My small brewery.... Thats what i call it anyway..

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

Hello everyone! I am new to this site, and to making beer! I have been making wine and mead/melomels for roughly 5 years and one day it hit me, let's make beer! This is what I have for my brewery. Please feel free to comment/critique me:




This is my Blichmann 14.5 gallon conical fermenter, Blichmann counterflow wort chiller, and Blichmann 15 gallon boilermaker kettle.





My 5lb CO2 tank with dual regulators.





2 ball lock corny kegs.





Making my first beer using the Blichmann top tier burner and boilermaker.

So what do y'all think?

 

[oneandahalfshepherds]

Nice bling wish i had those nice toys.

 

[Cyclman]

Blichmann is like IBM- nobody ever got fired for buying the best.

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

Well I had a few dollars lying around and I heard that Blichmann is one of the best so I bought everything I need. Only thing I really to get now is my stainless steel chigger pump (be here next week), some garden hose and a sump pump to pump the water through the counterflow wort chiller.

 

[DaleP]

You need more kegs!

 

[HopSong]

Keep the chiggers away from your beer. They make an irritating brew. However, I'd recommend a Chugger. They do work well. Sorry, just couldn't resist. Well I remember chiggers when I lived in the south.

 

[skemp45]

these are some nice toys, I guess if your going to do it.... do it right!!!

 

[Hello]

Pretty brew porn is pretty.

 

[Ramitt]

Well I am jealous.

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

Haha I finally got my "chigger" chugger pump. I havent used it as of yet. Gravity flow works well with Blichmann Therminator. I also purchased a 14.8 cu ft chest freezer and a Johnson A419 Digital Temperature Controller for Lagering beer.

 

[EarlyAmateurZymurgist]

Blichmann is like IBM- nobody ever got fired for buying the best.

Blichmann is indeed taking a page out of the IBM playbook in that they are engaging in perceived-value pricing, which is something that IBM perfected. By artificially inflating the price of a good, consumers perceive it as a higher value product. However, Blichmann's kettles are made in China with weldless fittings, which isn't exactly what I would call a high-end product. There's absolutely no excuse for putting weldless fittings on a $400.00 kettle. Polar Ware manages to build their 321BP, 361BP, and 601BP brew kettles in the United States with sanitary welded fittings for less money than Blichmann is charging for something that is made in China.

For those who are curious, there is only one manufacturer of large stockpots left in the United States; namely, Vollrath. Vollrath acquired Polar Ware/Stoelting in 2012 (they already owned Wear Ever because of the 2009 aquisition of Lincoln).

 

[Cyclman]

Polar Ware, which I would prefer as a US made product, has a very incomplete line. They don't have a 20G kettle with a sight glass, they don't make burners, their false bottoms look like something I could weld together. I have used my Blich for years, the weldless fittings have never caused any issues. I have not found an equivalent quality burner.

I do like the Stout Kettles, and believe them to be US made.

I work for a US Mfg. company, so try to buy domestic when I can. Sometimes, it's not a viable option.

 

[EarlyAmateurZymurgist]

Polar Ware, which I would prefer as a US made product, has a very incomplete line. They don't have a 20G kettle with a sight glass, they don't make burners, their false bottoms look like something I could weld together. I have used my Blich for years, the weldless fittings have never caused any issues. I have not found an equivalent quality burner.

I agree that Polar Ware is not addressing the needs of larger kettle buyers. However, economy of scale demand for brew kettles larger than 15 gallons is a relatively recent thing.

A bigger problem for those who would prefer to purchase an American-made kettle with welded fittings is that Polar Ware appears to be chasing the low-end with the new imported weld-less fitting kettles and induction ready stockpots. Hopefully, I am wrong, but I see the nice American-made welded fitting kettles going the way of the dodo bird.

I do like the Stout Kettles, and believe them to be US made.

I like Stout's stuff, but it too is made in China. Their stuff is unique enough that I would consider purchasing it. However, if given the option, I still prefer to purchase American-made goods or goods that are manufactured in countries with comparable cost structures and worker rights.

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

These are the two new pieces that I have added to my small brewery! I am going to go All Grain!

One is a 10 gallon mash tun with a stainless steel false bottom. The other is a 10 gallon hot liquor tank.

I cannot wait to start my first all grain brew!

 

[Flipadelphia]

Stealth brag thread?

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

Not exactly, just showing everyone the equipment I have and if there is anything I'm missing

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

My final last piece of equipment is my new monster mm3 grail mill and hopper.

 

[broadbill]

Stuff you are missing:

Oxygenation setup
Conical
Welded Brew Stand

Since it seems like you are in a mood to spend some money...

I hope you like brewing beer!

 

[LandoLincoln]

My final last piece of equipment is my new monster mm3 grail mill and hopper.

"Last piece of equipment." How quaint.

My "last piece of equipment" was about 15 pieces ago.

