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CHAPTER 1

The Home Brewery

EVERY HOMEBREWER HAS DIFFERENT PRIORITIES, constraints, and philosophies. These differences are reflected in the wide range of approaches used in selecting and making homebrewing equipment. Some brewers feel that cost is no object if performance can be boosted even slightly, no matter that the improvement may exist only in the brewer's mind. Others get pleasure in finding ways to do things themselves even if it takes hours or days of effort to save a few dollars. Different folks have different priorities, but in the end all brewers have the same number one priority — making great beer.

Brewing equipment, therefore, has just one purpose: to do its job well, with the goal of producing great beer. For example, mash tuns hold the mash at constant temperatures for prescribed periods of time; filters remove particles of a certain size; and so on. There are often many ways to accomplish any given step, and the way one brewer does something may not be the way another does it. Even experienced brewers disagree about the "best" way to brew. Getting hung up on minor points wastes time and money that could be better spent brewing and drinking, but discussing preferred brewing techniques is fun and a great excuse to get together to drink beer.

In this chapter we introduce a few basic ideas about brewing equipment: what kinds of equipment you need to equip a home brewery, what kinds of equipment are generally used in a small commercial brewery, and how to keep your brewing equipment clean and in good condition.

Equipment for the Home Brewery

The equipment needed to start brewing at home is fairly minimal. You probably already have a large stock pot and a mixing spoon — that takes care of your brew kettle. You'll also need a fermenter, some tubing to move the beer from one place to another, and a way to package the beer, which usually means getting a bottle capper. The investment in equipment is small. Many homebrew supply shops sell basic equipment sets for less than $50. That's what it costs to play the game.

A homebrewing set usually includes:

* One 6 ½ gallon plastic bucket with lid drilled and fitted with a grommet or stopper for an airlock

* Plastic airlock

* Hydrometer

* Bottle brush

* Siphon tube

* Racking cane

* Sanitizer

* Introductory book

* Bottle capper

Equipment sets do vary. Some may also include a bottle filler, a tube clamp, bottle caps, or upgrades to certain basic equipment. If the set doesn't include a thermometer, you may want to buy one. You won't find a kettle, spoon, or bottles in these basic equipment sets, but other than that, they'll have the items you need to brew your first batch.

For a brewer using recipes based on malt extract, the basic homebrewing set will work fine for quite a while. Eventually you may want to upgrade some of these items, as through your own experience and contact with other homebrewers you become aware of other brewing techniques. Some typical upgrades may include:

* Replacing the plastic buckets with a glass carboy, or even a stainless-steel vessel

* Replacing the bottle capper with a bench capper

* Obtaining funnels and strainers

* Replacing the airlock with other models

* Upgrading the bottle filler

* Buying more books

* Using larger bottles, or maybe even investing in kegging equipment

Eventually, you may decide that all-grain recipes aren't too hard (they really aren't), and then you'll need a few more gadgets:

* Some sort of mashing and sparging setup (can be built for as little as $15)

* A larger pot (unless you've already got one that can boil at least 7 gallons)

* A wort chiller (can be built for about $20)

That's really all you need to start mashing — although most homebrewers find that better equipment is easier to use, easier to keep clean, or produces better beer. Once you've really got the homebrew bug, you'll probably want some other equipment. Some items that really can make a difference in the pleasure you get from the hobby include:

* Roller malt mill

* Kegging equipment

* Refrigerator for fermenting and storing beer

Buying homebrewing equipment is a lot like buying cars. The ultimate goal might be to get you from your home to your office. Both a $1,000 clunker and a $250,000 Lamborghini will accomplish that — the choice is yours. It's the same thing, with homebrewing equipment. Although you can enter the all-grain brewing game for as little as $50 over your initial equipment investment, there are also some very well built, well designed stainless-steel systems that can easily run you $5,000. And just like the car market, there are products everywhere in between the two extremes. Each does things in different ways, each has its merits and drawbacks, and each has a price tag (either in terms of money or your time). We'll try to guide you around the showrooms, and we'll try to let you know when you can get a better deal elsewhere. Ultimately it's your choice, your money, and your brewery, so weigh the benefits and drawbacks carefully, and use the setup that best suits your needs and your brewing style.

Lessons from the Pros: Equipment in a Small Commercial Brewery

The processes used in a commercial brewery are similar to those that homebrewers follow. The difference is in scale: Whereas a pot on a stove works fine for a homebrewer, a commercial brewer may have a 900 gallon brew kettle with a gas-fired burner. Let's take a moment to tour a small microbrewery — Brimstone Brewing of Baltimore, Maryland — and look at some of the equipment used there.

The brewing process begins with the malt mill. Brimstone's two-roller mill, typical to those found in many small craft breweries, is similar to the roller mills used by homebrewers except that the hopper is bigger, the rollers are bigger, and there's a chute to carry the milled grain from the mill to the mash tun.

