| Most viewed - Brew Day 2/11/10 |
Hops64 viewsMeasure out the hops that I will need later
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instructions53 viewsBrew sheets printed from homebrew software -- basically the recipe and instructions
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Better shot of the immersion chiller and hop bag52 views
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Boiling the wort50 viewsThe recipe determines how long you boil for, what kind of hops you add, and when. Generally when you add hops early in the boil, they make the beer bitter. Later in the boil, gives the beer that flowery, hoppy smell. I use a hop bag, so there's not a lot of crap in the pot when I go to siphon later on.
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Getting up to temp..49 viewsAlmost where I want it to be... You add the water at a temperature a little higher than you need, then as soon as it hits your target, add the grain
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Heating up water..48 viewsSomething you do a lot of when brewing! Here I am heating up the water that the grain will be added to, in order to convert the grain into fermentable sugars and give the yeast something to eat.. this is in a 40qt Winco aluminum pot on my stove (canning element), along with a heat stick
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Pre-heating the mash tun48 viewsI add hot water to pre-heat the Igloo so that when I am mashing, it does not lose its heat. It's important to try and keep the grain at a specific temperature.
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10 gallon aluminum winco pot47 views
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Taking the first runnings46 viewsDraining the mash tun gives a sweet liquid as it is full of sugars.. this liquid is called wort, synonymous for unfermented beer
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Mash tun preheated!42 viewsThe little braid at the bottom is so that only liquid comes out of the valve on the front.. and not a whole bunch of grain and crap
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my brewing space42 views
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Wort ready to boil41 viewsWort ready to boil - this is about 7 gallons in the pot, it will be about 5 gallons when done boiling.
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Fresh whole leaf hops40 viewsHops are the flower that gives beer its bitterness and aroma, depending on when you add them when boiling. Again another score from a group purchase between a few buddies at work
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Water filter40 viewsI temporarily hook up a 1 micron house water filter to my faucet and that's what I use to brew
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Grain goes into the mash tun39 viewsmix it up good...
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Mash tun after an hour39 views
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The grains after drained35 viewsAfter I drain the first time, I add another prescribed amount of water and drain again until I reach the prescribed pre-boil volume
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Grain goes into the mash tun35 viewsAdding the grain to the mash tun, which has the hot water
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Mash Tun34 viewsThe Mash Tun is where you combine the grains and hot water in order to extract the sugars out of the grains. Built from parts from home depot and instructions from homebrewtalk.com.
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Boil is over, time to chill34 viewsYou want to chill the wort down to 60-70ish as quick as possible after boiling. I have an immersion chiller which circulates cold water from the tap through these lines, into a copper coil inserted in the pot. Beats the hell out of tubs of ice!! Once it's down to 65ish, I siphon over to the brew bucket, add yeast, and fermentation begins!
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