Hop Growing Updates....moved!

In an attempt to keep my hop growing experiment consolidated, and not have to sift through posts not relevant to my new hop garden, I have started a new blog: Hop Flavor. All previous hop postings have been copied over to the new blog and I will be documenting further updates over there. For your reference I am providing links below to specific hop related posts that were previously on the BrewTech blog:

Hops Update - June 19 Growth
Hops Update - June 12 Growth
Hops Update - June 5 Growth
Hops Update - May 29 Growth
Hops Update - May 19 Growth
The Hop Garden
Growing Hops

I will be removing the hop related posts from BrewTech within the next week.

Brass and Brewing: Compatible?

I've had several discussions with people about the use of brass fittings and brass ball valves in brewing. If you have read my blog on building an Igloo Cube Cooler Mash Tun, you can see that I did use brass to keep cost down. Yes, the use of stainless steel fittings and valves is optimal, but at times it can be cost inhibitive.

For those that are worried about using brass, but don't want to shell out the cash for stainless, John Palmer discusses brewing metallurgy in his book How to Brew. For more information about removing lead from brass, you can reference the 'Cleaning Brass' section in Appendix B in his online book. The appendix also discusses the use and cleaning of other metals as they relate to brewing. If you don't already have this book in your brewing library, it is a MUST READ!

Copper Grain Filter for Igloo Cooler Mash Tun

In my first post, I outlined the process of how to build an Igloo Cube Cooler Mash Tun, using stainless steel braid as a filter media. While the stainless braid works very well, you do have to be careful when stirring the mash not to damage the braid. Because of that, I decided to build a grain filter manifold out of copper tubing and this post explains what I did.

I went to Ace Hardware (Got a gift card from my father in law for Christmas!), and purchased the following items:

4 feet of Straight Copper Tubing (5/8 Ouside Diameter)
4 EPC 90 Degree Elbow (5/8 Inside Diameter)
3 EPC Copper Tee (5/8 Inside Diameter)

I took the straight copper tubing and I cut into the following pieces using a pipe cutter (could also use a hack saw):

2 @ 10 1/4 in
2 @ 4 3/4 in
4 @ 3 1/8 in
1 @ 2 in

The picture to the upper right shows how these pieces were placed to create the manifold.

The single 2 inch piece is going to be used to attach the filter manifold to the output valve. Since the valve is slightly higher than the cooler bottom, you will need to put a slight bend in it. I did this by taking a short piece of 3/8 steel rod and putting it in the bench vise. Then take the copper 2 inch piece of copper tube and place about an inch over the rod sticking out from the vise. Then take a longer piece of 3/8 steel rod and put in the remaining end of the 2 inch piece of copper, applying downward pressure to bend the copper. It's a good idea to go slow and test fit by putting one end of the piece in one of the copper tees and the other into the valve fitting, bending little by little. Once the tee sits on the cooler bottom, you've got the bend you need.

For each of the remaining straight pieces, I then used a small drill bit to drill multiple holes in each piece. It works well if you put a piece of scrap wood underneath so you can drill through straight through, creating 2 holes at once. Try to keep the number of holes uniform across each piece to create a balanced flow. Drill holes evenly until you get the drain flow you want by testing periodically. Any burrs on created on the outside of the copper due to drilling can be removed using a file. You can reference the assembled copper manifold (above left) to see the holes in the copper tubing. I didn't drill any holes in the elbows or tees but that could be done as well. If you plan on using the valve to regulate flow, you can drill many more holes in the manifold than I did.

Right is the finished copper manifold assembled and installed in the cooler mash/lauter tun. I didn't use any solder to sweat the pieces together, but found a good tap from a hammer on all of the ends and elbows creates a pretty tight fit. If needed, it also makes it possible to disassemble in the future for cleaning or storage. If you have questions regarding the installation of the ball valve, please reference the original post which includes detailed mash tun conversion instructions.

Burner Modifications for Keggle Brewing

I've been brewing now for 2.5 years, and it only took one brew in the house for my wife to ask me to take it outside! So, I went and purchased a propane, 75,000 BTU turkey fryer with stainless steel pot. So far, that has worked perfectly to brew 5-6 gallon batches, and it has seen quite a few brew days. Several months ago I purchased a few kegs that had been damaged, and plan on turning them into a lauter tun and brew kettle (Keggle). I ran into a problem however...my burner has a high center of gravity, only 3 legs, and oh yeah, the keg diameter is larger than the top of the burner! No problem, we'll just do a few mods and be right back in business.

First I needed to lower the center of gravity to make the stand more stable, so hopefully a keggle with 12 gallons of wort won't topple over. After looking the burner over (left) and taking some measurements, I determined 12 inches tall would be a good adjustment. I flipped the burner upside down and began measuring each leg, and marking it with a sharpie at exactly 12 inches. Then for the fun part, I pulled out the plasma cutter and got to work, cutting each of the 6 support rods to the proper, shorter length. This left me with 6 support rods, 12 inches long, and 3 'toes' that had been cut off (right). I decided to take advantage of the toes, and weld them back on to create feet for the structure, hoping to add stability too. To do that, I took each of the toes, and used a bench grinder to make a 45 degree angle where I wanted to weld them back on. The same was done to the rods still attached to the burner, so that when put together, the angles met. The burner was then flipped upright, toes put in place at the bottom of the support rods, the burner was checked to make sure it was still level and the toes were welded in place.

The last thing to do was increase the size of the burner top, so the keggle would sit on it securely. I took 3/8 inch rod stock and used the plasma cutter to cut 6 pieces 2 inches long, and rounded of any resulting sharp edges with the bench grinder. The burner was flipped back upside down, and the 2 inch pieces of rod were placed evenly around the outer ring of the burner and welded in place. The picture to the left is of the finished product. Still not as sturdy as it would be with 4 legs, but better than I stared with and a keggle will now sit on top!

Amarillo IPA Bubblin

Last night my brother Jason came over and we brewed an Amarillo IPA. The video below is of the air lock in active fermentation!