Out here on the island where I work, a friend and I have a Klarstein all in one brewing device and a couple of Speidel 30L fermenters.
We also have a kegerator that I built from a fridge that we reallocated, it has three taps through the door.
We also have five ball lock kegs.
So initially, we had ordered the grain measured and milled from the homebrew store in Anchorage in "brew batches" of malt.
The I was able to arrange to get several sacks sent out, along with 10 pounds each of several crystal malts, roast, chocolate, wheat, ect. so that we have some inventory of grain.
We also have a mill.
I brought out about 7-8 pounds of hops so that we could have some choices on what we want to brew.
Getting on with the story, we have no scales, all I have is a 24 ounce Folgers coffee container to measure.
Latest one with no measurements is a double/triple IPA. (likely 10%+ and 80-100 IBUs, mighty tasty)
I decided on how many "scoops" of grain, a bunch of two row and a bit of crystal 20, and then looked at the hops, chose what I wanted, and eyeballed the hops, package says four ounces, well that looks like half, so here we go. Same with the other to varieties that I used. CTZ, Centennial & Cascade in the IIIPA
Now clearly I can't duplicate any recipes, but the beer has come out good.
With work and everything, I had about a ~15 hour mash, then brought the temperature up to 208 and it stayed there for about 5-6 hours, until I could get off work and finish it up, adding hops, boiling and chilling, into the fermenter with the yeast.
Next up is a Belgian Wit, and another IPA.
I'm happy with the Klarstein, although it is a 110v unit, it is slow to get to a boil, but if I set the temperature on 230, it will boil pretty hard.
It seems to be good unit, it comes with a grain pipe, a little ring to set the grain pipe on while it drains and one sparges, a lid and a stainless steel immersion chiller. (about $229)
We have the 30L unit, for what its worth.
My only complaint about the unit is, it's not marked inside as for volume.
I've had to "relearn" how to brew on this system, as at home, I've always brewed on a 3V system.
All the beers that we have brewed have turned out great, so far.
I've also made several ciders, cysers, mead and am going to start a pyment tonight. (I brought out EC-1118 and K1V-1116)
The people in the kitchen will see me and pull me aside and tell me that they have a container of juice concentrate, that the seal got broke in shipping and ask me if I want it.
Prior, I would fill jugs from the juice dispenser, and get a bag of sugar, sometimes that would give me a partial container of the juice concentrate, when they saw me filling jugs.
I had sent out a bottle of StarSan and a couple of containers of OxyClean along with a few other items, thermometer, long spoons, small funnels. (ordered other small stuff from Amazon)
We also found several cases of 1L swing top bottles that someone else had left behind for any "overage" in the fermenters.
Do what you have to do and make the best of what you have.
We also have a kegerator that I built from a fridge that we reallocated, it has three taps through the door.
We also have five ball lock kegs.
So initially, we had ordered the grain measured and milled from the homebrew store in Anchorage in "brew batches" of malt.
The I was able to arrange to get several sacks sent out, along with 10 pounds each of several crystal malts, roast, chocolate, wheat, ect. so that we have some inventory of grain.
We also have a mill.
I brought out about 7-8 pounds of hops so that we could have some choices on what we want to brew.
Getting on with the story, we have no scales, all I have is a 24 ounce Folgers coffee container to measure.
Latest one with no measurements is a double/triple IPA. (likely 10%+ and 80-100 IBUs, mighty tasty)
I decided on how many "scoops" of grain, a bunch of two row and a bit of crystal 20, and then looked at the hops, chose what I wanted, and eyeballed the hops, package says four ounces, well that looks like half, so here we go. Same with the other to varieties that I used. CTZ, Centennial & Cascade in the IIIPA
Now clearly I can't duplicate any recipes, but the beer has come out good.
With work and everything, I had about a ~15 hour mash, then brought the temperature up to 208 and it stayed there for about 5-6 hours, until I could get off work and finish it up, adding hops, boiling and chilling, into the fermenter with the yeast.
Next up is a Belgian Wit, and another IPA.
I'm happy with the Klarstein, although it is a 110v unit, it is slow to get to a boil, but if I set the temperature on 230, it will boil pretty hard.
It seems to be good unit, it comes with a grain pipe, a little ring to set the grain pipe on while it drains and one sparges, a lid and a stainless steel immersion chiller. (about $229)
We have the 30L unit, for what its worth.
My only complaint about the unit is, it's not marked inside as for volume.
I've had to "relearn" how to brew on this system, as at home, I've always brewed on a 3V system.
All the beers that we have brewed have turned out great, so far.
I've also made several ciders, cysers, mead and am going to start a pyment tonight. (I brought out EC-1118 and K1V-1116)
The people in the kitchen will see me and pull me aside and tell me that they have a container of juice concentrate, that the seal got broke in shipping and ask me if I want it.
Prior, I would fill jugs from the juice dispenser, and get a bag of sugar, sometimes that would give me a partial container of the juice concentrate, when they saw me filling jugs.
I had sent out a bottle of StarSan and a couple of containers of OxyClean along with a few other items, thermometer, long spoons, small funnels. (ordered other small stuff from Amazon)
We also found several cases of 1L swing top bottles that someone else had left behind for any "overage" in the fermenters.
Do what you have to do and make the best of what you have.