Sunday, April 24, 2011

Kegging, Conditioning and Fermentation Setup

I have all of my kegging, conditioning and fermentation equipment set up in the furnace room of my basement.  Following are some pics of the setup.

I ferment in a temperature controlled chest freezer in a 15.5 gallon Sanke keg.  My batches are usually 10 gallons so this gives me plenty of head space for fermentation.  I use the Sanke fermentation conversion kit from brewershardware.com.  It has a dip tube, blowoff port, and a port for a temperature probe.

 Closed fermentation freezer with temperature control unit.
 Open fermentation freezer showing 15.5 gal. Sanke keg.
 Close-up of Sanke Fermentation Conversion Kit from brewershardware.com
Temperature control maintaining the Scottish 80 Shilling at 65 degrees.


I condition in a temperature controlled freezer.  It has room for 4 kegs plus some bottles.  I am planning on building a collar at some point to give me space for 3 more kegs.

 Closed conditioning freezer
 Open conditioning freezer.
Conditioning freezer temperature control keeping the kegs at just over 40 degrees.

I converted my old refrigerator into my kegerator.  I store my hops in the freezer portion.  The kegerator has 5 taps and room for 6 kegs.  I have 6 different secondary CO2 regulators to dial in the carbonation level of the beers on tap.  I use a 20 lb CO2 tank to supply the CO2.

 Front of kegerator.
Close up of taps.
 Back of taps coming through the door.
 Six kegs with a bunch of air and beverage hoses.
Secondary CO2 regulators.
 20 lb. CO2 tank.
Hops in the freezer, each bag has 4 oz. of hops.

I also have a spare mini-fridge that I use to store some of the commercial beers I have as well as my dry yeast.
Closed mini-fridge.
Freshly stocked mini-fridge from my recent trip from Portland.

So that's my "beer room" in my basement.  Thanks for looking.

Cheers!

Friday, April 22, 2011

04/22/11 Brewday Scottish 80 Shilling

I brewed a 10 gallon batch of a Scottish 80 Shilling Ale.  The recipe was again based on Jamil Zainasheff's recipe from Brewing Classic Styles.  Following is my recipe from Beersmith:

Recipe: Scottish 80 Shilling
Brewer: Kyle
Style: Scottish Export 80/-
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 12.00 gal     
Boil Size: 14.84 gal
Estimated OG: 1.049 SG
Estimated Color: 17.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU     
13.00 lb      Maris Otter (Crisp) (4.0 SRM)             Grain        56.52 %     
5.00 lb       Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)            Grain       21.74 %
2.00 lb       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)     Grain        8.70 %           
1.00 lb       Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)                     Grain        4.35 %       
1.00 lb       Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                     Grain        4.35 %       
0.50 lb       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)     Grain        2.17 %       
0.50 lb       Pale Chocolate Malt  (200.0 SRM)          Grain        2.17 %       
1.75 oz       Goldings, East Kent [5.40 %]  (60 min)    Hops         17.6 IBU     
1.0 tsp      Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 min)            Misc                      
2.18 oz       Sanitize Pump (Boil 5.0 min)              Misc                      
2.00 items    Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)          Misc                      
2 Pkgs        US-05 American Ale (Danstar #US-05 )      Yeast-Ale                 


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 23.00 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Full Body, No Mash Out
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp    
60 min        Mash In            Add 40.25 qt of water at 167.0 F    158.0 F      

Hopefully later this weekend I'll add pics of my kegging system.

Cheers!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

04/03/11 Brewday American Amber Ale

I brewed a 10 gallon batch of a American Amber Ale based on Jamil Zainasheff's recipe from Brewing Classic Styles with a little different hop varieties.   I adjusted my crush to help with my RIMS recirculation and it cost me some efficiency points.  Following is my recipe from Beersmith:

Recipe: American Amber Ale
Style: American Amber Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 12.00 gal     
Boil Size: 14.84 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 15.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 85.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU     
18.00 lb      Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)            Grain        76.60 %      
2.00 lb       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)     Grain        8.51 %       
2.00 lb       Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                     Grain        8.51 %       
1.00 lb       Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)    Grain        4.26 %       
0.50 lb       Pale Chocolate Malt  (200.0 SRM)          Grain        2.13 %       
2.00 oz       Falconer's Flight [10.50 %]  (60 min) (FirHops         43.1 IBU     
1.00 oz       Warrior [17.20 %]  (60 min)               Hops         32.1 IBU     
1.00 oz       Cascade [5.40 %]  (20 min)                Hops         3.4 IBU      
1.00 oz       Falconer's Flight [10.50 %]  (20 min)     Hops         6.6 IBU      
1.00 oz       Falconer's Flight [10.50 %]  (0 min)      Hops          -           
1.00 oz       Cascade [5.40 %]  (0 min)                 Hops          -           
0.55 tsp      Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 min)            Misc                      
2.00 oz       Sanitize Pump (Boil 5.0 min)              Misc                      
2.40 items    Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)          Misc                      
2 Pkgs        SafAle California Ale (DCL Yeast #US-05)  Yeast-Ale                 


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 23.50 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp    
60 min        Mash In            Add 41.13 qt of water at 163.8 F    154.0 F