I thought I knew how to brew

[Tbagger]

I hail from the Pacific Northwest about an hour outside of Seattle. I grew up brewing with my father off and on over the years but never really got into it enough to go solo.

Recently my father decided brewing is too much work for a man of his age and gave me the brewery. It’s been sitting in my shed for about a year and I recently decided that I’m going to supply most of the beer for my wedding next summer (around 250 expected guest for an overnight camping wedding).

So I broke out the brewery and have been systematically getting it clean and operational. This is when it dawned on me that all the knowledge and skill was possessed by my father and all I really know is the brewing process. So in reality I don’t know jack!

That realization led me here where I have been creeping for that last couple months and learning as much as I can before starting up the hobby. So this summer is going to be a brew filled free for all while I try to come up with and lock down enough recipes for 250 drunks at my wedding. Lol

Next week I’m doing 10gal of extra dry cider followed by 10gal mead so they have enough time to age well. Then it’s balls to the wall beer brewing!!!

Here are a couple pics of my setup. All grain HERMS system made out of 1/2bbl kegs, a 2 tap (soon to be 4 tap) keezer that will double as my fermentation fridge until I get another chest freezer to use, and a crap load of kegs and carboys.

 

[JohnSand]

Well, you have a much better start than most. That's a nice rig. And you can ask your dad for input too. I found John Palmer's book How to Brew very helpful too.
Congratulations on your wedding, good luck with your brewing, keep us posted.

 

[springinloose1]

For me, brewing can be as easy or as hard as I make it. From salt additions and pH, to actually putting that HERMs into action (which I totally would), yeast starters, aeration, temp control (which you have covered), and on and on and on. Since you've stated you don't know jack, one thing I can say by looking at all your equipment is you're going to have one hell of a time cleaning and sanitizing all that stuff. Get the 5 gallon pale of PBW, stock up on Star San, and let the soaking and scrubbing begin! LOL! And ask questions along the way, the folks on here really do have the best interest of brewing beer at heart. Congrats on the wedding and good luck!

 

[homebrewer_99]

Well, you have a much better start than most. That's a nice rig. And you can ask your dad for input too. I found John Palmer's book How to Brew very helpful too.
Congratulations on your wedding, good luck with your brewing, keep us posted.

Even better...an older version of John Palmer's book is FREE to read on-line, here: http://howtobrew.com/

Most of the info will be the same, so I wouldn't worry about missing anything important.

Nice set up.

 

[Tbagger]

Get the 5 gallon pale of PBW, stock up on Star San, and let the soaking and scrubbing begin! LOL!

I have spent the last 3 weekends soaking and scrubbing everything, replacing all the hoses/tubing, and tearing apart the kegs and rebuilding them. Still not fully done but damn that's a lot more work than I thought. lol

 

[divrack]

I've always found that malt hops and water just want to be beer so bad, all you really have to do is let them.
start out with something like a single base malt like marris otter or even better golden promise and a wee dash of carapils or similar and a good all round hop, mainly in aroma ie late in the boil, after flame out. any dry yeast.

 

[doug293cz]

Sounds like you are off to a good (re)start. Don't wait to get brewing. You don't need all the kegs cleaned before you start. Maybe do some simple single infusion mashes, using blankets or similar for insulation, and then start figuring out how to best use the HERMS part of your rig after you're comfortable with the basics. You might also want to think about starting off with batch sparging (unless you are comfortable with your ability to conduct a good fly sparge) as there are fewer things that can go wrong with batch sparging compared to fly sparging. None of these start up suggestions should in any way limit where you go process wise as you gain experience.

So, welcome to HBT from someone also in the Seattle area. Read and ask questions - the members here are happy to help.

Brew on

 

[Tbagger]

Thanks guys. I'm excited to start up again and am having a lot of fun researching all the nuances of the hobby in the meantime. So much information and science to it that I didn't know about since my day used to do all the legwork and I would just show up for brew day. lol

 

[mongoose33]

I admire your goals, but IMO you're going to have to brew a LOT of beer between now and next summer to get to where the beer is high enough quality. Brewing is, at one level, fairly simple, but it's not simplistic. There are many moving parts.

