Simple DIY Wort Chiller, (Under $30)

The Parts and The Tools.

Part 2 of my DIY Brewing Equipment Project: The Cheapie Wort Chiller.

     I'll admit to growing weary of working the sink bath of ice and cold water every time I cool down my wort... It is not the most convenient method, even if it only costs the price of a Big Bag of Ice and the water necessary to fill a sink basin. So I decided to make a Wort Chiller, like many other homebrewers looking to save some money.

     This project cost less than $30, which was a great price compared to what is available for purchase elsewhere. If you have read my DIY Mash/Lauter Tun post, you are already aware of the experience I have with helping other homebrewers put this type of apparatus together (I sell plumbing supplies for a living). This is the result of much pondering over the most efficient method of making my own immersion-style chiller... which can easily be converted into a pass-through chiller as well, but I'll play with that idea later when I have converted the spigot on my lauter tun. Like the mash/lauter tun all these supplies came from one major retail chain.

     This parts list is also relatively short and simple:

          (1) 3/8 Soft refrigeration Copper Coil, 10'          $13.48
          (1) 1/2" O.D., 3/8" I.D. vinyl tubing, 10'             $4.38
               (the roll pictured is 20', but only 10' is needed for this project.)
          (1) Brass 3/4" FHT x 3/8" Barb adapter             $7.65
          (3) 5/8" Stainless Steel Hose Clamps                 $2.55 ($0.85ea)
                                                                                   $28.06 Total

      If you don't have access to a tube bender, you can use any solid cylindrical object to aid you in bending the copper. Reminder: Please use Caution to avoid kinking the tubing, because copper is rather soft and recklessness can ruin your material. I made some of my bends around the base of this jar of beans, just to illustrate this point.

Copper Sculpture can be Pretty!

     The trickiest bends will be the inlet and outlet positions. Just use a smaller cylinder if necessary to make these tight bends. It is OK to bend past the angle you need and then back it up a bit.
    
     The next part is easy... just cut how much length you need to discharge where you will be brewing or just use half your vinyl tubing. Secure it to the discharge end of your coiled sculpture with a stainless steel hose clamp. tighten it down just enough to be very snug... but do not over-tighten, remember how soft that copper is.

     Do the same for your inlet end; this is the tube that will connect to your faucet after you add the last part. that hose adapter barb will fit right into the other end of this tubing and a hose clamp will keep it secure. If you do not have a hose thread connection to hook up to (like on a standard kitchen faucet) you can easily pick up an adapter at any hardware store. I already had one for use with my bottle washer.

     And that is it! You can use a 20' coil if you would like to increase the amount of area that will be available to contact the wort for expediency, just double the price expectation of the copper.

     I still intend to immerse my brewpot into a bath of ice water... however I expect the Wort Chiller to significantly reduce the time it takes to cool my wort down, and the amount of refilling and draining necessary to provide constant cold temperature to an ice bath alone. That is, to me, worth the cost of making the device and it is a lot of fun to make your own equipment. I like the idea of not only brewing my own Beer, but hand-crafting the implements to do so! I intend to improve and update these builds in the future and I will link to the new posts from these older ones.

The Final Contraption.

     If you have read this and found it useful, I am glad to have been some help. If you are only reading this because you actually like me or were too bored to do anything else, well, "Thank's for noticin' me." (You know who Eeyore is, don't front like you don't get it!)
    
     Cheers!
    
    

DIY Mash Tun / Lauter Tun (Under $35.00)

Being a novice homebrewer on a modest budget, I wanted to build a basic vessel for mashing grains that wouldn't require a large monetary investment. The Complete Joy of Homebrewing (Charlie Papazian) gives some good basic ideas for making mash and lauter tuns and there are plenty of online forums for DIY builds. I studied quite a few in my quest to build my own. In my secret life as a plumbing parts purveyor I have assisted many other homebrewers in their own quests to craft homemade brewing equipment and have gained some valuable insights from the process.

This is my finished Mash Tun and Lautering Filter with photos, part list, and costs in case you are interested in following my lead. It is a 5 gallon cooler conversion, so it can't be heated directly on a burner, but it will serve my purposes well. I didn't even have to remove the original spigot for this build although I plan to do so soon anyway to make it more durable and adaptable to future equipment builds. I got all the parts at the orange major home improvement chain. (edit, 5/21/12: See this update on the upgraded spigot.)

The first and most obvious part is the 5 gallon beverage cooler. Standard. Just like the one we used to fill with cheap Beer and drag to the park with a sleeve of plastic cups. Regularly $21.87 or so, I got mine on sale for $19.98. Ta-da, it's already usable as a mash tun!

