The Joy Of Not Needing A Fridge

[glassgrenade]

I was going to add this to the 300L of apa thread, however it went kinda back on topic so i thought i'd start this thread.

This is a description of my system and whats' going on in the glass grenade brewery...

I converted my double batch 3V rig to BIAB a while back now. I read about biab when i found this website and saw that bloke doing 4 batches in a pot biab style. I started biab for three reasons, to see if it worked (i like tinkering), to clean up less stuff and therefore shorten my brewday. Biab is excellent. In fact so excellent i now do three double biab batches side by side. My brew day hasn't gotten shorter, but i get 3 times as much beer. I've been getting 138L per brew day.

Last brewday i upped it even further and knocked out a triple from each pot, giving me 207L. It was probably a little less than that as the last cube wasn't quite full. The reason i've upped the ante is because in winter i can ferment ales without temp control. Temps in the garage are a stable 16-18C, needless to say the beer came out fine. I've decided to take advantage of this cool weather and have added another 2 fermenters to my arsenal, bringing me to 4. One of them is a 120L olive drum though so its really 7 fermenters. I've got them all bubbling away in the garage, bottling day is normally a dreaded day for me, its going to be even worse tomorrow.

I have a bit of a cycle where i drink the same amount of beers as i bottle every two weeks or so. ONce i have enough bottles empty i bottle the fermenters. Means my two babies get lots of time to clear up. Currently have 162L of beer bubbling away in the garage so i've had to get some more bottles. I've got all my mates to save their bottles. Today i have washed 300 stubbies and 60 longies for bottling the current batch.

I figure i got another month of these cooler temps so i'm going to make the most of it, should be able to push out at least another 320 litres. So all up i will have made nearly 500L of beer.

The long term plan is to have 4x 44 gallon drums sitting in the garage (up high!) and have 20 x 50L(legal) kegs. In winter time i can ferment without the temp control so i can knock out a years worth of beer without using a cent of electricity. Then i will filter and bulk prime and store at ambient. In summer temps can get up to 22C in the garage, hopeflly this isn't too high. A worry i have is that the kegs will go off through autolysis. In which case i'll have to rethink. Maybe filter through .2um and force carb? Lots to think about. Won't have to think about it for awhile though, as in a few weeks i'm going to have 6 months worth of beer.

So thats whats happening in the glass grenade brewery. Washing bottles and dreaming about the blessed temperatures of winter.

 

[WarmBeer]

So thats whats happening in the glass grenade brewery. Kegs.

Fixed that for you.

 

[bevdawg]

Wow that's an epic amount of beer! My problem is I get bored drinking one style or even version of a style, so having just that around for 6-12 months would make me yawn. Also half the fun for me is the actual brew day! I've started to do 11ltr batches so I can brew more!

Wouldn't getting a kegging system be heaps easier than cleaning all those bloody bottles? You could have kegged that 207 litres in under an hour I rekon...

 

[Jace89]

Do you sell this or just consume it all by yourself? Either I'm impressed well done man!

 

[Goofinder]

In summer temps can get up to 22C in the garage, hopeflly this isn't too high.

Only up to 22C in Summer? Why are you doing all your brewing in the winter? Brew it fresh if you are lucky enough to have temperatures that stable.

 

[mje1980]

I was going to add this to the 300L of apa thread, however it went kinda back on topic so i thought i'd start this thread.

This is a description of my system and whats' going on in the glass grenade brewery...

I converted my double batch 3V rig to BIAB a while back now. I read about biab when i found this website and saw that bloke doing 4 batches in a pot biab style. I started biab for three reasons, to see if it worked (i like tinkering), to clean up less stuff and therefore shorten my brewday. Biab is excellent. In fact so excellent i now do three double biab batches side by side. My brew day hasn't gotten shorter, but i get 3 times as much beer. I've been getting 138L per brew day.

Last brewday i upped it even further and knocked out a triple from each pot, giving me 207L. It was probably a little less than that as the last cube wasn't quite full. The reason i've upped the ante is because in winter i can ferment ales without temp control. Temps in the garage are a stable 16-18C, needless to say the beer came out fine. I've decided to take advantage of this cool weather and have added another 2 fermenters to my arsenal, bringing me to 4. One of them is a 120L olive drum though so its really 7 fermenters. I've got them all bubbling away in the garage, bottling day is normally a dreaded day for me, its going to be even worse tomorrow.

I have a bit of a cycle where i drink the same amount of beers as i bottle every two weeks or so. ONce i have enough bottles empty i bottle the fermenters. Means my two babies get lots of time to clear up. Currently have 162L of beer bubbling away in the garage so i've had to get some more bottles. I've got all my mates to save their bottles. Today i have washed 300 stubbies and 60 longies for bottling the current batch.

I figure i got another month of these cooler temps so i'm going to make the most of it, should be able to push out at least another 320 litres. So all up i will have made nearly 500L of beer.

The long term plan is to have 4x 44 gallon drums sitting in the garage (up high!) and have 20 x 50L(legal) kegs. In winter time i can ferment without the temp control so i can knock out a years worth of beer without using a cent of electricity. Then i will filter and bulk prime and store at ambient. In summer temps can get up to 22C in the garage, hopeflly this isn't too high. A worry i have is that the kegs will go off through autolysis. In which case i'll have to rethink. Maybe filter through .2um and force carb? Lots to think about. Won't have to think about it for awhile though, as in a few weeks i'm going to have 6 months worth of beer.

So thats whats happening in the glass grenade brewery. Washing bottles and dreaming about the blessed temperatures of winter.

I take my hat off to you for bottling that much beer without going nutso!. 22c really isnt too bad, and an old fridge ( not connected to power ) with ice blocks ( full pet bottles that are kept in another freezer ) would probably get you down to 20c, which is fine. It would be cool to see the 120 litre fermentor in action!!

 

[glassgrenade]

Wow that's an epic amount of beer! My problem is I get bored drinking one style or even version of a style, so having just that around for 6-12 months would make me yawn. Also half the fun for me is the actual brew day! I've started to do 11ltr batches so I can brew more!

Wouldn't getting a kegging system be heaps easier than cleaning all those bloody bottles? You could have kegged that 207 litres in under an hour I rekon...

Buying a kegging system would be good, but i want to take advantage of the cooler temps now. If my garage sits at 22C that means my brew will be at 24C, which is too hot. I do have a fermenter fridge, but it won't hold 7 fermenters worth of beer!

Also, there will be lots of variety in my brew. If i put 180L into each 44 gallon drum (8xcubes) i will need 6 44's to fill 21 50L kegs. I have about 6 recipes that i brew all the time so that suits me fine. If i get a hankering for something else its not as if i will be locking the brew rig up in a cage for 10months of the year. I'll proll still brew little batches here and there, as i really like brewing. But this means i can brew whenever i want and still have beer 'on tap' all year round. PLus in those 2 months that i will be brewing it means i get to brew like a maniac :kooi: Which i like.

And no i don't sell it Jace, with the amount of time it takes to make an all grain beer i'd be better off getting a job at maccas!