zymocenosilicaphobia... a curse or a blessing?

Those of you familiar with the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium (www.beerknurd.com) and their UFO Club will appreciate that I unveiled my second plate at the Kansas City location on Friday May 27^th. For those who have never been to a Flying Saucer the UFO Club is a genius idea to keep you coming back, as if the beer selection wasn’t enough. Upon completion of tasting 200 different beers you are awarded a plate, with a saying of your choice, to be displayed in the “Ring Of Honor” on their wall.

Brewing on the new stove

tri-clamp and ball valve

My first brew this year is what we have named Crazy 8 Ale, it is an American Amber ale. The name comes from the August 8^th date (8/8) the first ever batch was bottled. It is the first beer I brewed and is always the first brew of the year. This is partly because it is relatively inexpensive compared to other beers and it is now becoming a tradition. This will be the only beer I have made three times. The new stove definitely improved the whole brewing experience. The brewery set up and tear down is much easier.  I also introduced a single tri-clamp to the brewery as a test. I am using it to attach the ball valve to the kettle. This type of connector is not a necessity but is sweet. I will be adding more of these as the budget will allow. I would like to have tri-clamps for any and all kettle connections for sure. I also added a new thermometer to the brewery. It is made to screw into the 1/2” coupling in the brew kettle. Up until now I have been using a thermometer designed to clip to the side of a kettle. It worked fine, especially when I was brewing with a 2-1/2 gallon boil in a smaller kettle but it seemed to be in the way in the larger 15 gallon kettle. It was also a little difficult to monitor because of how it was placed in the kettle. The new thermometer may not help me brew better beer but it will make brewing a little better. The Crazy 8 Ale is brewed and in the fermenter. It was bottled and carbonated in time for drinking on National Home Brew Day 2011.

thermometer

new thermometer

This is a test, only a test…

Going back in time a few months… I had to fabricate brackets to assemble the burner shields to the frame and pick up some fasteners. I am using stainless steel fasteners for everything except the burner, for that I am using the fasteners that were supplied with the burner. With any major modification or new equipment I like to do a trial run. This is a test, only a test… I will do a 5 gallon boil with water.  I wheeled the stove outside onto the driveway. The driveway is sloped so I placed a level across the frame. I will need 3/4” blocks under the casters on the downhill side. That is lucky because a 1x2 is 3/4” thick and I have a few scraps lying around. The low pressure burner heated the water to boiling in 30 minutes. I was hoping for faster but that will work and is really not bad. Mostly I am happy that it worked. I ran some of the hot water through the chiller. The stove is  brew ready.

National Homebrew Day Revisited

Thanks to all of you who were here for Homebrew Day, especially those who helped with the brewing. Extra hands are always appreciated. We won’t know for several weeks how the brew turns out but I always eagerly anticipate that first taste.

We all enjoyed good food, good beer, and good company. Everyone brought different beers for all to enjoy. Of course my first beer was a homebrewed beer. Boulevard, New Belgium, and Ska were all well represented. There was even a 5L keg of Newcastle. I had never tried their beer delivered in that way and thought it was much better than their bottled beer. There was beer from Freestate, Guinness, and 21st Amendment Breweries available. Also, a few bombers were opened including Sierra Nevada Ovila (smooth), New Holland Envious (disappointing) and Stone Arrogant Bastard (always good) to be sampled by all. A bottle of New Glarus Belgian Red Cherry Ale seemed to be the fan favorite.

You can brew any day but National Homebrew Day is only one day a year. We made the most of it this year.

Attaching the burner

Burner shield 

I finally received my burner. In addition to the burner I had ordered some other items that were on backorder so it took a little longer than normal to ship. I can now finalize the mounting bracket design. I am going to use 18ga stainless steel sheet metal and drill the attachment holes while it is still in the flat. A series of holes will give the burner some vertical adjustment. I will also need a notch to fit around the venturi tube (stem). Once the holes are all drilled I will roll it into a circle ending up with a combination burner mount and windscreen. I spaced the 4 burner mounting holes at 90 degrees with the notch at 45 degrees. It turns out that the venturi tube on the burner was assembled few degrees off of 45 degrees. It appears that the drilling and assembly process at the factory may not be a real precise process. Anyway, what I did was to disassemble the burner and drill additional holes to give some adjustment in the assembly. I cut a new gasket and reassembled the burner with the new gasket and high temperature stove gasket sealant. Now I just had to install the burner and I would be ready for a trial burn.

Burner shield flat layout

A trio

Disassembled burner

National Homebrew Day reminder

Coming up in just a few days on May 7th is National Homebrew Day. I will be home in the morning cleaning and setting up the brewery. Brewing is expected to start at 2:00 pm. I look forward to talking to friends old and new about beer and brewing. Of course we will be sharing a few home brews as well. My first beer of the day on Saturday will be a toast to all those who love to brew and do what they love. Cheers!

Fabrication



Casters

I bought some stainless steel tube for the frame and (4) stainless steel plates for the caster attachment. I also picked up (4) 3” casters at Harbor Freight. I am using 1-1/4” square x 18ga wall tube. If money was no issue I probably would have gone with 1-1/2” or even 2” square tube to give more surface space for the kettles to sit. But I got a really good deal on the 1-1/4” tube and have no reservations about the strength. I have been drilling the holes on my wobbly old bench top drill press and deburring all the edges with a die grinder. I am drilling the holes for the burner attachments. Any time there are holes, even if filled with hardware, there is a chance of fluids getting in. That is why I have been adding drain holes in every tube. My friend Mike, who welded the fittings into my kettle, will weld the frame for me. I am fortunate to know not just a welder but a darn good welder. I ordered a 10” burner and low pressure propane orifice from Brewers Hardware. I have a design in mind for the burner mounts but will wait until I receive the burner to begin any fabrication.

Caster plates

On the welding table

Tube for the frame