Punch Out!

Tyler/ May 18, 2016/ Brewing Hardware/ 0 comments

I’m still a slave to the books, but I occasionally decompress with a little eBay browsing. I’m accruing material for projects I’ve got planned for my glorious post Core Exam days, but I couldn’t resist giving one cool little tool a test drive. A common need in making brewing hardware is a hole in sheet metal for a valve or instrument.

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Dark Strong

Tyler/ April 20, 2016/ Brewday, Brewing Hardware/ 0 comments

A couple of friends and I have been planning a brew day, and we’ve been looking forward to it for months. It was tough to wait this long between brew sessions, but it was well worth it. In building the recipe, we decided to be ambitious and attempt a clone of pFriem’s Dark Strong Ale. As far as I’m concerned,

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Dial it in

Tyler/ January 16, 2016/ Brewday/ 2 comments

I attempted a clone of the Houblon Chouffe IPA Tripel last week. Here’s the recipe: Mash 26 lb 2 Row pale 2 lb Munich 1 lb Crystal 80 1 lb Belgian Biscuit 2 lb Sucrose Mash at 145 F for 20 minutes and 155 Friday for 40 minutes 11 gallon boil volume, 10 gallon final volume Hops 1 oz Columbus,

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Better with Family

Tyler/ December 28, 2015/ Brewday/ 1 comments

Here we go! Today is Belgian-style Stout day, and I got to do it in the company of family. Alex and Connie were kind enough to help out. The RIMS was up and running in no time. Strike water heated from 60 degF to 156 degF in about 40 minutes. Today’s Recipe 60 min mash @ 156 degF 18 lb

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The Slow Burn

Tyler/ December 25, 2015/ Brewing Hardware, Electronics/ 0 comments

Merry Christmas, everyone! I just put My Lan to bed and am waiting for the family to get back from the airport, so I thought I’d provide an update. My study schedule has curtailed my tinkering but hasn’t extinguished it entirely. I’ve been slowly making little changes and cobbling together a RIMS (Recirculation Infusion Mash System). The past four weeks

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Sweet Failure

Tyler/ October 18, 2015/ Beer/ 0 comments

Even though I mainly brew beer to try to salvage what’s left of my engineering mind, I also just like beer. I worked hard for the last batch I brewed, but I wasn’t too hopeful it would turn out well. It’s nice when things turn out better than planned.  My first (technically) partial mash came out quite tasty. The fresh wort

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Crash Landing

Tyler/ September 28, 2015/ Brewday/ 1 comments

I’ve been neglectful. Only a few of my friends are into brewing, and fewer still are into coding and electronics, but this is all that’s been discussed in this blog. Most of the people who know me are more appreciative of the ludicrous messes I get myself into. I apologize for the oversight. This one’s for you. September 16 was going

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Work with your hands

Tyler/ September 14, 2015/ Electronics/ 0 comments

When cooling wort with my countercurrent exchanger, it’s important to know the temperature as it comes out. The goal is to bring the wort to the optimal temperature for pitching yeast as quickly as possible. Many commercially available chillers have a thermometer at the wort outlet for this reason. I improvised during my last brew session because I didn’t have time

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Brewery 2.0, Brew #1

Tyler/ August 31, 2015/ Brewday/ 0 comments

Today is my first day brewing with the latest iteration of my brewery. That includes a Chugger pump, my countercurrent heat exchanger for wort chilling, and my conical fermenter with upgraded cabinet controller software. Thank goodness the friends I invited had other plans. The day started stressful when I snapped a polypropylene female camlock fitting while tightening an adjacent threaded

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Heat Exchange Snobbery

Tyler/ August 25, 2015/ Brewing Hardware, Engineering/ 3 comments

The recipe for beer is pretty simple. One important step is boiling the wort, the sweet mixture that yeast will ferment into beer. Boiling sanitizes the beer so that yeast can work its magic, but not before the wort is cooled back down or the yeast meets the same quick, steamy end as its potential competitors. There are many ways to

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