- Sep 14, 2008
- 554
- 15
First batch (Altbier) has 9 bottles left. I want to keep them around for awhile. Which means I have to buy beer! Not a bad thing
I've been purchasing (and consuming) minikegs. Most recent is Grolsh. I rigged up a portable CO2 system (as per the instructions on the Northernbrewer forum), and it works well. I also managed to allocate door space in the kitchen fridge so I don't always have to go into the basement for a beer. So on Saturday I racked three minikegs (plus 8 bottles) of the red ale I brewed on President's Day, and yesterday I brewed a Canadian ale. I have one empty minikeg, and the Grolsh mini is almost empty. So I just have to buy and consume one more mini in the next week; somehow I doubt I'll have any trouble managing that
Yesterday morning, before I brewed, I made a wort chiller. These things are sold for $60 or more. My total parts cost was less than $25. I cleaned the chiller, and then put it in the boiling pot for the last 10 minutes of the boil. I packed the sink with snow, put the brewpot in, hooked up the chiller.... I also had a quart of frozen sauce that needed defrosting, so I sterilized the outside of the container and put it into the brewpot. Between those three things, 2.5 gallons of boiling wort came down to 80 degrees in 20 minutes!
So the methods are falling into place. Which is good, as I need to be able to supply myself @ two cases of beer per week come summertime. The minikegs will travel well to the beach with the portable CO2. Next task: Paintball-based, regulated CO2 for the fridge door. I'm gonna build a panel that will look like it's part of the fridge, with a good tap.
Brewing is turning out to be a great co-hobby with smoking
I've been purchasing (and consuming) minikegs. Most recent is Grolsh. I rigged up a portable CO2 system (as per the instructions on the Northernbrewer forum), and it works well. I also managed to allocate door space in the kitchen fridge so I don't always have to go into the basement for a beer. So on Saturday I racked three minikegs (plus 8 bottles) of the red ale I brewed on President's Day, and yesterday I brewed a Canadian ale. I have one empty minikeg, and the Grolsh mini is almost empty. So I just have to buy and consume one more mini in the next week; somehow I doubt I'll have any trouble managing that
Yesterday morning, before I brewed, I made a wort chiller. These things are sold for $60 or more. My total parts cost was less than $25. I cleaned the chiller, and then put it in the boiling pot for the last 10 minutes of the boil. I packed the sink with snow, put the brewpot in, hooked up the chiller.... I also had a quart of frozen sauce that needed defrosting, so I sterilized the outside of the container and put it into the brewpot. Between those three things, 2.5 gallons of boiling wort came down to 80 degrees in 20 minutes!
So the methods are falling into place. Which is good, as I need to be able to supply myself @ two cases of beer per week come summertime. The minikegs will travel well to the beach with the portable CO2. Next task: Paintball-based, regulated CO2 for the fridge door. I'm gonna build a panel that will look like it's part of the fridge, with a good tap.
Brewing is turning out to be a great co-hobby with smoking