Weizgei's Brew Cave
Posted: Sunday Sep 22, 2013 12:41 pm
Ok, excited to be first! Unless someone else is posting faster than me on this delightful Sunday afternoon...
Now this is nothing terribly exciting, as CrookedFingers has seen first-hand, my setup is pretty ghetto, but I bloody love it! This area used to be a triple carport, open to the weather and a real mess. Once I got full on into homebrewing, I realised I needed a dedicated space....especially once I started full extract with my own hopping...my missus and the kids can't stand the smell of boiling hops, whereas it makes me drool. So I got a good buddy of mine over who's a builder, and we converted the carport into a weather-proof brew cave. Anyway, a picture's worth a thousand words right? So here's a few thousand:
The Brew Cave: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9zdUsr9umgXX04xN2FjTjZxMTg/
I warned you it was ghetto! Still doubling as a storage space at the back, with my golf clubs and a few other items. The entire space is about 5.5m long, by just over 3m wide. Left/Right photo's below;
Right Side: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9zdUsr ... 1NV2RxRU0/
Starting at the front, we have my beer fridge, containing not just finished beer, but my hops in the freezer, some rhizomes still in the fridge, along with yeast, irish moss etc. On the door of my fridge are some unit conversions (oz to gm, fl oz to ml, depth measurements for my 40l boil kettle/ruler etc), as well as a "Beer & Food pairing chart" and the STC-1000 instruction pamphlet.
Next to that is my fermenting fridge (inside pic later), it's a bit small so I'm thinking of swapping the two one day.
Next along are my home-brew equipment storage racks, with starsan, sodium perc, storage cubes full of base/spec grain/dex etc.
That white thing on the floor is my convection heater for when I'm out there in winter, leaning against it is a fridge shelf that I use to balance my by BIAB bag on while squeezing the crap out of it post-mash.
Left Side: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9zdUsr ... hTMXNwU1U/
Again from the front, we have my workbench, with scales, mash paddle and some tools. Oh, and a radio of course, I always listen to SEN when I'm brewing/bottling/hiding from my family...You can see some of the usual suspects under the bench, such as a fermenter and gas bottle. You might also be able to make out that block of pine on top with a test tube on it, that's my experimental yeast storage rack for storing liquid yeast splits. Still working on the design....
In between the two benches is a 44 gallon drum I bought from UBrewIT, they sell them empty for $5. It now acts as a stand for my 4 ring burner...I move it out a few feet on brew day and shuffle it back afterwards.
The next bench along is where I bottle my beer, you can see the bottling tree, and beyond that is a few boxes with my eclectic mix of stubbies, I use a combo of 330/500/750ml bottles for most of my brews. Under that bench are some esky's, full boxes of empty bottles and some empty bottle boxes.
At the end of that bench is my 40l brew pot, it has a recently-installed stainless ball valve, cam lock/hose barb that you can't see in the pic, but I've posted a pic of my equipment further down.
At the very back you can see a light blue hose, that's 15m of food grade hose that I use to get water into my brew cave on brew day.
Inside the fermenting fridge: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9zdUsr ... xuUEFhNXM/
This is the small fridge in the pic, as you can see I can fit a regular 30l fermenter, and for the first time since I started brewing I've squeezed a 2nd fermenter in next to it...a little 10l jobbie with a hefeweizen fermenting at 17C. It's using wb-06, with a blow-off tube rigged to a bottle with star-san..I was being careful 'coz I'm fermenting 8 litres in a 10l container. I realised the other day I had 2 packs of wb-06 left over from when I used to use dry yeast for weizens instead of the 3068 I mostly use these days. I have never done a weizen with wb-06 as low as 17C before...I used to use it at anywhere between 19-23C, and never really enjoyed the results. So I figured I'd try a small batch of hefe with it at 17C to see how it compares to 3068 (I do all my 3068 weizens at 17C these days, LOVE IT).
Oh, the big fermenter has my very first at-home AG beer in it...it's been in the primary for about 9 days now, it's an American Pale Ale using JW Trade Ale grain (and some spec), with Citra, Cascade, Centennial & Mosaic. It's already at 1012, will probably bottle it Wednesday.
At the bottom of the fridge is a 100w flood light, with power running up to the STC-1000 sitting atop the fridge. My temp probe is currently taped to the side of the hefe fermenter, with some cut-out stubby holder over the top.
I reckon that's about it for now, any questions/suggestions please let me know!
