for the keezer to work as a keezer and not a freezer we had to purchase a thermostat that would take over the freezer so it would run at the temperature we needed (around 40 degrees). This thermostat is an analog thermostat that allows us to set our "optimal" temperature; the unit has a built in differential of +/- 3.5 degrees. 

This differs from the digital thermostat (shout out to Shawn and Katie who bought us the digital thermostat - thanks again!) in that with the digital thermostat you can set both your temperature and your differential; the digital thermostat also shows you that actual temperature whereas the analog version does not. We used the digital thermostat for the fermentation fridge where precise temperature control is more important; a +/- 3.5 degree change for beer that is already done doesn't make too much of a difference.

To install the analog thermostat we drilled a hole into the back of the collar that we could fit the probe through; we then filled that hole in with silocone sealant to ensure no loss of air. The thermostat is set at 40 degrees and hangs on the wall behind the keezer.

We next filled one of our new kegs (after cleaning and sanitizing) with our last beer that was fermenting - the Girls Gone Mild (also our first all grain batch - fitting that our first all grain batch is also our first kegged batch). After connecting the CO2 tank to the regulator and connected the distributor to the keg, the beer began to carbonate and will take up to 7 days to fully carbonate. The wood block on the right side of the picture is being glued to the inside so that we can attach the distributor to it (as opposed to drilling/nailing directly into the freezer). The distributor distributes CO2 to three different kegs from a single CO2 tank.

The keezer was put right next to the fridge. Below is our completed brewing center - a fermentation fridge, a keezer, and a boom-box on top of the frigde to play soothing music to keep Hain and I from killing each other during this process. Was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun and very rewarding to see our hard work turn out looking good and actually working the way it is supposed to.

Thanks to Hain for all the help and to my neighbor John. Also couldn't have done it without the generous gifts from the Spradley's and the Andersons. Thank you to Nicole for her patience, support, supervisory skills, always kind words of encouragement, and help throughout the entire process.

I think we are now done building the equipment we need for SCBC. We definitely had fun problem solving and building everything, and I know we saved a lot of money. 

Now that we are done building and have everything we need we can get back to brewing so we can fill the kegs and keezer with beer. Just in time for football season!

Build Day - 8/10/13

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

A lot of upgrades for SCBC today.

Built a flat shelf for the fermentation fridge so that we could fit two fermenting buckets at the same time. Cut legs to 6" in length, but due to some undulations on the bottom of the fridge only about 4 are actually touching...3 of those with 2-3 pieces of cardboard underneath to bridge the gap. But, it holds and it works. Black IPA on the left, Girls Gone Mild on the right.

Also made a mount for the thermostat for the bridge. Stained a 2x4 the same color as the collar for the kegerator and glued it to the side of the fridge. Put 4 nails into the board so it would hang the thermostat. Makes checking and adjusting the temperature of the freezer easier.

Next was to create the collar for the kegerator. First had to take off the lid then measure/cut 2x4s to the correct length. We first cut 3 tap holes into the front piece then stained the wood before connecting them with 4" wood screws. The last picture is the stained collar with the lid sitting on top of it (rough idea of how it will look eventually).

Next we painted the kegerator using the magnetic primer first followed by the chalk board paint (same steps as for the fridge). Once dried will touch up the corners and top/bottom.

Final step will be to attach the collar back to the kegerator; this will be accomplished in a variety of ways, depending what we actually need and how the collar sits on the lip of the kegerator. My neighbor has been helping figure this out - sounds like its going to be a combination of Loctite, rubber insulation, and potentially screwing some straps into the wood and into the freezer itself to help hold the collar tightly against the freezer. Good thing I'm such a handyman...

Thanks Shawn for letting us use your saw.

New Equipment - Plug & Play

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

Thanks to Shawn and Katie we now have a plug and play thermostat for our fermentation fridge - this is going to go a long way to improving our mediocre beer by allowing us to fine-tune our fermentation temperatures. Also, this will allow us to do lager's if we want (ferment around 40 degrees).

Big thanks to Shawn, Katie, and Jimmie!

Update
It works - and it works really well!
Set temperature at 62 degrees with a +/- 2 degree window. Display shows current temperature and it stays right within that range.

New Equipment for SCBC

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

As we upgrade our operation we need to upgrade our equipment. First step is securing a fermentation vessel that can more closely regulate the temperature than our swamp cooler (which isn't that bad).

Got the following fridge from our old apartment complex for free. Emailed the property manager and she said if we got it out of the apartment we could have it. Had to rent a truck from UHaul, so when it was all said and done it cost about $45 to get. It isn't pretty, but it works (see below).

