I was following your build and liked the use of kegs early on, which you mentioned doing to save money. But then you transitioned and now have, in my opinion, an over the top custom electronic control panel, which could not have been cheap. So it's confusing how the mindset went from cheap to overly expensive. I'm modifying my current system and will be using half barrel kegs that come with tri-clamp fittings and then going to assemble a PID controller.
This is super cool, always wanted to do something like this. Im currious, if you dont mind how much is the build going to cost you from start to finish? (Minus the kegs that didn't work).
If the brewing system is designed for single temperature infusion it produces moonshiners beer. It is chemically end enzymatically impossible to produce ale and lager with single temperature infusion due to the way enzymes function and chemical precipitation, which makes strike and target temperature useless for producing the beer. The only things that can be controlled in the brewing method are the amounts of simple sugar, glucose and sweet tasting, nonfermenting types of sugar that form when Alpha liquefies simple starch, amylose. The only problem is that it takes more than glucose and sweet sugar to produce ale and lager. You mentioned 149F. A recipe that recommends single temperature infusion, high modified, malt and rest temperatures at 149, 150F clones authentic, moonshiners beer. At 149, 150F Alpha releases the highest volume of glucose from starch within one hour. The more glucose the more alcohol and that is why moonshiners use the temperatures. At temperatures above 150F Alpha denatures quicker and beer turns out sweeter and lower in ABV. At 149F Beta denatures. Beta is responsible for conversion, which occurs at 140F. During conversion Beta converts simple sugar, glucose into fermentable, complex types of sugar, maltose and maltotriose. Maltose and maltotriose are the sugars that produce ale and lager, glucose only makes the alcohol in beer. Here is why moonshiners denature Beta, when conversion occurs, secondary fermentation takes place due to maltose and they don't need that to happen because it extends the brewing cycle and increases the risk of getting caught. Maltotriose is responsible for natural carbonation and they don't need that to occur. Since moonshiners only need the step that makes glucose they skip conversion because there is no sense in spending time on a step that converts the highly fermentable, glucose that is already present in the extract into complex sugar and have to wait for secondary fermentation to occur when an enzyme in yeast converts complex sugar back into simple sugar, glucose. When conversion is skipped the beer is moonshiners beer made from glucose and depending on how high the rest temperature is above 150F, more or less, sweet tasting, nonfermenting types of sugar. To offset the drying and thinning that occurs in beer that is made from low temperature mashing, dextrinization and gelatinization steps are used, which forms body and mouthfeel in ale and lager. Moonshiners aren't concerned with body and mouthfeel and they skip the steps. But they sell the rich, complex starch, called amylopectin, that contains the ingredients that forms body and mouthfeel, limit dextrin and pectin, for making maltodextrin. Amylopectin is heat resistant, starch that makes up the tips of malt and the temperatures that home brew recipes recommend aren't high enough to rupture the starch where it enters into the mash liquid before Alpha denatures and that is why the starch is thrown away. In home brewing the starch is thrown out with the spent mash, paid for. In its place recipes recommend ingredients that loads extract with Beta Glucan, protein sludge and haze forming compounds, which reduces the shelf life of beer. The Hochkurz brewing method takes advantage of amylopectin because mash is boiled a few times and the starch rapidly bursts during boiling. When the boiling decoction is added back into the main mash Alpha liquefies amylopectin and dextrinization and gelatinization occur. To produce pseudo, ale and lager the brewing system would need to be capable of step mashing and reaching each temperature step within 10 minutes without recirculating hot extract for long periods of time, which extracts tannin. Tannin extraction is a time, temperature, pH thing and that is why vorlauf is kept within 10 minutes using a small volume of extract. In the step mash method and in the decoction method high quality, under modified, low protein, malt is used because the malt is richer in enzyme content and contains more starch/sugar than high modified, high protein, malt. Malthouses produce two types of malt, malt that makes whiskey and malt that makes ale, and both types of malt are in bags stamped Brewers Malt. For moonshiners that use high modified, malt and ale brewers that use under modified, malt, know which malt is which in a bag, malthouses provide a malt spec sheet with every bag of malt, they are online. Malt spec sheets are used for determining the quality of malt before malt is purchased. On the back of a box of kids Frosty Flakes is a square box that lists what is inside of what is inside of the box, something similar comes with malt. Unless you are familiar with a malt spec sheet and the chemical acronyms and numbers listed on a malt spec sheet you have absolutely no idea if the malt that you buy is capable of producing ale and lager without the addition of enzymes. A recipe that doesn't mention the malthouse that produced the base malt is worthless because a malt spec sheet cannot be obtained. Don't assume that a home brew store carries under modified, malt a good shop carries the malt listed on recipes, which is high modified, malt. To use more expensive, under modified, malt with the single infusion method is a waste of money and good malt because less expensive, high modified, malt makes the same beer, glucose is glucose. Home brew stores save home brewers money by selling them malt that goes with the brewing method. Place a hop back on the inlet side of the plate chiller and install the pump on the outlet side of the chiller. The hop back will filter the wort before reaching the plate chiller, reducing fouling, and the pump will last longer because the wort is chilled down before reaching the pump.
Hope we see some brewday footage soon, cheers from the netherlands
Cheers! Sorry I am just getting back to you hopefully some coming soon!
Man. I'd be a happy brewer with those keggles. I always thought they were beautiful.
