Another KISS-centric Brewing Gadget

So there you are, trying to light your burner on a windy morning. You've got your trusty fireplace lighter, the kind with a trigger and a long handle for the flame. You press the button. Click!

Nothing.

Again, Click... Nothing.

Click Click Click.. aha! Flame!

Then, the wind gusts, and your trusty lighter goes out. Foul language commences.

You try again Click. Click. Click. Clickclickclick WHOOMP!

After you brush the singed ash that used to be your eyebrows off your face, you wonder if there isn't a better way to light your burner. There is.

Did you ever notice that welders and metalworkers never use a match or lighter to light an oxy torch? They figured out the better solution years ago -- the lowly torch striker. Flint, steel, and a handy holder that makes showers of sparks wherever you want them. I switched over to a torch striker for lighting my burner a while ago, and it works perfectly. Fast, Cheap, Effective -- The KISS-centric brewer's mantra is satisfied.

So, stop by your local Home Depot / Lowe's / Welding supplier, and pick up a torch striker and some spare flints. For the cost of that crummy fireplace lighter that goes out in the wind, you get a never-fail way to light your burner. Afterward, stop by the drugstore.

I hear Rogaine works on eyebrows, too.

KISS'ing ten gallons

Yesterday, I finally got together with a neighbor who's been wanting to learn to brew beer, and we made a ten-gallon batch of beer. It was my first time brewing ten gallons, and I thought I'd share a few things I learned.

The recipe was a big-ish IPA, with 17 lb of 2-row, 5 lb of dark Munich malt, and 3 lb of Crystal 40, with 2 lb of raw sugar to help dry it out. Target OG was 1.070.

I converted a 60 Quart Igloo cooler for mashing the night before, so I was breaking in a new mashtun as well as brewing a large batch. I used a nipple through the bulkhead, fudged it a bit to fit the existing gasket, and built a collection manifold out of PVC CPVC with lots of little holes in the bottom.

IT was a cold morning yesterday, with the outside temperature about 20 degrees when we got underway. The cold meant we had to be aware of a few extra things. First, hoses freeze in cold weather, so hoses have to be unhooked and drained after each use. Second, spills and over-run freezes on cold concrete, so you have to take care not to make an ice slick in your workspace.

At any rate, the kettle and burner, shown here, worked perfectly in the cold. You can also see the end of the new mash tun, and a grain sack with the entire grainbill in it.


Everything went great, and we collected about 13 gallons of preboil runnings, which made for a very full boil kettle.

In the cold, with the boil going as vigorously as possible, we boiled down to about 11.5 gallons. Hop absorption ate up nearly another half gallon, with nearly seven ounces of leaf hops.


Chilling took longer than I wanted, since I was using a 25 foot immersion chiller. We managed to get under 170F in just a few minutes, but it took nearly 45 minutes to get down to pitching temperature. I forsee a new gadget (counterflow chiller) in the KISS rig, if I continue to brew ten gallon batches.

Overall the day went smoothly, and we may have a new brewer in our midst, if my neighbor stays hooked. I was really pleased with the CPVC manifold on the cooler -- I recirculated lass than a half-gallon of runnings before the wort cleared, and it was crystal clear, as in "read the newspaper through the tubing" clear. Beautiful color on the beer, too. Incidentally, the OG into the fermenters was 1.072, for a brewhouse efficiency of about 78 percent, which is very acceptable for a batch sparger like myself.

So, all three of you readers. Fear not the ten gallon brewday. It's not twice as much work as a five gallon brew, but you get twice the beer.

Summing up the holidays...

Well, that's it. The holidays are officially over. Instead of giving a huge listing of what I've been up to, I'll attempt to sum up:

Work: Conference Papers, Company Christmas Party, year-end reports and accounting.

Travel: Travel to Company party, five-day adventure including unplanned drive from Seattle to
Boise, thanks to a winter storm that Alaska Airlines and Seatac weren't prepared for.

Family and Friends: Christmas at home, Boxing day with my family, day after with in-laws, day after with friends, interspersed with a day or two of work and New Year's Eve at home with some friends.

Is it any wonder I haven't updated my blog?

For 2009, I have resolved to knit less. That's a resolution I think I can keep.

So, how about the brewing front? I have plans afoot.

I'm finishing up conversion of a second half-barrel keg for use as a hot liquor tank, and a larger cooler so I can make the occasional ten gallon batch of beer. I'll christen it on Sunday (probably) with ten gallons of "leftover hops" IPA to split with my neighbor, who wants to learn to brew. Given that he works for a major Colorado brewery, I think getting more into craft beer is an admirable pursuit.

The IPA will have a mix of hops, including Columbus, Sterling, Willamette, and Sorachi Ace. We'll ferment half with S-05 yeast for its neutral profile, and half with WLP-862 (Cry Havoc) at low ale temperatures for a hybrid beer. It's my first run at Cry Havoc, so I'm excited to see how it turns out. Here's a shot of the starter, whirling away on the stir plate.