EDIT: Actually here's a pic I just spotted of my latest equipment upgrade, that enabled my move to all grain. My 40l pot, with crab cooker insert, the immersion chiller in the foreground, and the stainless ball valve bling that I've recently put onto that pot: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9zdUsr ... swWmg3N2c/
Now this is nothing terribly exciting, as CrookedFingers has seen first-hand, my setup is pretty ghetto, but I bloody love it! This area used to be a triple carport, open to the weather and a real mess. Once I got full on into homebrewing, I realised I needed a dedicated space....especially once I started full extract with my own hopping...my missus and the kids can't stand the smell of boiling hops, whereas it makes me drool. So I got a good buddy of mine over who's a builder, and we converted the carport into a weather-proof brew cave. Anyway, a picture's worth a thousand words right? So here's a few thousand:
The Brew Cave: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9zdUsr9umgXX04xN2FjTjZxMTg/
I warned you it was ghetto! Still doubling as a storage space at the back, with my golf clubs and a few other items. The entire space is about 5.5m long, by just over 3m wide. Left/Right photo's below;
Right Side: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9zdUsr ... 1NV2RxRU0/
Starting at the front, we have my beer fridge, containing not just finished beer, but my hops in the freezer, some rhizomes still in the fridge, along with yeast, irish moss etc. On the door of my fridge are some unit conversions (oz to gm, fl oz to ml, depth measurements for my 40l boil kettle/ruler etc), as well as a "Beer & Food pairing chart" and the STC-1000 instruction pamphlet.
Next to that is my fermenting fridge (inside pic later), it's a bit small so I'm thinking of swapping the two one day.
Next along are my home-brew equipment storage racks, with starsan, sodium perc, storage cubes full of base/spec grain/dex etc.
That white thing on the floor is my convection heater for when I'm out there in winter, leaning against it is a fridge shelf that I use to balance my by BIAB bag on while squeezing the crap out of it post-mash.
Left Side: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9zdUsr ... hTMXNwU1U/
Again from the front, we have my workbench, with scales, mash paddle and some tools. Oh, and a radio of course, I always listen to SEN when I'm brewing/bottling/hiding from my family...You can see some of the usual suspects under the bench, such as a fermenter and gas bottle. You might also be able to make out that block of pine on top with a test tube on it, that's my experimental yeast storage rack for storing liquid yeast splits. Still working on the design....
In between the two benches is a 44 gallon drum I bought from UBrewIT, they sell them empty for $5. It now acts as a stand for my 4 ring burner...I move it out a few feet on brew day and shuffle it back afterwards.
The next bench along is where I bottle my beer, you can see the bottling tree, and beyond that is a few boxes with my eclectic mix of stubbies, I use a combo of 330/500/750ml bottles for most of my brews. Under that bench are some esky's, full boxes of empty bottles and some empty bottle boxes.
At the end of that bench is my 40l brew pot, it has a recently-installed stainless ball valve, cam lock/hose barb that you can't see in the pic, but I've posted a pic of my equipment further down.
At the very back you can see a light blue hose, that's 15m of food grade hose that I use to get water into my brew cave on brew day.
Inside the fermenting fridge: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9zdUsr ... xuUEFhNXM/
This is the small fridge in the pic, as you can see I can fit a regular 30l fermenter, and for the first time since I started brewing I've squeezed a 2nd fermenter in next to it...a little 10l jobbie with a hefeweizen fermenting at 17C. It's using wb-06, with a blow-off tube rigged to a bottle with star-san..I was being careful 'coz I'm fermenting 8 litres in a 10l container. I realised the other day I had 2 packs of wb-06 left over from when I used to use dry yeast for weizens instead of the 3068 I mostly use these days. I have never done a weizen with wb-06 as low as 17C before...I used to use it at anywhere between 19-23C, and never really enjoyed the results. So I figured I'd try a small batch of hefe with it at 17C to see how it compares to 3068 (I do all my 3068 weizens at 17C these days, LOVE IT).
Oh, the big fermenter has my very first at-home AG beer in it...it's been in the primary for about 9 days now, it's an American Pale Ale using JW Trade Ale grain (and some spec), with Citra, Cascade, Centennial & Mosaic. It's already at 1012, will probably bottle it Wednesday.
At the bottom of the fridge is a 100w flood light, with power running up to the STC-1000 sitting atop the fridge. My temp probe is currently taped to the side of the hefe fermenter, with some cut-out stubby holder over the top.
I reckon that's about it for now, any questions/suggestions please let me know!
EDIT: Actually here's a pic I just spotted of my latest equipment upgrade, that enabled my move to all grain. My 40l pot, with crab cooker insert, the immersion chiller in the foreground, and the stainless ball valve bling that I've recently put onto that pot: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9zdUsr ... swWmg3N2c/