[And just getting the beer in place for the wedding will be...interesting. How will you serve it? Have enough equipment to do that, i.e., jockey boxes, CO2 tanks, regulators, etc.? How easy or difficult will it be to move all that stuff? You'd want to get it set up at least a day ahead and in place before you need it, so kegs have a chance to settle down. If it were my wedding--and this is just me--I'd rather not have that headache in addition to all the other preparations. But that's me. YMMV]

Have you ever made cider or mead? Is producing two 10-gallon batches as your first brews likely to yield good and drinkable results? I don't know. I've been brewing for 2 1/2 years, just brewed my 54th batch (51 all-grain). I've never made cider or mead; if I were so inclined, I'd never make a 10-gallon batch without knowing whether it would work or not.

Might I suggest you locate someone who can help you with your first couple of brew days or allow you to watch them brew? Maybe your father? It will yield huge dividends just to see the process one or two times. The learning curve can be long, and if you're really committed to supplying beer for 250 guests, you're going to need a head start.

If you have someone guiding you, helping with recipes (suggestion: use already-established recipes; newbie brewers are not, IMO, likely to be successful making up their own recipes), how to package, and so on.

One last thought: how are you planning to control fermentation temperature? This is an area most brewers would tell you was a major leap forward in their beer brewing. Fermenting yeast are exothermic, meaning they produce heat--and that heat can be 5-10 degrees above ambient temperature. Keeping the fermenting beer at a specific temperature is important for quality.

Good luck! And congrats on the pending nuptials!

 

[Tbagger]

I have brewed many beers along with some meads, melomels, and ciders with my father. I'm not brand new to the hobby. I just wasn't privy to all the planning and details that he had done as far as prepping, recipe creation, and profiles of yeasts, hops, and grains etc. When I said I don't know jack it was more of a self deprecation about how much I still have to learn. I do have the process down as that was mostly what I did with him and am now learning about all the rest that goes along with homebrewing. But I don't think my goals are too far fetched.

I will mostly be using my fathers recipes (most of which I have brewed before) and ones I find online that look good until I feel ready to start tweaking them and eventually making my own. As for fermentation, I currently have a keezer I will be using as a fermentation fridge until I get another chest freezer to make into a permanent one (should have one set up within a month or so).

I will also be loading up said keezer and taking it to the wedding area for serving the beer. It holds 8 kegs and I am attaching an external manifold so my friends (I have a few that brew as well) can bring, hook up, and serve their beer as well.

I know it wont be a cake walk but I'm always up for a challenge. But worse case scenario is I end up having to buy some kegs. No one will really care so long as they have a means to get drunk. lol

 

[LittleRiver]

I really like the generational aspect of this, it's really cool that you are able to take over your Dad's brewery and learn the craft from him. Please post updates along the way. If you get a chance, post some more photos of that grain mill.

 

[Tbagger]

I’ll take some when I get home. It’s one of the next things on my list to clean up and get operational. The slide out bin under the mill got a little water damage and swelled shut so I’m have to fix it and make sure the mill itself didn’t rust and is still in working order.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Fermenting yeast are exothermic, meaning they produce heat--and that heat can be 5-10 degrees above ambient temperature. Keeping the fermenting beer at a specific temperature is important for quality.

I've always heard that argument and I understand the logic of it, but sometimes all is not as it seems.

I have those tape on LCD therm strips on some of my primary buckets. While the primary is sitting at ambient temps I use them as a gage to let me know if I should put them in the SOFC to lower the temp or to the cooler back room.

The odd thing is (just last week) the strip was reading 72F. I took sample to test temp and gravity. The temp of the beer was 68.9F. The ambient temp was 71.0F. Curiouser and curiouser...(from Alice in Wonderland).

 

[MaxStout]

Nice setup! Welcome to the forum, from Minnesota!

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

Subscribing just because I want to follow this process! Congrats and amazing setup.

 

[Jaybird]

I think you are going to be JUST FINE! Gongrats on the wedding. As we all know brewers marry UP so we are eager for picts... OF HER! LOL I think with the base line you have and understanding the process you will rock it! Even if your beer is not BJCP 40+ its not going to matter. Your guests will LOVE that you put in the effort to treat them! Well played in my book!

Cheers
Jay

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

+1 on marrying up

 

[shoengine]

I'm sorry, I just can't get past your name.

Welcome to the club

 

[Tbagger]

I'm sorry, I just can't get past your name.

Haha. It’s been my gamer tag for about 20 years. Sadly now days people take it politically.

