Homebrewing DYI: Building a Mash/Lauder Tun out of a water cooler · 18 June 2008, 14:22
I have decided to move into All Grain brewing and leave the extract behind for the time being. I have really gotten into brewing and All Grain is more work, but gives you the most control of your beer. Instead of buying a bag of pre-extracted sugars from malted grains, in All Grain brewing you extract all the sugars from the grains yourself.
To aid in this process, you need a container for extracting the sugars from the grain (mashing) , a Mash Tun, and a container for separating (sparging) the sugary water from the grain husks, a Lauder Tun. Orrrr, you can be creative and use the same container for both mashing and sparging, and you can even build it on the cheap with common plumbing equipment and a water cooler. A cooler is ideal, because you need the insulation to help maintain your desired temperatures throughout the mashing and sparging processes. I just built a mash/lauder tun and took some pics of the process.
☆ Jonathan Greene
Newest Batch: Semi-California Common · 16 June 2008, 11:12
The newest batch of homebrew is a steam beer ( aka California Common ). Ok, well its an attempt at a steam beer. Steam beers are malty, full-bodied beers more characteristic of ales ( not lagers ), but use a bottom fermenting ( lager ) yeast. Since lager yeast requires lower temperatures, ~48 degrees F, and I have no way of controlling temperatures in my apartment, I had to go with an Ale Yeast that works in higher temperatures. So really, I just made an Ale, but in the spirit of a steam. I am excited to try it soon!
At first, I overshot my target gravity, meaning I got more fermentable sugars in the wort than I was aiming for. I also ended up with about .5 gallon more wort than I was expecting… I am getting better about not spilling so much in the racking process! This extra sugar and less headroom in my primary fermentor resulted in some heavy blow-off. I emptied my blow-off glass a few times in the first day or two. Here is a shot of my glass:
☆ Jonathan Greene
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CHI to MIL: my legs are dead · 9 June 2008, 11:51
So I can now say I have biked from Chicago to Milwaukee and back on my fixed gear bicycle. Woo-hoo, errr…. ouch. My legs are TIIIIRRRED, and after a couple falls, a little bit sore. After some schedule shifting and lots of planning (from Lance and Walker) I got the call that we were set for Friday the 5th @ 4:45am! I was back in MI at the time finalizing the purchase of our first car since 2001, and had to hit the road the next day to make it back for the trip.
☆ Jonathan Greene
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Space Beer · 3 June 2008, 15:01
Some of the leftover barley successfully grown at the International Space Station will be used to make beer by Japenses beverage giant Sapparo. Read more about space beer.
☆ Jonathan Greene
Tinkering: Astro Fountain 3D · 1 June 2008, 12:28
Another variation of the fountain I have been playing with. This one uses some of the new simple 3D capabilities of FlashPlayer 10 (Astro). FlashPlayer 10 alpha is required to view this content, you can get it here: adobe labs: flashplayer 10
Don’t be surprised if this baby gets your fan a-revvin’!
☆ Jonathan Greene