Blichmann Engineering

From Blichmann Engineering’s website:

Assembly

Operation

There are two types of fermenters commonly available:  food-grade plastic buckets and glass carboys.  Each type of fermenter has its own merits.

Advantages of Plastic Buckets

The plastic buckets are inexpensive and are readily available at most any store.  Plastic buckets can also be fitted with spigots which makes siphoning unnecessary which can be a real plus.  When fitted with a spigot, it eliminates siphoning between fermenters when racking into a secondary fermenter and it also helps simplify the bottling process.  Buckets are typically 6-gallon in size which (for brewing beer) leaves about 1-gallon of head space which is most often sufficient enough.

Disadvantages of Plastic Buckets

Plastic buckets “breathe” more than glass carboys and as such can oxidize a brew.  Sanitation is extremely important when brewing your own beer and although plastic buckets are easy to clean (since the top lid lifts off), the interior of plastic buckets unlike glass can easily scratch which can make it harder to sanitize and lead to infectious mold and bacteria.  If using plastic, make sure it is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).  PET plastic is a non-barrier plastic, meaning oxygen can not transfer through the plastic and oxidize your beer.  Unfortunately, even with PET plastic oxidization is not eliminated due to the seal of the lid and airlock hole.

Advantages of Glass Carboys

Glass carboys allow the homebrewer to see their beer while it is fermenting allowing you to gauge its activity during fermentation.  They also provide for a proper seal using a 3 way valve that lets out the co2 being formed as a by-product.  There are two sizes commonly available; a 6.5-gallon, which is ideal for primary fermentation (as well as for making wine) and a 5-gallon size, which is ideal for secondary fermentation.  The larger size typically has enough head space to contain the kraeusen without the need for a blow off hose and the 5-gallon size almost completely eliminates the head space above the beer, preventing oxidization during the conditioning phase.

Disadvantages of Glass Carboys

Glass carboys can be dangerous if handled with damp or wet hands.  Glass carboys are usually clear, so you will need to keep them out of light.  The small opening at the top of the carboy will require additional purchase of equipment; a funnel or siphon for adding the cooled wort to the fermenter and a carboy brush to clean the interior of the carboy.

There you have it…advantages and disadvantages of both.  Having done my own research and giving this some thought, if I were to go back and do it all over again, I’d probably still stay with a glass carboy.  The glass carboys I have owned look and function the same as when I first purchased them, whereas the buckets have come and gone.  I like the immediacy in life and as such I enjoy seeing the color of my beer and watching its activity while it ferments.  One is not necessarily better than the other, each have their advantages and short comings, it is really a matter of personal preference.

When I ask extract brewers why they don’t make the plunge into all grain brewing the answer I usually get is the M word. Mashing. It seems to be thought of as an extremely complex and intimidating process, a riddle wrapped in an enigma. True, there is a complex science going on behind the scenes. At certain temperatures, enzymes in the malt spring into action and chomp away at the starch from the grain and turn it into fermentable sugar. This complex process is Mother Nature’s job, not yours. Your job is to provide an environment so that she can do her thing. This environment consists of a ratio of 1 to 2 quarts of water per pound of crushed grain, mixed well, and held at a stable temperature in the range of 140-160 degrees for an hour. Pretty scary stuff, huh? I too was scared at first, much like when I was a kid taking my first jump off a high dive. Once you get over the initial fear and just do it, you realize how fun it is!

The process I want to talk about is simple. Infusion mash, batch sparge (rinse), boil, cool, ferment.

There are a few different types of mashing methods. The single temperature infusion mash, the step mash, and the decoction mash. I am not going to go into details of the differences, but if you are lazy like me and you want to get the most for the least amount of work, then the infusion mash is right for you and that is what I will discuss.

An infusion mash is by far the easiest of all the methods. All that needs to be done is to mix water and the crushed grain at a ratio of 1-2 quarts of water per pound of crushed grain and hold the temperature at approximately 150 degrees for 1 hour. Its not rocket science.

I have found through personal experience that I get the best results with my setup if I use 1 1/3 quarts of water per pound of crushed grain. Let say I am using 12 lbs of grain. At 1.33 quarts/lb that comes to 4 gallons of water. We want to heat the water approximately 10 degrees higher than what we want our initial mash temperature to be. It needs to be 10 degrees hotter because inevitably heat will be lost as we transfer the water to the mash tun and mix in the grain. Mashing at higher temps 150-160F the wort will be less fermentable and give the beer more body. At lower temps 140-150F the wort will be more fermentable and will have less body. At 150 degrees, the enzymes work equally
well and can be considered the comfort zone. I always shoot for the 150-152 range so that means I need to heat my 4 gallons of water to about 162 degrees. Once that temperature is reached, I dump all the water into my mash tun and close it up for about 5 minutes. This allows the heat to permeate the inside of the mash tun. Then, slowly dump the grain into the mash tun while stirring to break up any clumps. Once it’s mixed well, throw in a thermometer and close it up. I’ll check the temperature after about 10 minutes to make sure I’m +/- a few degrees of where I want to be. If I’m off by more than that I’ll add a little bit of hot or cold water to get it just right. Once your happy with the temperature, close it up, have a homebrew, and don’t bother it for an hour

There are a few tricks to test to make sure all of the starch is converted to sugar. I’m not going to get into these. I have never tested for starch conversion other than sticking my finger in the mash and tasting it. I prefer to put my faith in the beer Gods and they have not let me down yet.

