Automated Controller

After going back and forth, I ended up deciding on an option I have not mentioned on the blog yet: the BCS-460. It arrived today and looks great. The functionality of the controller is very impressive. Should someday I ever end up brewing commercially on this system, it will be of great value when it comes to sequential batches. In the meantime, it will make my brewday all the easier while increasing overall control and repeatability. More information and pictures to arrive as I get it setup and configured.

Before I can use it, I need to make a few changes to the system. Mainly:

• add a burner to the mash tun (for heating strike water and yes, recirculating and maintaining temps during the mash)
  
• install gas line control valves to the boil kettle, mash tun, and hot liquor tank burners
• come up with some sort of pilot light system for the burners
  

I'll also need to round up some temp sensors and relays for the pumps and gas valves.

Anyway, onward and upward!

Old Ale Update

I racked off 38 gallons of the old ale this afternoon. Final gravity was 1.014, for 8% ABV. 14 gallons went into a Sanke keg to which I added three packs of Wyeast 3763-PC Roeselare Ale Blend. The Sanke keg is now my "sour tank". This won't be touched for at least a year. The other 24 gallons or so went into regular corny kegs and I have a couple different types of oak cubes to add to two of them.

Yeast Dump

Primary fermentation of the old ale is almost done. Tonight I dumped what yeast has settled out and this is the result of 12 dry-pitched (expired) packets of Safale S-04 into 45 gallons of 1.074 wort.I was just shy of four gallons of a thick, creamy, yeast slurry. Fermentation temp was 68* F.

This fermentation went crazy. I actually lost quite a bit due to the blow-off. Between the blow-off and the yeast dumps, it looks like I'll end up with around 35 gallons when all is said and done. 15 gallons will be soured with the Wyeast 3763-PC Roeselare Ale blend and set aside for a year or so. The rest will be kegged with some oak cubes added to a keg or two.

Old Ale Brewday

Well, over a year later, I fired up the system today and gave it a good run using the natural gas burners. I hosted a brewday for my homebrew club (http://www.brewcommune.com) and we brewed up a 1.5 BBL batch of an old ale. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the brewing session. For the most part they probably wouldn't be much different than what is already posted. Other than a problem with a pump during the sparge (and thankfully I had a spare around), everything went as expected. I think it's safe to say that 140 lbs of grain is the maximum amount I can cram into the mash tun.

Not sure what (or when) is up for brewing next. Hopefully it won't be another year.

Update

Sheesh. Where does time go? Tomorrow it will have been a year since I last brewed on this system. During that time I guess life stuff kind of got in the way as aside from a few 10-gallon batches, I haven't brewed much lately. Well, a year later, it is finally back in the garage and ready to brew again.

Here it is hooked to the natural gas line. In this picture, the burners are on. They are burning so clean that in the pictures you can't really see the blue flame.
Here is a close-up of the smaller burner:
The hot liquor tank has a larger burner on it, and there is some orange in the flame. I have a smaller burner I can down grade too if the larger one is overkill. I wanted to be sure I could keep the HLT full and up to temp for sequential batches though, so I went with the larger burner.

I haven't done anything on the automation side yet as I'm waiting to see how the development of the BrewTroller project comes along. When they get the new boards in, I'll probably order one up.

Anyway, I'm hoping to finally brew again in the next couple of days.

Control Panel

I have started to put the control panel together. It will basically be a "Brutus Ten" control panel, though at the moment I am going to leave a couple of the switches out that where on the original plans. Here is the first look:

Top left is the main power switch. The temp controller on the left is for the mash tun and the one on the right is for the hot liquor tank. The two switches on the bottom are for the pumps. I have a couple of status lights I want to wire in to indicate when the burners are lit.

At this point just the switches and temp controllers are mounted in the box. The internal wiring will be next, along with reconfiguring some of the natural gas lines and hooking up the ASCO valves.

Blonde Update

I kegged up 43 gallons of the Blonde ale last weekend (6/15). Now that I have an idea what my fermenting losses are, I can adjust my future batch sizes accordingly. Eventually I want to get 46.5 gallons out of the fermenter so I can get three full sized standard kegs per brew. For this batch I estimated I'd loose about 1.5 gallons of beer but in reality I ended up loosing 2.5 gallons with the various yeast dumps and another 1 gallon left behind in the fermenter. I didn't have any spare growlers around or else I would have tried to get that out. By then it was after 1:00 in the morning and I was done.

Final gravity was 1.008, which is a little lower than I was shooting for, but not unexpected after the long mash at a low temperature and essentially open fermentation. ABV was 6.07%.

I sampled some of it later in the week and I have high hopes for it! It should be really coming into its own by the time our July 4th block party rolls around.

The pumps are now mounted to the frame and I have made a few other minor adjustments. I have a few more things I'd like to do before getting another batch going. That batch will be an Old Ale and one that ages nicely so it will be nice to have a few extra kegs of it around.