The second part is getting something in there to screen out the grains so you can use it as a lauter tun. This is provided by a 30" stainless steel faucet supply line. I cut off the ends with a pair of tin snips. I also cut an additional 1 1/2" off for another purpose but the fit works out perfectly inside the cooler.

I extracted the plastic tubing from inside the stainless steel braid with a pair of needle-nose pliers. This step involved a bit of wrestling and finesse so that I didn't damage the braid in the process.

Part 2: 30" Stainless Steel Faucet Supply Line, $7.98.

I fitted the snipped ends over a 1/2 x 1/2 x 3/8 brass tee designed for use with PEX pipes. I clamped them down with all stainless steel hose clamps.

Part 3: 1/2 x 1/2 x 3/8 Brass PEX Tee, $2.61.
Parts 4, 5: (2) 5/8" Stainless Steel Hose Clamps, $0.85 ea.

The final step was to wrap the 3/8 barb with teflon tape until it fit snugly into the interior of the spigot.

Part 6: Teflon Tape, $1.05.

19.98 (5 gal. Cooler)
7.98   (30" SS Supply Line)
2.61   (1/2 x 1/2 x 3/8 brass PEX Tee)
1.70   ( 2 Hose Clamps)
1.05   (Teflon Tape)

$33.32 (Total Cost!)

The water flow test went perfectly... I filled it with water and drained it out without any problem from the stainless steel braid. Now I will have to put it to the test with a real mash. I expect it to perform well, but I won't be able to say so until my next Brew Day... hopefully within the week! I'll let you know how it went!

Next: the cheapie Wort Chiller!

Cheers!


(edit 5/21/12: I upgraded the spigot on this design. See how in this update post.)

A Most Distinguished Lover of Ales; also... Chainsaw Beer?

So, it’s been awhile since my post about Morrissey and his favorite Beer… and I have yet to confirm directly from the singer what his favorite Beer is… anyway, I thought about who else in my geekworldparadigm I could do some research on and find out what their favorite Beer (or style) was.

 

Tolkien's famous "Bird and Baby" haunt.

           

I made myself a list of who I wanted to discover this fact about, and the best info I got (without spending hours hunting tiny details from a plethora of sources) was in relation to JRR Tolkien. While I found no definitive answer it was still fair to infer, from what I read about his “Beer and Beowulf Sessions” and from his own writings, that Tolkien’s preferred beverages were likely to be Porters or, more broadly, English Ales. (here's a blog post devoted to Tolkien's love of Beer.)

Photo/Article: http://www.geekosystem.com

I discovered during this research that Studio Ghibli has its own Beer: Kaze no Tani, available at the Ghibli Museum. I love the labeling. This Amber Ale pays Homage first and foremost to “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind”, with visual references also to other Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli films. You know, right, that I love these movies?

Apparently, according to answers he gave during a press interview session, Bruce Campbell “…gave up beer... I was only using it to wash my tequila down.” Maybe I’ll brew a Bruce Campbell inspired Beer with Tequila thrown somewhere into the process… and Chainsaw Bar and ChainLubricant.

Is it easy to discover these Beer preferences? Not unless you have the opportunity to ask these people personally or hang with them enough to notice their drinking tendencies, at which point the triviality of posting it to a blog becomes kind of pointless, eh? “Hey, Sam, I just blogged about what Beer you like best.” Sam: “Uh, why?” “Um, dunno, I guess…” If I spent hours poring over a long list of published articles and reports about the people who inspire and entertain me, I could probably discover a lot more… but that means hours on end of repetitive biographical information, filmographies/discographies, and irrelevant social media references that I don’t need to see. Really.

Most media reports about well-known folk merely mention a type of alcoholic beverage being consumed (beer, wine, whiskey, etc.) but rarely the type or brand. Particularly Beer, however, as it is still seen by the general public as a beverage for average Joe with no complexity, sophistication, or culinary value… ah, (sigh), to each their own, eh? People who drink what is now widely referred to as Craft Beer are often seen as “Elitists” and “Snobs” and tend to be dismissed as inconsequential fad followers. I guess I belong to this group.

So, for now I think I have sated my interest in “What Beers my Favorite Famous Folk Drink”, and if I discover something cool… I’ll mention it. Don’t expect me to go too far out of my way to look it up.

Cheers!

 

From Brewpublic: Slayer's Kerry King with a Ninkasi Sleigh'r Alt

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

Would it be wise to open the bottle?

... or so alleges Captured by Porches on the label of this the most recent of their Beers that I discovered while searching the shadowy corners of the Hollywood Whole Foods Beer Aisle.

