This is my new lautering manifold. It’s not perfect, but it’ll do, I hope–its inaugural run will be on the 6 September Brew Day. The whole thing is of a piece, except for the connection to the drain fitting (the uppermost bit of copper, in the picture). So, it’ll just pull out for cleaning. I started with a hacksaw yesterday putting in the slots (on the underside, not visible in the picture), but got smart today & pulled out the jigsaw with a metal blade. The whole thing, when attached in my new mash tun (a 70-qt Ice Cube cooler), sits evenly along the bottom. I’m probably going to get a bit of fluid loss with the design (it has to angle up to get to the drain), but as long as my grasp of fluid dynamics is good, I figure it’ll be the same as or less than my fluid losses in the cylindrical cooler using the Bazooka screen.
My birthday haul…
Yes, today is my birthday. Woohoo! 37 grand years. Anyway, I thought I’d show off a bit of the ‘goodies’ I’ve picked up today…
This would be from my mother-in-law… A bench-top bottle-capper, two (!) siphon starters, an assortment of in-line valves, some hose clamps, a hose cutter, and a ‘sure-screen’. It’s all got its use, but some of it will admittedly be staying in the plastic for now…
I also swung an Igloo Ice Cube cooler (70 qt) to replace my 10-gallon Gott-style cooler for the mash tun, and made some new liquid pick-ups based on this month’s Brew Your Own! magazine. The latter were a necessity–the HLT didn’t have any sort of pick-up at all, so I was losing about a half gallon of hot water per pot; the mash-tun was marginally better, but its pick-up was in the center of the pot (which sucks when a whirlpool is your primary ‘filtration’). Moving the pick-up to the edge of the pot will help immensely, I think.
Then there was the sack of Golden Promise malt–but I was going to get that, anyway. 🙂
What’s On Tap, 24 August
OK, here’s what I have tapped, kegged, and in various stages of fermenting/aging:
On Tap:
Pils-style Lager
Northern English Brown Ale
Kegged:
Pils-style Lager
Irish Red Ale
To Be Kegged Today:
Kolsch
Sweet Stout
Belgian Dubbel
Dunkelweizen
Pumpkin Pie Spice Ale
Fermenting:
Lambic
Foxglove Chardonnay Pyment
Radish Mead
Cherry Wine
What’s coming up…
I’ve been asked to do a 1-2 hour class on all-grain brewing for the Atlantian Fall University in October. Shouldn’t be a problem, beyond deciding how basic to make it. Do I go as elementary as explaining that ‘beer is made (broadly) from malt, hops, water, and yeast,’ or take that as a known? I’ve got ideas; and whatever level I decide to take it, I can always ‘ad-lib’ it at other levels of detail.
I’m also looking at a Brewing Day on the 6th of September. I haven’t decided yet what to brew; I’m leaning towards a Scottish Ale, probably something in the 50/- range. I’m not certain if I’ll try for a second brew. I’m open to suggestions… I’ll have room in the lagering chest, so maybe a bock or a helles.