Whoops! Wheat Brew

My wife loves wheat beers.  When I say she loves them, I don't think that really does her love for wheat beer justice.  She really loves wheat beer.

At least a couple times a year, I brew a wheat beer for her.  In August, I wanted to get a wheat beer fermenting for her, since we were running dangerously low on homebrew.  I decided to do an extract for the simplicity and because I was doing it during the week, it's much quicker and easier to cook and clean up.

Mad Quest for Bottling - Part Deux - Success! (Sorta)

I am happy to report that I've had some success with bottling from the keg.  It's not as easy as the video I posted before makes it seem, but it did work.

I think the key to bottling from the keg is high carbonation in the beer before you scale it back.  I found that with the higher carbonation, the release of CO2 as you fill the bottle is not as substantial and doesn't leave the beer as flat.

The Mad Quest for Bottling

Since switching over to kegging most of my homebrew, I have not had the same opportunity to bottle beer.  This is not a particularly missed endeavor.  Bottling homebrew is messy, time consuming, and ultimately anti-climatic because the beer has to be conditioned in the bottles for about 10 days before its ready to drink.  I found it important to have homebrew already bottled, in order to have some to drink while bottling.  When I started kegging I set aside the bottling stuff without hesitation.

But now that I've been kegging for a while, I've run into an unexpected challenge.  When I want to share my homebrew, I have to clean the house first.  Why?  Because I can't take it with me, which means cleaning the house for company.

Niche Brewing with Fun Ingredients

I recently had the pleasure of attending a beer tasting fundraiser that a friend of mine, Tanya, held for the Mid-Michigan MS150 coming in July.  She's an amazing person who does an astounding job of fundraising (to which you can donate here).  Actually, while she does do great fundraising, what's really astounding is her ability to inspire others to raise funds as part of her team, thereby multiplying her impact. (This is Tanya and her dad who rides with her.)

I've tried fundraising many times before and its no easy task, but what's even more difficult is being charismatic and energizing enough to get other people to follow your vision and not just donate, but commit the time, energy, and passion to raise money as well!  That's the piece that I always struggled with, and that's something Tanya excels at.

ESB on tap!

My pal Pete and I started brewing together last fall, and we have several batches under our belts now. Being that we're both fans of hoppy beers (IPAs, ESBs), we've been focusing on those.

In March, we took on an ESB that has turned out terrific (we also did a pilsner at the same time that is ok, but not outstanding). Actually, we brewed a double batch of the ESB (one for Pete, one for me) and we decided that one of these we would dry hop with extra hops (more on that in a moment). We have been doing extract brewing, simply because its easier and faster and I'm kind of lazy.

Solving my Kegerator Problems (Hopefully)

I picked up a kegerator off of craiglist for $100 a few months back.  It had some cosmetic problems, but it got cold and seemed to be in good shape mechanically.  It included a gas cylinder and a beer faucet.  However, it's starting to fall under the "you get what you pay for" category.  The unit is a Beverage Air Model QM20, and since most Beverage Air kegerators run about $400 or more (lots more), I was feeling pretty smug about it.

I got it home and decided to pull off the plastic top because it was cracked in several places.  This wasn't too much of a problem and I replaced it with a plywood top that I painted then covered with plastic coating. 

I then replaced the beer line and the gas line (previous owner had apparently never cleaned them... ewww), and picked up new connections for the smaller "corny" or soda kegs that I'm using for homebrew.  This came to about $40 in parts.

So, with the top replaced, new parts installed, and beer in the fermentor, I moved it into place in the basement.  However, while doing this, I broke one of the welds that held one of it's casters in place.  D'oh.  Oh well, easy fix with a block of wood in the back corner.

I plugged it in and put a glass of water in the fridge with a thermometer in it.  Most beer needs to be 36 to 38F when served, so I wanted to make sure that it was getting that cold.

At about this time, I started to research how to turn this into a two-tap unit.  Unfortunately, I found that it is an old 2.5" tower (the metal tube that has the handle on it), and there is not room inside that tower to add another faucet.  This little change will require a new 3" tower (about $65) and of course, the new faucet, beer lines, and CO2 gas lines ($20 for the faucet, probably about $5-10 for beer lines, $30 for multi-port gas distributors).  This is starting to sound expensive.

Time to check on that glass in the fridge... the good news is as tested before buying it, it is getting cold.  However, I quickly learned that the thermostat was not working on the unit and it froze the glass of water completely solid within 2 hours.  I remove the block of ice, chip out the thermostat.  Get out another one, and turn the thermostat to the off position and learn that it will still freeze the water in the "off" position.