     I like trying out all the Rye Beers that Captured by Porches makes (My favorite so far being the Schwarz Roggen.) Their Undead Porter was great and had one of my favorite labels of the year. Now this unexpected offering I found lurking nonchalantly next to their Invasive Species IPA and Undead Porter... and, well, It's called Miskatonic Dark Rye and "dedicated to Howard."

     I want to open it now! Alas, it would be unwise of me to drink it all and save none for me other half, who I think will also be delighted by this find! Dude.

     Meanwhile, It may yet be some time before Guillermo Del Toro brings his Lovecraft vision to the big screen, but the HP Lovecraft Film Festival will continue its annual screening of HPL-inspired films to Portland, OR in the spring of 2012.

     Now, go read a book & have a Beer.

     Cheers!

ESB to Awaken, Pumpkin Ale Brewday Forthcoming.

     So tomorrow will be the day my first Homebrew will be "officially drinkable" (you can guess, right, that I've already had a few of them along the way in the name of testing/monitoring progress?) I'm eager to share this thing with friends and family, hopefully no one will be too disappointed with the results! The "Old Druid", as I've dubbed it, wasn't just my first brew but my first attempt at an original recipe. Fairly ambitious, admittedly, for a novice- but what the hell, I'm having fun.

     I've gathered all the ingredients for my next challenge... a Pumpkin Ale. I researched a lot of pumpkin recipes for this and never found any satisfying results because the homebrewing resources online can get a little muddled when it comes to consistency and reliability of recipe styles. Once again I had to gather up as much relevant info as I could and proceed with making my best judgement... and now I will brew my first Spiced Holiday Beer according to my own recipe. (Mental Finger-Crossing Engaged.)

     The Pumpkin Ale Project (which I have dubbed "Grinning Jack") will make use of 4 different specialty grains (and they smell wonderful) on top of the light extract, 3 types of hops (including the homegrown, of course), Spiced Roasted Pumpkin, and Oregon Oak soaked in Spiced Rum(!). The Oak will go into the secondary fermentation stage along with cinnamon sticks to accompany the dry hopping. The hops have been selected not for bitterness and citrusy pungency, but to accommodate a more earthy, spicy balance and allow the spicy, pumpkiny goodness to (hopefully) shine through! (And the Rum and Oak!) I'm reasonably confident I can pull this off... with that small reserve of doubt I always keep in check as a reminder not to get too cocky!

     Ingredients-wise, this has been a spendy project... new Oak chips, the Rum, The Pumpkin and Spices, all the Grain and I almost forgot to get the necessary new steeping bags (ant those are not cheap, either!) I think it is all worth it. This is a hobby I have been wanting to participate in for a long time and the experience of creating a unique Holiday Ale is immensely enjoyable. I've been an avid Beer drinker since the days that a can of  Lucky Lager and Flav-O-Rite Cheese Flavored Snack Crackers constituted breakfast, but now I'm enjoying a whole new realm of great Beer and the thrill of creating my own! (That's got to be worth at least enough XP to get me close to leveling...)

     Cheers!

We Have Slain The Hop Monster!

     When first we set eyes on our new Portland residence, we thought "what a dump, but with potential..." and as we discovered all sorts of odd and bizarre quirks, we noticed this old, limbless trunk with wire fencing around it. It wasn't the only odd, cordoned off section of terrain with indiscernible purpose, and we figured what the hell, lets wait 'em out and see what happens. Well, this one particular tree along the back fence eventually started becoming the ladder for some kind of vine that we couldn't identify. So we continued to do all of our other home and garden activities and ignored it for a long time.
   
     Then, my partner noticed that the leaves had a familiar shape that she had suspicions about... and a session via web browser later we were convinced that we may just have a hop vine growing in our yard (time for a bit of giddy delight). What we could not yet know, however, was the sex of the plant... yes, if it had been a female, there would be no story to tell here because it would have shown off some blossoms and been otherwise useless to the telling of this tale.

     We went to Portland Nursery (we love it) and checked out the hop varieties they had to match up our leaves. It was without a doubt a hop vine, and by our best leaf comparison it looked to be a Magnum variety, which would make an good primary alpha hop when used in the making of potpourri, (wHAt?!?) sorry, I meant BEER. We went home and started thinking "Okay, now what?" I decided in my heart, right then and there, or sometime in that general time period, at least, that if it produced any cones, we were going to use them to make Beer (we'd been planning to start homebrewing for a while, but hadn't yet committed to the supplies to do so yet.) We still weren't so sure about the sex of the plant, so we asked the representative from Seven Dees Nursery (when we went to OMSI After Dark) about what we should look for, and he assured us that if someone went to the trouble of planting hops in the yard, it would most assuredly be a male.

