What Gave Birth to this Website
When I got into homebrewing a few years ago, I started out with a Mr. Beer kit thinking it was amazing. It’s been nothing but getting better since. I did figure out that while brewing is fun and enjoyable, dreaming up ideas and putting together rigs to brew with has been as much fun.
So in the natural course of homebrewing, I moved from Mr. Beer to extract kits, to making my own extract recipes, to all-grain brewing. Getting into all-grain was an experience. To extract brew, all you need is a pot and a spoon to stir your wort with. All-grain is a world of new fanciful equipment, internet plans to build said equipment, and lots of time spent figuring out how you can take some of the tedious things out of brewing while improving consistency from batch to batch. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention, delicious concoctions of brewers delight.
That said, I am no expert. I have read Charlie Pappazian’s books, visited breweries, and still have much to learn about the chemistry and biology behind brewing. However, as far as equipment goes, I have jury rigged enough coolers and pots to have a decent handle on economical homebrew equipment. A few months ago, I decided that I wanted to build a brew stand, and get some automation to it. Partially to improve consistency between batches, and partially to make my brew day go a little easier.
I had ordered the Brutus 10 reprint from BYO magazine and read over it like a child looking at the Toys R Us catalog in November. I poured over the internet looking into different control setups and different ways to spend hard earned money on my man toys. Once I got an idea of what I wanted to do, I started putting pencil to paper and coming up with a plan for my stand and controller. What I found information wise was a smattering of bits and pieces of useful information on various forums, sites, and in speaking to folks at homebrew shops. There didn’t seem to be much of a repository of how to build out a full brewing setup other than the information in the Brutus reprint.
So, after much trial and error and redesigns, I decided to try to put what I have learned into one place, for all to have access to. Hopefully this will save some folks some headache, money, and time, and prove useful to those looking to move from gravity fed systems into single tier brewing. Although, for those that are just getting into the all-grain scene, I have included some info on building a gravity fed setup that hopefully you can use to get your feet wet prior to investing the time and money on a single tier setup.
So in the natural course of homebrewing, I moved from Mr. Beer to extract kits, to making my own extract recipes, to all-grain brewing. Getting into all-grain was an experience. To extract brew, all you need is a pot and a spoon to stir your wort with. All-grain is a world of new fanciful equipment, internet plans to build said equipment, and lots of time spent figuring out how you can take some of the tedious things out of brewing while improving consistency from batch to batch. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention, delicious concoctions of brewers delight.
That said, I am no expert. I have read Charlie Pappazian’s books, visited breweries, and still have much to learn about the chemistry and biology behind brewing. However, as far as equipment goes, I have jury rigged enough coolers and pots to have a decent handle on economical homebrew equipment. A few months ago, I decided that I wanted to build a brew stand, and get some automation to it. Partially to improve consistency between batches, and partially to make my brew day go a little easier.
I had ordered the Brutus 10 reprint from BYO magazine and read over it like a child looking at the Toys R Us catalog in November. I poured over the internet looking into different control setups and different ways to spend hard earned money on my man toys. Once I got an idea of what I wanted to do, I started putting pencil to paper and coming up with a plan for my stand and controller. What I found information wise was a smattering of bits and pieces of useful information on various forums, sites, and in speaking to folks at homebrew shops. There didn’t seem to be much of a repository of how to build out a full brewing setup other than the information in the Brutus reprint.
So, after much trial and error and redesigns, I decided to try to put what I have learned into one place, for all to have access to. Hopefully this will save some folks some headache, money, and time, and prove useful to those looking to move from gravity fed systems into single tier brewing. Although, for those that are just getting into the all-grain scene, I have included some info on building a gravity fed setup that hopefully you can use to get your feet wet prior to investing the time and money on a single tier setup.