Making of beer!

It is done.

Beer has been made.

The tax form has been... well, contemplated

Yesterday was the maiden voyage for The Perch Brewery!  Grains went in water, then the water came out sugary, and then hops went in, it got cooled down, and yeast went in.  It's now bubbling.

That's pretty much making beer, right?

Before brewing, 5 AM

First water filling the HLT

These are the breakers for the brewhouse

"I'm a safety girl!"

Pretty picture

Always with the hoses.  On. Off. Move. UGH!

This dosen't suck

Recirc thru the RIMS tube

HOT SCOTCHY!

That, my friends, is a boil

The brew is "Calibration Ale".  It's really just an attempt at seeing how the system work, what we are missing and how to fix it.

Imagine it like this: You are delivered a bunch of parts.  Some are partially assembled, and some are just there.  You KNOW this is supposed to be a car.  So- now put it together.  I mean, you HAVE driven a car before, right?  Well then you should have no problem.  ENJOY!

The glycol system had a slight problem which was fixed early in the day, so that was good.  The o2 system leaked like a sieve and we went through 20 cubic feet of pure oxygen in no time (need a new regulator) the heat exchanger went much slower than expected.  If the boil is going to vigorously, simply pop a breaker in the circuit panel and reduce the heat by 25%.  That's how it's SUPPOSED to work, right?

Learning moments were about every 3 minutes throughout the 16 hour day, so- it was a complete success!