     He was right, soon we had little tendrils with tiny budding cones appearing all up and down that rapidly growing vine. Within a month that 20 foot tall Cedar trunk was entirely enveloped by what we started to dub "The Hop Monster". We watched, waited, and shared big smiles as we watched those tiny little buds start growing from spiky little balls into green petaled balls and then into bright pale green cones! I started doing research into when the right time to harvest would be... and that was actually more difficult than I thought it would be, because I found a ton of conflicting opinions and advice. I decided to take a laid-back approach and sort of took the aggregate view of let them get full and pick 'em before they dry-up.

     Once the cones stated showing a browning trend I started to accelerate the harvest preparation. The race was on to build or buy a food dehydrator (we bought) and pick a good day to start pulling all those vines! As I saw a whole shoot go brown in one day I started to get rather worried and anxious that they would all go without warning and all that anticipation would have been unfruitful.

     So as the day came, we got out the gloves and started pulling, but we had no ladder, no good means of climbing that trunk, and no pole pruner. Yeah, we put a lot of effort in preparing for this harvest operation, can you tell? so we had out our little step-stool, our shrub rake, pruners, and the hoe, and we pulled and cut and unraveled as best we could but we could only get the vines about halfway up. Then our friends showed up. We had offered to give them some of our harvest for making a wet-hopped Beer and fortunately David is a little taller than the rest of us and was invaluable in helping get all but the very top of the trunk cleared! Suddenly we were swimming in hop cones with enough to load up a bag to send as a thank-you and still have loads left over!

     We got a little scratched up and a wee bit warm out in the sun, but we left that thing almost as bare as how we first found it (we will get those other cones down, I swear it.) now the drying process has begun and I'll tell you how they turn out. Next week: we plunge into the Craft of Homebrewing with a heap-ton of homegrown hops... this had better work!

Tri-met forced me to drink Sour Beers.

Really. I finally made it to Cascade Brewing's Barrel House to sample some of their delicious sour Beer. I'm glad I got to stop in and try it, but I really had no intention of going there yesterday. I had no intention of going out for a drink, driving anywhere near the area, killing the battery in the truck because the headlight reminder didn't activate, walking a mile from where I parked (on the North end of the "Goat Field Lot") to get to a volunteer shift at Free Geek, or waiting 40+ minutes for a 15 minute interval Tri-met bus service that told me I could catch the bus a block from my house some 40+minutes earlier than when I walked back home with my son and drove us down so we would be on time and not lose our shift to some walk-in. Hmm, does that adequately address the situation we found ourselves in yesterday?

Source: Oregonian article, October 2010

After the volunteer shift my son and I put in, we discovered the battery in the truck had died because I had left the lights on (my bad, but I have a valid excuse.) I tried calling and texting my spouse repeatedly for quite some time, but to no avail, because she had the sound turned off. I had also tried to contact one of my siblings, who I hoped to catch before he was back over the river from his job in PDX... too late, he got back to me after he arrived home. However, he did offer to head over and help anyway, and after a number of miscommunications he arrived after my other half  was already finally on the way. It was kind of amusing, actually, to see the VW bus parked on the sidewalk with the jumper cables from its passenger side battery passing through the driver's side window to the battery under the hood of the F-150.

We also just happened to be a block away from the Cascade Brewing Barrel House which, since we all had ended up near, seemed like a good place to grab a Beer and a bite to eat after the various frustrating and complicated events of the afternoon.

I had the Spring Gose which had a subtle sour quality and a mellow, yet sturdy backbone with a touch of sea salt that really tied the whole thing together well. I also got to try the darker, tarter Sang Rouge and Sang Royal and they were very tasty, too. You know I'll be heading back. The quesadilla plates were well made also and I will have to indulge in the Black Bean and Hummus Quesadilla Sandwich more fully! I've been meaning to get down to this place for quite some time now and I'm glad to have tried it. This is definitely worth repeating (the Beer and the food, not the driving around to find a parking place where you can kill your vehicle battery and discover that fact multiple hours later.)

So, no thanks to Tri-met. Even though I enjoyed going over to Cascade Brewing after "the Ordeal", I'm still rather pissed about the fucked-up service from my local mass-transit provider (here let me put a "Bird" on that.) I'm also kind of peeved about the faulty headlamp switch in the truck, too, which led to the other half of the cause yesterday. We made it home, though, and enjoyed some relaxation and my son got to set up his "project computer" with a new wireless adapter so he can has connected to teh internets.

Hope your days are going smoother and less frustratingly than mine, Cheers!