P.D's Brewery.

[PD]

Had a tase of my AG - Wherry brewed around 8th December 2012.
Lovely dark amber beer, very clear and a gorgeous taste. The Styrian Goldings coming through wonderfully. Clean on the palette with a slightly dry aftertaste, nothing harsh or bitter.
The only thing is that its still a little under carbed for my taste, although there's plenty there for those that don't like fizzy pop. I expected a little more fizz but the problems I had with that cold spell just as I was conditioning the beer seem to have had an effect.
Still nice and like its kit brother a darned good tasty pint.

 

[PD]

My 100 litre boiler has arrived !

My its a big one....... :lol:

The hlt from Robs will be here next week as its away having a sight glass fitted....
I've put the elements and bazooka screen in place but have to tighten them up and do a leak test this afternoon...

I'm sat here trying to visualise 3 pots of this size...lol...they are BIG....

My wife says we can go into business now.... as dog washing !!

 

[PD]

My new boiler has claimed its first casualty........

My digital thermometer fell off the bench and went for a swim.....

Bugger.

 

[LeedsBrewer]

:rofl: :rofl:

dry it out for a while, hopefully it'll be ok.

 

[PD]

Did a trial boil with water yesterday 30 litres. No leaks and elements both worked ok.

A couple of problems raised their head by the end of the boil, 1 not serious the other more problematic.

Problem 1...the pot is huge and when it came to chill the water after the boil, my chiller failed to reach the 30 litres of liquid ! Will need a bit of modification to allow it to hang lower in the pot, as it was I just laid it on its side and it worked fine, cooled the water from boiling to below 30C in 10 mins.

The 2nd problem is more serious and needs some thought.
I brew in my garage, the boiler sits near the garage door which is wide open to allow steam to escape. Yesterday the weather was cold damp and dreary.
I did a 60 min boil with 30 litres of water. After the boil was completed I measured the losses incurred and worked out that the % loss to evaporation was a whopping 32%. Due no doubt to the climatic conditions and the size of the pot ( surface area and all that )
Somehow I've got to reduce this loss.
The full boil as done with the lid completely off as is my normal practice and with the weather there was great clouds of steam produced.
I'm wondering if I could put the lid back on after say 20 mins ( to allow the nasties to escape ) thereby allowing the condensation back into the brew. and therefore less loss to steam.
Both elements were on for the complete boil ( they are 2kw heaters ) and it appeared that both will be required to keep a vig rolling boil, I would have liked to turn one off but the brew slipped off the boil when I did ( still showing 98C tho )
So perhaps increasing one element to 2.5kw capacity ?

More thought required......

 

[PD]

Getting closer........

now in posession of a 100 lt boiler and an 80 litre mash tun, Just awaiting my 100 lt, HLT and false bottom.....

woo hoo... soon be back brewing...

 

[PD]

well the hlt has arrived....but not the false bottom for the mash tun..... :shock:
Rob at Malt Miller forgot it......

Anyway it will be sent out tomorrow first thing I'm not brewing till next week anyway.
Spending this evening calibrating the hlt and marking the volumes up on the sight glass..... Oh joy wet hands and temps of 1C... :clap:

 

[PD]

New heading to the thread now that the Brewery is taking shape

P.D's Brewery




The first picture of part of the new brewery

PD's Brewery.

still some work to be done, but on cards for a brew next week..

 

[PD]

a close up of the more heavy duty locknuts that replace the supplied fittings that come with the element.
I would suggest anyone fitting these elements do the same and throw the supplied ones away

 

[PD]

A shot of the inside of the cavernous 100 litre boiler

a 12 inch bazooka screen fitted ( its smaller 6 inch brother worked very well on my tea urn boiler.) and two 2 kw kettle elements which from the brief trial run with water may be a bit under powered and may need up be uprated.

It don't half echo in there..... ...

 

[graysalchemy]

well done mate :thumb: :thumb:

Don't think your symptoms will go away anytime soon.

I believe there are a couple of these with your name on.

:lol: :lol:

 

[PD]

B*****d..........

Get thee behind me.....

 

[graysalchemy]

Are you blinded by the shiney yet :lol: :lol:

 

[calumscott]

New heading to the thread now that the Brewery is taking shape

P.D's Brewery




The first picture of part of the new brewery

PD's Brewery.

still some work to be done, but on cards for a brew next week..

That looks very nice does that! Top job sir! :thumb:

 

[fbsf]

Hmmm, shiiiiny....

Looks great PD - at some point in the future I can envisage going shiny, but as it would probably mean selling one of my motorbikes to raise the funds, it might have to wait for a little while...

 

[alanywiseman.]

Looks fantastic PD, Well Done :clap: :clap:

 

[JimmyB78]

Looks Superb PD! Looks like there's plenty of space in the garage for more shiny too!

 

[graysalchemy]

What about an up grade

Ready and waiting

:lol: :lol:

 

[PD]

and I bought some more nearly shiney stuff this morning......

a piece of aluminium solid rod to use as a super dooper boiler dip stick....ha haa.... with a knob to go on the end.

 

[graysalchemy]

with a knob to go on the end.

one of these