So, after an hour, you slowly start to drain the mash into a small container. The first runnings will be very cloudy. The grain bed will act as a filter. Collect a quart or so in a small container until the wort runs clear then gently pour it back on top of the mash. Then drain all of the liquid into a brew bucket until you are ready for the boil. There should end up being about 2.5 gallons of wort collected from the first runnings of the mash. A gallon or so of liquid will be soaked up by the grains.

During the 30 minutes or so that it takes to drain the mash, heat up another 4 gallons of water to about 170 for the sparge water. Sparging is nothing more than rinsing the grains to get all of the remaining sugar out of it. I always try for a starting boil volume of 6.5 gallons of wort because it will boil down to 5 gallons or less. The simple formula I use to determine how much sparge water I need is X gallons of first runnings + Y gallons of sparge water = 6.5 Gallons.

There are various types of sparging methods. A continuous sparge, fly sparging, batch sparging, or no sparging. Again, I’m not going to go into the pros and cons of each. The laziest thing to do would be to omit sparging altogether, but you will leave alot of tasty sugar behind. The quickest and easiest sparging method is the batch sparge.

Once the mash is drained completely and your sparge water is at 170. Dump all of your sparge water into the mash tun at once and stir well. A temperature of 170 is ideal because it denatures the enzymes and more importantly decreases the viscosity of the wort to make for an easier run off. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then start to drain slowly. Again, recycle the cloudy stuff to the top. Once it clears, start draining directly to the kettle. When all of the sparge water is drained, add your first runnings to the kettle as well. There should be about 6.5 gallons or wort. Crank up the flame and begin the boil like normal.

If you are using extract, all of the stuff I have talked about so far has already been done for you and packaged in a neat little bag or can. But what fun is it to have someone else do all the work for you?

They only thing different from this point on is cooling the wort. Some sort of wort chiller is needed to cool the 5 gallons of wort down to pitching temperature in a reasonable amount of time; an ice bath alone will not cut it. There are a few types of wort chillers available. I use a copper immersion chiller that has garden hose fittings. Simply put the chiller into the boiling wort for the last 10 or so minutes of the boil to sanitize it, then hook to a garden hose and turn the hose on. Stir every few minutes. In 30 minutes time you will be at pitching temperature. Ferment like always.

So there you have it. It seems much more complicated than it really is. But if you’ve done it once you done it a thousand times. It is well worth the extra time, effort, and money to make the switch. I promise!

The kit includes the following:

• Cornelius keg CO2 charger
• Faucet to quick disconnect adapter
• Keg charger CO2 refill cartridges – box of 2
• Ball style quick disconnect – liquid
• Ball style quick disconnect – gas
• Chrome faucet head – brass lever
• Beer tap faucet handle black knob
• Spanner wrench

* PLEASE NOTE – Cornelius keg/tank is not included.  Kit cannot be used to force carbonate beer *

Retail is approximately $60.00 USD.

Beer after beer after beer. People bought and then dumped their Miller beer into barrels at an Eau Claire bar.

After that, they got free refills of craft beer.

They’re protesting a new law just signed last week. It changes the permits needed to brew beer and how beer is sold in Wisconsin. It benefits the largest companies and opponents say it will hurt small brewers.

The protesters say Miller-Coors was behind the legislation.

Contact: Sen. Chris Larson
Madison Office: (608) 266-7505

Madison – Sen. Chris Larson (D–Milwaukee) joined fellow legislators in a bipartisan letter distributed this week asking the governor to veto a budget provision that limits the ability of Wisconsin’s craft brewers to grow and create jobs.

Towards the end of the budget process, Joint Finance Committee Co-Chairs Sen. Alberta Darling and Rep. Robin Vos unexpectedly introduced Motion #414, which prevents local craft breweries from being able to expand and create much-needed jobs in Wisconsin.

“Our local craft breweries have become a wonderful addition to Wisconsin’s economy by creating jobs and bringing tourism to the state,” said Sen. Larson. “We should be supporting these businesses that are a valued part of Wisconsin tradition and culture, not impeding their prospects for growth.”

Motion #414 makes sweeping changes to Chapter 125 of Wisconsin Statutes including taking away the wholesale and retail licenses from brewers and eliminating the ability of brewers to sell existing retail or wholesale operations separately from the brewing operation.

“Governor Walker’s time in office has been marred by misplaced priorities and broken promises,” said Sen. Larson. “It is time for his actions to match his rhetoric, which is why he must stand up for local businesses and remove the craft brewery language from the budget.”