A record pace

The boiler is quiet and we're pretty much packed up after our third commercial batch.

Better yet, it only took 13 hours this time. We're learning, and improving, although the hands-on nature of our brew system means that we aren't going to be able to shave off much more time without some equipment upgrades.

Or a brewery helper monkey. Anyone know where to get a helper monkey that's trained to sanitize industrial hoses and stainless steel? We could really use one of those. If they come in pairs, all the better.

Speaking of pairs, today we ran the Twin, the Siamese Twin, and it was without a doubt our best effort to date. The flavor of the wort is bang-on accurate to the original formula. We overshot our concentration by a bit. The beer's likely to be closer to 10% ABV than the intended 8.5%, but maybe it wants to be 10%.

Well... actually not likely. It, as well as our future customers, will be much happier diluted down to its intended strength. That and other adjustments will happen after primary fermentation is completed in four to five days.

More photos to come, once we figure out how to work the camera and brew at the same time. I'm thinking of growing extra arms.

Uncategorizedalec
Two in the pot

These have been long days, but we have our first two commercial batches in fermentation. Whether they're up to our standards for sale, or destined to become in-house reminders of lessons learned, will have to wait until secondary fermentation completes.

Much has been learned in the process. If any readers happen to have an extra plate chiller laying around, we'd be happy to clutter up our space with it.

Roughly three barrels of our initial Golden State Ale are in secondary, and five to six barrels of the Baltic Porter in primary.

Photos of the carnage to come.

Uncategorizedalec
First Boil

One week later, a handful of changes to the steam lines, and we achieved boil.

Once again it pays to double-check your equipment. The kettle's thermometer read 195 degrees. An electronic thermocouple showed it to be off by 19 degrees. We technically had a boil last week, but didn't realize it.

Lessons learned, we'll be running a first batch of the Golden State Ale on Saturday. Check back then.

Uncategorizedalec