 

[Tbagger]

As we all know brewers marry UP so we are eager for picts... OF HER! LOL

Hahahah. I’m no exception. She is out of my league. I just do my best to keep that knowledge from her.

 

[Bamos6928]

Congrats on the wedding. Cant wait to see how this MASSIVE undertaking goes. Good Luck!!!!!

 

[bleme]

I know it wont be a cake walk but I'm always up for a challenge. But worse case scenario is I end up having to buy some kegs. No one will really care so long as they have a means to get drunk. lol

I only count 15 kegs so 75 gallons total, or 192oz (12 pints) per person. That should almost do the trick...

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

Haha. It’s been my gamer tag for about 20 years. Sadly now days people take it politically.

? I didn't realize tea bagging was a political statement. I always assumed it was a 1970's p-orn star move. Lol

 

[Tbagger]

I only count 15 kegs so 75 gallons total, or 192oz (12 pints) per person. That should almost do the trick...

Lol The mead and cider are going in bottles for a total capacity of 95 gallons

 

[Tbagger]

? I didn't realize tea bagging was a political statement. I always assumed it was a 1970's p-orn star move. Lol

The Tea Party ruined it for us well meaning tea baggers of a bygone age. lol

 

[shoengine]

Haha. It’s been my gamer tag for about 20 years. Sadly now days people take it politically.

Oh don't worry, I wasn't. That would be one of the items on the list of reasons I lost all interest in playing Halo against other humans.

 

[GoeHaarden]

? I didn't realize tea bagging was a political statement. I always assumed it was a 1970's p-orn star move. Lol

Later reinserted into popular 2010's moves...

Did your dad cut a Harley Davidson tank in half for your tap tower? Beast Mode!!

 

[Tbagger]

Later reinserted into popular 2010's moves...

Did your dad cut a Harley Davidson tank in half for your tap tower? Beast Mode!!

Yeah. It's pretty damn epic!

 

[GoeHaarden]

Yeah. It's pretty damn epic!

Thats AWESOME!!!!

 

[Tbagger]

Thats AWESOME!!!!

I'll slowly be covering the freezer part in beer labels and beer related stickers. Should look pretty good in a few months. Also going to add a couple more taps (one is going to be a nitro stout tap) on the other side to even it out. Only problem with it is that all the wood is thick ass mahogany so the lid with the towers weighs about 75 lbs. lol

 

[Tbagger]

Oh don't worry, I wasn't. That would be one of the items on the list of reasons I lost all interest in playing Halo against other humans.

HAHAHA. Yeah, now days I do most of my bagging on Overwatch but I do miss the good ol' halo days.

 

[GoeHaarden]

the wood is thick ass mahogany so the lid with the towers weighs about 75 lbs

Dayyyuummm...that thing is no joke! Who needs a gym!? That's a nice setup your dad passed down to you, pretty cool.

 

[Tbagger]

That's a nice setup your dad passed down to you, pretty cool.

I'm super stoked that he passed it down. He put a lot of work into it and we have a lot of great memories of brew days connected to this old brewery.

 

[GoeHaarden]

I'm super stoked that he passed it down. He put a lot of work into it and we have a lot of great memories of brew days connected to this old brewery.

That's what makes it even better. It's definitely something to take pride in. I'm diggin' Electric Crankenstein as well. Haha

 

[Tbagger]

That's what makes it even better. It's definitely something to take pride in. I'm diggin' Electric Crankenstein as well. Haha

Sadly the Crankenstein got a little water damage in storage and I'll have to make some repairs before it's up and running again.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

A picture in honor of your browncoats icon.

 

[LittleRiver]

... the wood is thick ass mahogany so the lid with the towers weighs about 75 lbs. ...

Gas springs will tame that beast.

 

[Tbagger]

Gas springs will tame that beast.

I'll definitely be picking up a set of those! I was thinking about rigging up an automatic opening actuator but that looks a lot easier. At least until I have the time and money to rig up something cool.

 

[Tbagger]

A picture in honor of your browncoats icon.

That is awesome!!!

 

[Lefou]

I really like the generational aspect of this, it's really cool that you are able to take over your Dad's brewery and learn the craft from him. Please post updates along the way. If you get a chance, post some more photos of that grain mill.

Ah, the soldierin' and brewin' trades.
I think it has to be hereditary in some fashion. I like seeing old traditions being revived and improved on. The custom grinder and Falstaff tap handle are neat to see.