Breaking in my New Fermenter

[JoKing]

Recently, I commisioned the fabrication of a new fermenter for my brewery. Several months, and several thousand dollars later - she arrived. She was in a bit of a state - and took me 3 solid days to clean out. Then I had to fabricate adapters etc so as to suit the existing hardware in my brewhouse... this took a lot of time, but I got it done within a few days.

 

So... after that, there was only one thing left to do - and that was to put a batch down to break her in.

 

But I didn't want to brew just some ordinary batch of beer. No. I really wanted to brew something special. What I wanted to brew was Mash Up.

 

I had been wanting to brew Mash Up as soon as we received the recipe. I am a massive supporter of what NZCraftBeerTV is about - and I believe in the cause 100%... so there couldn't have been a better beer to break my brand new shiny stainless fermenter in with. Below is a recolection of the brew day for all to see...

 

First thing's first - Gotta use the right malt...

Crush those suckers up ready to dough in...

Behold the osmotic hydration of crushed malted barley...

Somehow - by chance - by luck... The temperature equalises to what would be my favourite saccrification temperature

Time to recirulate this big old mash up... Yes Tyler - this is mt original recirc plate from my home brew days - it carries with it some good karma... and some clear wort.

 Using my Banks Brewing Hardware Stainless Steel Rotating Sparge Arm to rinse those dirty little grains...

 

This wort is broken... very broken...

AHWHADDUP HOPS?????

Deciding if I need to add more hops...

NEEDS MORE HOPS!!!!

What the hell is this? 14.2 Plato???

Transferring all that maltose, maltriose, dextrine and isohumulone into that shiny stainless fermenter...

AWHADDUP Ice formation on my glycol cooled dimple plated cooling jackets?????

Somehow, I don't think clarity is going to be a problem with this beer...

Your compulsory cheesy product shot...

And a week later - I have decided to follow the recipe and... ADD MORE HOPS!!!!

[Reviled]

Man, awesome set up bro!! look at how far you've come!

[Mike Neilson]

Martine Jo and I are pro brewers and as far as I know we are correct.

[martin w]

apologies mike,i did't realise you were also pro.

 

[MrC]

Nice blog JoKing.  That new fermenter looks impressive.  How many liters does it hold?  800?

I can't help but wonder how you fill that fermenter with the kettle in the background looking so much smaller.

 

[JoKing]

Nah... she's just a toy! It's 350L. A couple batches fit in there just nicely bro...

[MrC]

So you're effectively brewing a large scale version of what I currently do with two pots.  Nice :)

[JoKing]

Pretty much - it means I have to brew twice to fill her up... which is what I did for Mash Up. The photos are of brewday #1... You'll find most breweries in NZ have at least one fermenter that is double capacity. Others have all fermenters that are double capacity. It wasn't my plan to go down this track... but then I didn't expect such a high demand for the beer!

[MrC]

That's interesting.  How close do brew days need to be for that technique?

[JoKing]

They can be on the same day. In my case - I dont have enough time for that, so had to split it out over 2.

[martin w]

i've often wondered,do you pitch yeast based on the initial batch into the fermenter or the total you'll be fermenting?