Went to Lowes to get some paint/primer to "pretty-up" the fridge. Talked to Scotty - he painted his fridge with a magnetic primer and then chalk-board paint so that magnets would stick and he could write on it. We followed this example and did the same. Nicole did one coat of primer and one coat of chalk board paint; may do a second coat of the chalk board paint. Below is the finished product (with one coat of paint).

This will be used to ferment our beer at a constant temperature. Shawn and Katie Anderson are going to get us a plug-and-play thermostat that can take over the temperature of the fridge and run it at whatever temperature we want. This will hopefully make fermentation more consistent and will make it less labor-intensive.



The Spradley's (Daniel, Shelley, and Thor) got us the housewarming gift below. They are crazy and way too nice, but the chest freezer will be a huge addition for SCBC. It will be converted into a kegerator; at 7 cubic foot it should be big enough to hold 4 kegs with the CO2 tank. Goal is to keg our next batch of beer (goal is to brew the weekend of 8/16 or 8/23). A big thank you to Shelley and Daniel for the chest freezer - will help a lot and hopefully help us make better beer!

Brew Day - 8/3

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

Girls Gone MIld (Mild Ale) - Hoggetowne Ale Works

First stab at all-grain brewing; used the newly constructed mash tun (see post by Hain)

Ingredients:
Mild or Maris Otter Malt
UK 55-65L Crystal Malt
Biscuit Malt
UK Chocolate Malt
Roasted Barley

Willamette Hops x 2 (leaf)

Safale S-04 yeast

Stats:
OG: 1.037 (estimated); 1.035 (measured)
FG: 1.017 (estimated)
ABV: 3.5%
IBU: 20
Color: 21 SRM

Brewing Steps:

• Heated just under 4 gallons of water to a strike temperature of approximately 165 degrees
• Added grains to mash ton
• Added water to mash tun by about 1/2 - 3/4 gallon at a time; poured last 1.5 gallons from brewpot straight into mash tun
• After all water added mash temperature approximately 158 degrees
• Mashed for 60 minutes; temperature maintained very well
• After 60 minutes recycled 3/4 gallons twice and then lautered into brew pot
• Heated about 4 gallons of sparge water to approximately 165/170 degrees and added to mash tun 
• Let sit for 15 minutes (temperature maintained at about 160/165, lid kept off), then lautered into brew pot (all of sparge water per instructions)
• Boiled for 60 minutes, adding hops according to schedule
• Rehydrated yeast using 100 mL of approximately 100 degree sanitized water
• Chilled with wort chiller and pre-chiller to < 80 degrees in about 18 minutes. Tub we put brewpot in had ice + water at the start but ice quickly melted (too much water in tub most likely)
• Aerated wort by transferring between brew pot and bucket 6 times
• Poured about 5 gallons of wort into glass carboy, cover added with airlock, transferred inside (about 1-1.5 gallons left over in brewpot). Then realized we forgot to pitch yeast (brewing company aptly named). Yeast added, carboy frothed around/shaken to disperse yeast. Cover and air-lock re-applied 
• Water temperature in tub about 75 degrees; added about 1.5 pounds of ice to bath, temperature dropped to about 55 degrees

• Instructions to ferment at 66-71 degrees for 10-14 days

Update (8/6/13)

Airlock vigorously bubbling after about 24-36 hours; slowed down between 36-48 hours; little activity after 48 hours

Tub maintained between about 60 degrees and 72 degrees using frozen water bottles

Plan to bottle on the weekend of 8/16

Update (8/20/13)

Cold crashed the fridge on Tuesday August 13th in preparation to bottle the Black IPA, which was also in the fermentation fridge. Therefore, this beer has been sitting at about 40 degrees for about 7 days. Luckily, the instructions said fermentation could be as short as 10 days and there did not appear to be any activity in the carboy immediately prior to cold crashing the fridge.
Kegged this beer today (8/20) by siphoning straight from the carboy into the keg; left a small amount of beer in the carboy to try to make sure we got as little yeast as possible in the keg.
Connected CO2 tank to keg prior to adding beer and added CO2 at 10-12 PSI for about 10 seconds. After beer added to keg, lid placed in keg and PSI increased to about 20 and added to keg to force the lid to seal well; the bail was then sealed onto the keg.
Keg placed in keezer, chilled down to 40, then the CO2 was attached at about 10 PSI to carbonate the beer.
Hopefully we can wait until the weekend to try it (4 days from now).

Forgot to take the FG...awesome.

DIY Mash Tun... (Tub)

Exterior

Interior

Saved some money by converting a sports cooler into a mash tun.  Take a cooler, some vinyl tubing, a toilet connecter, a stop-valve, and some tube clamps and you have yourself a relatively cheap all-grain mash tun.