Brewery Equipment

I figured I would start off by providing a quick tour of my basic brewing equipment. These pictures were all taken before the start of my last brew day (6/7/07).


I use a basic three tier all grain setup. The three tiers include a sparge water tank, the mash tun, and the brew pot. The sparge water tank and the mash tun are converted 5 gallon rubbermaid water coolers. I replaced the plastic push valves on each with stainless steel ball valves. The mash tun also has a stainless steel false bottom, so it can also function as my lauter tun. The coolers are connected by thick heat-resistant tubing.


My brewpot is a 7.5 gallon stainless steel turkey-fryer pot. Basically, I bought an manufacturer-returned turkey fryer from ebay. The equipment had never been used, but it was returned because it was missing some accessories. This allowed me to get a nice 7.5 gallon stainless steel pot and accompanying propane burner and stand for less than a new 5 gallon brew pot would have cost me. I have been very happy with the set up and it allows my wife to help for the first time in my brewing career (the smell of cooking hops in the kitchen gives her a head-ache, but out on the front porch, the smell does not bother her. It is exciting, really, to have her excited about brew days!).

The sparge arm setup is something I bought at a homebrew shop. It is a neat little gizmo that consists of a copper "T" suspended from a PVC tripod. The water comes down the the main section and out the arms of the "T." Because the drilled holes in the arms of the "T" radiate in opposite directions, the arm spins around like a sprinkler. Really quite an neat invention.


I use a non-contract copper cooler, along with a water bath, to quickly cool the wort. Cooling it quickly helps ensure that cold break proteins form and fall out of the wort, in addition to shortening the amount of time required before pitching your yeast. This is a crucial stage, as before the yeast gets going, there is a strong potential to get an infection in your beer.

My typical brew day takes about 5 hours and consists of the following steps:

1. Heat the mash water outside in the brew kettle (typically around 3 gallons)
2. Mash the grain with the mash water in the mash tun
3. Heat the sparge water and put it in the sparge water tank (typically around 5 gallons)
4. Vaurloff the first 8 to 12 cups of drainage from the mash tun (you basically drain a couple of cups full of mash water into a measuring cup, then pour it back over the top of the grains. This allows you to clarify the grain bed.)
5. Sparge with the sparge arm, while draining the water through the grains (this yields a total of about 7 gallons of wort)
6. Boil the wort, adding hops and other additives as called for by the recipe
7. Chill the wort quickly using a water bath and a non-contact copper cooler
8. Pour the wort through a strainer into a large bucket
9. Stir heavily to introduce oxygen for the yeast and rack into a 6.5 glass carboy
10. Pitch the yeast and hide in a closet