The mash tun, a stainless-steel vessel with a perforated stainless-steel false bottom, is used to mix the grist with hot water and allow the malt enzymes to convert the grain starch to sugar. Some mash tuns have steam-fired heating systems that enable brewers to adjust mash temperatures. The single-step infusion mashing system used in the Brimstone brewery, however, relies on hot water infused from a hot liquor tank to achieve the proper mash temperature (temperatures are shown on a digital control panel). Even though this mash tun is heavily insulated, the sheer mass of the mash likely would retain heat long enough to achieve saccharification (the conversion of starches to sugars) even if there were no insulation.

At the end of the saccharification period, the mash is sparged with hot water and the sweet liquid is pumped to the brew kettle, which is a 15-barrel stainless-steel vessel with a gas-fired burner. This is similar to setting a modified keg on a propane cooker, but it's more than 30 times larger in scale. (In the brew kettle, the sweet liquid extracted from the grains is boiled and hops are added. At this point we start calling the liquid "wort.")

At the end of the boil, the wort is chilled using a heat exchanger. Homebrewers can accomplish this (achieving a quick drop of temperature in a flow of hot wort) with a counterflow chiller. The heat exchanger used at Brimstone relies on cool water as the heat-absorbing medium and has a fitting for an air stone that allows fresh oxygen to be pumped into the wort as it passes through the heat exchanger. After the wort leaves the exchanger, it is pumped into one of several 30-barrel stainless-steel fermenters.

Depending on the type of beer being produced, the people at Brimstone either use a high-gravity brewing method (in which beer is first brewed to a high gravity and then diluted to a normal gravity to fill the fermenter) or brew twice to fill one fermenter. The fermenters have jackets through which refrigerated glycol (an antifreeze and coolant) is pumped to keep the fermenter cool.

With the Brimstone fermenter setup, the yeast settles to the bottom of the vessel and can be removed from the fermenting beer. This is the idea behind brewing equipment such as the Brewcap inverted carboy fermenter available from BrewCo. It is important to note that the glycol jacket makes it possible to maintain consistent temperature for the fermenting beer. This is critical to achieving consistent product quality. It also illustrates the importance of controlling the temperature range of a fermenting beer — possibly by using a device such as the FermTemp controller from Brewers Resource, which controls not only the lower range of the temperature but the upper range as well.

After fermentation and before going to the keg, the beer runs through a diatomaceous earth (DE) filter for clarity and is pumped to a bright beer tank for conditioning. The bright beer tank holds finished beer that's ready to be carbonated and packaged. As a homebrewer, you can achieve similar clarity and stability with a cartridge or plate-type filter.

One of the things that we can learn from Brimstone Brewing is the importance of moving beer from one vessel to another. The illustration below shows the connections used in professional brewing equipment. The equipment is fitted with triclamp flanges, and the hoses are connected using triclamp connectors and gaskets. This makes it possible to connect any piece of equipment to a hose and move beer easily from vessel to vessel. Other equipment has quick-disconnect fittings to enable hoses or other equipment to be easily attached, making the brewing process flexible and ultimately easier. The lesson here for homebrewers is to consider the flow of material throughout the brewing process and to try to use standard-size fittings for vessel outlets and standard-size hoses throughout your brewery. Doing so will make your equipment easier to use. Consistent use of simple-to-use connections is a good example of how planning ahead can pay benefits in the long run.

Tewey also suggests that homebrewers think about doing a little plumbing. For example, an extra faucet at the right height or point in the brewing process is not beyond the skills of many homebrewers, and it can make brewing considerably easier.

Sanitation is stressed in every homebrewing textbook, and a visit to Brimstone further emphasizes its importance. Hoses and equipment are stored full of iodophor, a sanitizing agent. A large bucket of iodophor solution is available for small parts and fittings; after use, the parts are returned to the sanitizing bucket.

In a small brewery, yeast is reused several times and yeast cultures are maintained and grown as needed. Tewey stresses that maintaining yeasts and growing cultures is easy, ensures proper pitching rates, and is less expensive in the long run than constantly buying yeasts for each batch. In Chapter 12 we discuss the equipment and processes used for cultivating yeast.

Sanitation

Keeping equipment clean and in good repair is an essential part of homebrewing. In fact, most brewers (both professional and amateur) probably spend more time cleaning than brewing. Sanitation is the single most important factor in determining whether your beer turns out great or is completely undrinkable.

You may hear brewers say they are going to "sterilize" their equipment. They're really not sterilizing, which means killing absolutely every microorganism. Actually they're "sanitizing" theirequipment, which means that they're sharply reducing the possibility of microorganisms existing on the surfaces of their brewing equipment.