 

[funnycreature]

Yeah, somebody is spending big bucks and if I could I'd do it in a heartbeat. Just the last few days I made a real Frankenbrew grain mill with a MM2 2.0 and a garage door opener. I am sure that your background in making wine etc will help but good equipment alone, unfortunately, doesn't make good beer. Please post a picture of your complete setup on your first brew day!!! Brew P0rn!:rockin:

 

[chocotaco]

Your equipment is all wrong. You should buy new stuff and get rid of all that garbage.

Since I'm such a nice guy, I'll even help you dispose of it! Let me know when I should swing by.

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

I have an oxygen setup and a conical haha that's the first things I posted. You are absolutely correct about the equipment. Knowledge and experience makes good beer, not fancy equipment. I always wanted to make beer and figured if I was going to, I'm going to go all out in a manner haha. I've read books from some great brewers and I've made a few beers and they turned out quite nicely. Granted they were kit beers but I'm learning.

 

[MyNameIsPaul]

I'd like to see the whole setup on a brew day.

Threads like "I spent all this money on brewgear, I'm awesome" usually get old quick. How about posting some recipes or techniques that we could use?

As far as a conical goes, do you ferment in a controlled temp environment? That's the only thing holding me back from getting one like yours.

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

Yes I use a 14.8 cu ft freezer with a Johnson A419 controller to control temperatures. My first beer I made in the conical turned out good (no controlled temp) the second, I moved my wine out of the freezer (cold crashing, same as beer) and used that setup. It turned out 10x better. Controlling temp is key. It keeps your yeast in line (not fermenting too fast) and it gives the yeast time to do their job more efficiently.

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

I will get pictures as I am still trying to fine tune my set up.

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

When I first started making wine a family friend explained it to me like this: "yeast are living organisms, they work hard in the heat, they will sweat, sweat don't taste good, keep it cool and they will perform better"

Kinda childish saying but it made sense to me

 

[LandoLincoln]

Threads like "I spent all this money on brewgear, I'm awesome" usually get old quick. How about posting some recipes or techniques that we could use?

We're in the equipment thread section, not the recipes section or all-grain section.

 

[VladOfTrub]

He that dies with the most toys, wins.

The yellow igloo's will clash with the stainless. Use them for kool-aid or bait. Get more Blichmann kettles, Blichmann false bottom. A couple more burners. Get everything big enough to fill the fermenter. The blow off kit works well, instead of a crappy drilled plug and bubbler. With the blow off kit, you can use your CO2 tank to push the beer into purged cornies, right through the out poppit, open the cornie relief to relieve pressure. Screw gravity and removing the bubbler to drain the fermenter, sucking air into the dome as it drains. Get the hop rocket to use as a filter in front of the chiller. Then, hook it to the cornie to use as a randall.

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

I am trying to find a way to set everything up. I have an old coffee table that I am about to mount my chugger pump and wort chiller to. If only I had the money to afford more Blichmann pots. I kinda spent the beer funds on the gear I had now. I am ready to start all grain... I think it will be a lot better than extract brewing... I plan on putting a cooler under the coffee table with ice water to pump through the wort chiller... Just curious if my chugger pump is going to move the wort too rapidly through the chiller and I wont receive the temp I want.

 

[VladOfTrub]

If you are using ice water as coolant, if the water stays below 50F and you are making Ale. You will need to slow the coolant flow. The Therminator is a one pass heat X as long as you stay within the design GPM flow rate through the process and coolant side. I use 42F coolant and run the pump full flow and get 52F wort. I make lager. I have a Blich 30 G boiler with hop blocker and hop rocket to filter the gunk out before going into the chiller. The pressure drop through them along with the pressure drop through the interconnecting tubing slows the wort to about 1.15 GPM. If you're into high octane beer. The denser the wort, the more energy it takes to cool it. It's going to take a few batches for you to tune everything in.

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

I know someone was asking to see how it all fits together. Here is my cooling table. The chugger pump pumps hot wort through the counterflow. Underneath the table is a cooler with a 210 gpm pond pump that pumps ice water in the opposite direction and returns it back to the cooler. Saves on the water bill.

 

[UKJay1971]

Nice kit man - good luck in your brewing and good health to enjoy it

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[WissahickonBrew]

Your first post showed a CO2 tank and dual regulator. Not an oxygenation system. Two different animals for different purposes. Adding pure O2 to your wort in fermentation makes yeast very happy! Some systems like a Chill Wizard allows you to infuse your wort on it's way to the fermenter. Other systems will entail dropping an air stone inside for a bit.

I have an oxygen setup and a conical haha that's the first things I posted. You are absolutely correct about the equipment. Knowledge and experience makes good beer, not fancy equipment. I always wanted to make beer and figured if I was going to, I'm going to go all out in a manner haha. I've read books from some great brewers and I've made a few beers and they turned out quite nicely. Granted they were kit beers but I'm learning.

 

[CoastalEmpireBrewery]

Oh I thought you meant co2 haha yes I have an oxygen stone .5 micron. I use it for my meads and high gravity wine.