I was following your build and liked the use of kegs early on, which you mentioned doing to save money. But then you transitioned and now have, in my opinion, an over the top custom electronic control panel, which could not have been cheap. So it's confusing how the mindset went from cheap to overly expensive. I'm modifying my current system and will be using half barrel kegs that come with tri-clamp fittings and then going to assemble a PID controller.
I am cutlrrently in the search of keggles here in Phoenix, AZ
I just called a bunch of distributers till I found one that would sell empty shells. Good luck!
This is super cool, always wanted to do something like this. Im currious, if you dont mind how much is the build going to cost you from start to finish? (Minus the kegs that didn't work).
If the brewing system is designed for single temperature infusion it produces moonshiners beer. It is chemically end enzymatically impossible to produce ale and lager with single temperature infusion due to the way enzymes function and chemical precipitation, which makes strike and target temperature useless for producing the beer. The only things that can be controlled in the brewing method are the amounts of simple sugar, glucose and sweet tasting, nonfermenting types of sugar that form when Alpha liquefies simple starch, amylose. The only problem is that it takes more than glucose and sweet sugar to produce ale and lager.
You mentioned 149F. A recipe that recommends single temperature infusion, high modified, malt and rest temperatures at 149, 150F clones authentic, moonshiners beer. At 149, 150F Alpha releases the highest volume of glucose from starch within one hour. The more glucose the more alcohol and that is why moonshiners use the temperatures. At temperatures above 150F Alpha denatures quicker and beer turns out sweeter and lower in ABV. At 149F Beta denatures. Beta is responsible for conversion, which occurs at 140F. During conversion Beta converts simple sugar, glucose into fermentable, complex types of sugar, maltose and maltotriose. Maltose and maltotriose are the sugars that produce ale and lager, glucose only makes the alcohol in beer. Here is why moonshiners denature Beta, when conversion occurs, secondary fermentation takes place due to maltose and they don't need that to happen because it extends the brewing cycle and increases the risk of getting caught. Maltotriose is responsible for natural carbonation and they don't need that to occur. Since moonshiners only need the step that makes glucose they skip conversion because there is no sense in spending time on a step that converts the highly fermentable, glucose that is already present in the extract into complex sugar and have to wait for secondary fermentation to occur when an enzyme in yeast converts complex sugar back into simple sugar, glucose. When conversion is skipped the beer is moonshiners beer made from glucose and depending on how high the rest temperature is above 150F, more or less, sweet tasting, nonfermenting types of sugar.
To offset the drying and thinning that occurs in beer that is made from low temperature mashing, dextrinization and gelatinization steps are used, which forms body and mouthfeel in ale and lager. Moonshiners aren't concerned with body and mouthfeel and they skip the steps. But they sell the rich, complex starch, called amylopectin, that contains the ingredients that forms body and mouthfeel, limit dextrin and pectin, for making maltodextrin. Amylopectin is heat resistant, starch that makes up the tips of malt and the temperatures that home brew recipes recommend aren't high enough to rupture the starch where it enters into the mash liquid before Alpha denatures and that is why the starch is thrown away. In home brewing the starch is thrown out with the spent mash, paid for. In its place recipes recommend ingredients that loads extract with Beta Glucan, protein sludge and haze forming compounds, which reduces the shelf life of beer. The Hochkurz brewing method takes advantage of amylopectin because mash is boiled a few times and the starch rapidly bursts during boiling. When the boiling decoction is added back into the main mash Alpha liquefies amylopectin and dextrinization and gelatinization occur.
To produce pseudo, ale and lager the brewing system would need to be capable of step mashing and reaching each temperature step within 10 minutes without recirculating hot extract for long periods of time, which extracts tannin. Tannin extraction is a time, temperature, pH thing and that is why vorlauf is kept within 10 minutes using a small volume of extract.
In the step mash method and in the decoction method high quality, under modified, low protein, malt is used because the malt is richer in enzyme content and contains more starch/sugar than high modified, high protein, malt. Malthouses produce two types of malt, malt that makes whiskey and malt that makes ale, and both types of malt are in bags stamped Brewers Malt. For moonshiners that use high modified, malt and ale brewers that use under modified, malt, know which malt is which in a bag, malthouses provide a malt spec sheet with every bag of malt, they are online. Malt spec sheets are used for determining the quality of malt before malt is purchased. On the back of a box of kids Frosty Flakes is a square box that lists what is inside of what is inside of the box, something similar comes with malt. Unless you are familiar with a malt spec sheet and the chemical acronyms and numbers listed on a malt spec sheet you have absolutely no idea if the malt that you buy is capable of producing ale and lager without the addition of enzymes. A recipe that doesn't mention the malthouse that produced the base malt is worthless because a malt spec sheet cannot be obtained. Don't assume that a home brew store carries under modified, malt a good shop carries the malt listed on recipes, which is high modified, malt. To use more expensive, under modified, malt with the single infusion method is a waste of money and good malt because less expensive, high modified, malt makes the same beer, glucose is glucose. Home brew stores save home brewers money by selling them malt that goes with the brewing method.
Place a hop back on the inlet side of the plate chiller and install the pump on the outlet side of the chiller. The hop back will filter the wort before reaching the plate chiller, reducing fouling, and the pump will last longer because the wort is chilled down before reaching the pump.
you're becoming very annoying. I've seen this in multiple videos. just stop