Sanitation is most often accomplished by using solutions of various chemical sanitizing agents. The agents most commonly used by homebrewers include: chlorine bleach, oxidizers (e.g., B-Brite), iodophor, and trisodium phosphate (TSP). Equipment can also be sanitized by using heat: either by boiling in water or by baking in an oven, which is essentially what an autoclave does. Of course you need to be aware of the temperature range that your equipment can withstand.

Homebrewers often use chlorine as a sanitizer, but it is very corrosive to metals and should never be left in contact with stainless-steel equipment for any period of time. If your stainless-steel equipment does come in contact with chlorine, rinse it well with clean water immediately.

One of the best sanitizers available to homebrewers who use stainless-steel equipment is iodophor, a solution of 1.75 percent iodine and 18.75 percent phosphoric acid. Iodophor does not corrode stainless-steel equipment and is often left in unused equipment to keep it sanitary. Further, iodophor does not require extensive rinsing. After soaking equipment in an iodophor solution, simply air dry the equipment and it is ready for use — although rinsing is still often done to avoid possible off flavors.

Some homebrewers are concerned about introducing water-borne bacteria to sanitized equipment by rinsing with water, so they air dry after soaking in iodophor. Our view is that air drying alone means that the equipment is sitting out for long periods of time and runs a small risk of airborne contaminants adhering to it. So either way, some risk is involved; but it's minimal and not worth the worry. Iodophor is available in small bottles from homebrew supply shops for a couple of dollars. It is sometimes available in 1-gallon jugs from restaurant supply businesses. It is also available in rural areas at feed stores, where it is sold as "Tank Cleaner" in 1-gallon jugs at prices that are not much more than homebrewers pay for a few ounces. Avoid the types sold as "udder wash" or "teet clean," as they often contain lanolin.

Trisodium phosphate (TSP) is an industrial cleaner that is sometimes available from paint suppliers, but your local hardware store is likely to have it as well. Painters use TSP to remove wallpaper and clean equipment. If you use TSP as a sanitizer, be sure to rinse the equipment with clean water after contact with the TSP solution.

Alcohol can also be used to sanitize equipment. Some brewers keep a small sprayer of a diluted alcohol solution handy to spray down small areas. Brewers who culture yeast often use alcohol or heat to sterilize equipment and surfaces. Use ethanol, either vodka or grain alcohol. For culturing equipment, we use full strength grain alcohol. For general sanitation we use 20 percent alcohol, which is vodka diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio, or grain alcohol in water at a 1:5 ratio.

Vinegar is acetic acid; using white vinegar right out of the bottle will effectively clean copper utensils such as chilling coils. Phosphoric acid can also be used. This is often available from farm supply stores as dairy acid rinse.

Although all your equipment should be clean, it is vitally important that you sanitize well those items that are used after the boil. Mashing vessels, boiling vessels, spoons, paddles, and similar items should be clean, but meticulous sanitation of these items is significantly less critical than sanitation of fermenters, chillers, airlocks, hydrometers, or anything that touches chilled wort.

CHAPTER 2

Building a Home Brewery

IN THIS CHAPTER WE DESCRIBE SOME OF THE FACTORS and considerations that go into setting up a dedicated brewery area in your home, be it a corner of the basement, a shed, or the back of a garage. If you're brewing with basic equipment in a kitchen and are happy with that setup, then by all means skip this chapter; but if you're thinking about setting aside a good, workable area to use for a long time, this chapter will suggest ways to make your home brewery work better for you.

Materials for Fabricating Equipment

Most homebrewing equipment is made of metal, plastic, or glass. In this section we briefly review the pros and cons of each material and highlight certain factors to keep in mind when working with or selecting these materials. Generally, avoid using materials that are not recognized as safe for use with food or drinking water if those materials will be in contact with your beer.

Plastic

Plastics are used in a wide range of brewing equipment, from the plastic buckets that many of us used for fermenting our first batch, to hoses for siphons or keg lines, to highly durable plastics such as the newly available Lexan fermenters. Plastic is a useful material for many home brewery applications. It's light, inexpensive, flexible, and also resists breaking, but it needs to be used with a little common sense.

There are a number of factors to consider when choosing equipment made of plastic, the most important of which is whether the plastic is safe for use with food products. Some plastics leach chemicals, known as plasticizers, to any liquid that is stored or passed through them. This is especially true of PVC, which does come in food-grade varieties. So when you're buying plastic hoses, buckets, pipes, or containers, make sure they are intended for food preparation. Ask if the plastic is "FDA approved" or "NSF approved." If it's not, you may want to avoid using it to store anything you're planning to drink.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Brew Ware"
by .
Copyright © 1996 Karl Lutzen and Mark Stevens.
Excerpted by permission of Storey Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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