Now I've moved the Hefeweizen into a keg awaiting the kegerator... so, I decide let's just tap the thing, and unplug the fridge to make sure it doesn't freeze.  Of course, almost immediately after drinking beer one night I forget to unplug the kegerator.  This freezes the beer lines and pops the faucet open.  I don't notice this when I unplug it and about a half hour later, I've got beer pouring out all over the floor!!  NOOOO! 

The other problem with this solution is that tapped beer is very temperature sensitive.  Higher temps require less CO2 gas pressure, lower temps require more - basically this means huge head on the beer as the keg warms up.  Additionally, once the beer drops to about 34F (or lower) the CO2 gas gets trapped in the beer and will provide very little head and leaves a flat taste to it.  So, obviously, I have to get the temperature issues resolved.

I contacted Beverage Air and found out that they do not think they have ever built model QM20.  I provided all the details I could, but they just recommended I contact a certified service company to look at the unit.  So, I then went to parts suppliers and found they also claim Beverage Air never made a model QM20 and they can't send me a thermostat for it.  Someone suggested that I take out the thermostat and see if its got any part numbers on it, but of course it doesn't.

The solution that I've come to is to buy an external temperature controller and let it control the temperature.  These are about $65, so while my kegerator remains a good deal, its not looking like the bargain I originally thought.

Total price so far: $205 and some change.  Still have another $125-$130 or so more to add the second tap.  Though I have had (some) fun trying to figure all this stuff out.

Bicycle trailers

My brother just clued me in to a fun link for a variety of bicycle trailers:
http://www.sfbike.org/?racks

I'm especially a fan of the idea of a "camper" bike trailer (like the Midget Bicycle Camper pictured to the left here).  Not that I want to drag one behind me, I just think they are a fun idea.  I'd like you to drag one and I'll sleep in it.  How about that?

I've always had this sort of crazy dream to build a mini-brewery or a coffee roaster on a bicycle trailer and then bicycle it around town makin' beer or coffee. Though, actually, as I think about it, I'm not really sure where I would bike it... other than to my pal's houses, and frankly, it's a lot less work to have them come to me.

I like the link to an instructable for building your own paniers.  I've seen this instructable before (perhaps it's one of the more popular ones?), and I might try and take this on at some point.  Mostly just because I'm drawn to projects like this, and if it can be done for cheap, then all the better!

I already have a BOB trailer, so I can't say that I have any need for another trailer, though "need" has never really gotten in the way of my desire for new bike gear in the past.  I've been watching craigslist and curbs on trash day for a cheap kiddie trailer that I can turn into an inexpensive cargo trailer (the start to the brewery?!?), but have not found one yet that fits into this project budget (that budget is about $10 for those that are curious). 

Anyway, truth be told, I'd rather just get one of these.

Keeping your market small

I brewed another batch of beer on Sunday. This time I decided to do a stout for the winter. I love the process of brewing beer, but the experience of buying the supplies was yet again very, very annoying.

First off, I do not care for the homebrew stores that are closest to me. I do not care for them at all. They are dirty, have terrible customer service, and are difficult to navigate. So, my expectations going into the experience were low. Very low, actually, because I called ahead to find out that they did not have everything I needed. The only store that had everything was over an hour drive away. I decided not to make the drive and set out for the store closest to me prepared for disappointment.

I my expectations were actually exceeded. Here's what I don't get:

• I don't get why they can't just simply sweep the floor. Buying grains means there are grains on the floor. Simply sweeping a few times a day would do wonders. Perhaps this is too much to ask, but I don't think so, since the guy behind the counter was watching videos online at the counter until I interrupted him with a question.
• I don't get why staff can't be (even mildly) helpful. I have been brewing for about 10 years, but I'm still learning. I asked what I thought was a simple question about brewing with fruit (which I've only done once with no success) and got a response so convoluted and filled with brewer's jargon that I was in worse shape than before I asked. When I asked for further clarification, I got a big sigh and referred to a book.
  
• I don't get why product can't get replaced in a timely fashion. The grains sit in big tubs in this particular shop. When the grains are gone, in theory, these get replaced from the sacks of grains in stacks on the floor behind the tubs. Of the 5 types of grains I needed, I found 2 were out. When I asked for these grains, I was told that they'd restock them "soon". Their "soon" must have a different reference point than my "soon" since there was no activity in that particular direction. I found the bag for one, opened it and took what I needed, but couldn't find the other.
  

On top of all that, I went home without everything I needed, because I already knew they were out of one of the hop varieties I needed, and as mentioned I couldn't find all the grain I needed.

And that was all just from one visit.

Ok, so I recognize that this particular shop is probably particularly bad. But having been to 5 different shops around the Detroit area, I can tell you that this is the norm, not the exception. Most people will say something like "Oh, its because homebrewers are such a small market" or "its just not viable as a standalone business in this market."

Sure that may be, but with "service" like this, is there really any question why?