Homebrew Beer Blog

I've been working on a new automated HLT w/ a new HERMS. It's actually been quite the project. Wednesday I did the first actual brew session. It worked very well. No pics cause it don't look pretty yet, but basically what I did was took a Love TS controller and that measured the wort temp, I then wired a Love TCS controller in serial to the TS, and used a thermocouple on that. The thermocouple is connected to my pilot and detects there's a flame. The TCS is then connected to the ASCO. So, when the wort temp drops below the set point, the TS fires the TCS. If the TCS is above its set point, it then fires the ASCO, which delivers gas to the main burner.

For gas, I just have the regulator going to a T pipe, w/ a hose going to the pilot, then the other end connected to the ASCO and then a valve for manual shut off. For the pilot, I got a propane needle valve and just put a burner orifice fitting on the end of a propane hose. The needle valve gives me very fine control of the pilot. I need to get a new gas connector so I can leave the burner higher. Right now, the reg safety shuts down if the gas is too open when the ASCO fires. Other than that, it's working pretty much as designed.

In the HLT, I put in 9 gallons of water and I picked up a convoluted 25-foot 5/8 OD copper IC from MoreBeer. I then have a stir motor in the HLT to keep everything moving. There's no problem at all maintaining temps, the mash was rock solid at my set point. I did a mashout at the end to test it for stepping and I got the mash up 15 degrees in about 10 minutes. I was being careful not to overshoot, so I took it easy on the gas. Once I get a little practice, I'll feel comfortable putting the spurs to it and probably get close to cutting that by 1/4-1/3. I've got a wheat beer coming up and I plan to try a protein and either one or two saccharification rests.

Everything in the recirculation is now 1/2 ID, and it really moves wort. I don't think I'll have any problems with grain clogs in the system. Oh, and by the way I run the HREMS is my pump recirculates continuously throughout the mash, and I control it by monitoring temps as it reenters the MLT. If that temp falls, it fires the HLT to maintain that temp. I then can cross check with the dial thermo in the MLT. That seems to keep it real simple and I'm confident knowing I'm getting good readings.

Here's my old HERMS setup...

Here are the parts for from Love Controls:

TS-13010
TCS-4010
122095-01

ASCO Solenoid from ebay: 8210G002

I brewed this up Wednesday evening. I won't bother posting many recipes cause I'm pretty much a recipe whore. Most my recipes come from somewhere else with maybe minor tweaks. This IPA though was one I've been working on. I brew an IPA and a scaled down APA version of this beer every few months.

It features Summit hops, which is a high-alpha dwarf. It really packs a citrus punch and will push most any other hops aside. I think the Amarillo might get lost in here, but I've got a bunch on hand. The Centennial hold their own and this is the first time trying Columbus. Usually I do Simcoe or Cascade. With Summit I get tangerine and if you use enough, grapefruit. I think when it's young, it makes for an onion/garlic-goodness that I really dig, but it seems to fade quickly. Scott at Harpers turned me on to this one in his Wheat IPA.

Anyway, I made this to be an easy drinker with a low FG w/ the sugar. This time around I added some crystal 120 for the heck of it, looking to add some complexity. It's got lots of late-addition hops to it. The slurry got this up and running by morning and when I checked in on it this evening, the fermentation freezer smelled very, very nice.

6.5 gallons / 1.068 OG / 90+ IBUs / 80%

11.0 # Marris Otter
1.0 # Table sugar
0.5 # German Munich
0.5 # German Vienna
0.5 # C40
0.5 # C120
0.5 # Victory

FWH - 1 oz Summit
10 Minutes - 0.5 each Summit/Centennial/Columbus/Amarillo
5 Minutes - 0.5 each Summit/Centennial/Columbus/Amarillo
0 Minutes - 1.0 each Summit/Centennial/Columbus/Amarillo

1 oz Centennial and Amarillo in the primary as fermentation wraps up.

200 ml of WLP001 slurry

153 mash, 67 degree ferment

Wonder why that dry stout is a little too ruby, or not quite roasty enough for the quantity? I did. Check out these roasted barley offerings from two different malters. The lighter roasted in Briess, the darker is Simpsons. It can be worth shopping around for the best ingredients.

YUM

Two Boston Butts, 15.5 LBS. Made these up for a picnic for the homebrew club. I put it on at about 8 PM at night and pulled it off the smoker around 1 AM. Then I wrapped it in foil and put it in the oven at 200 for the rest of the night. Around 9 AM, it was at 190. I took it out and let it rest for a hour and pulled it.

Then I just put it in the fridge for the day, and an hour before we planned to eat I put a bunch in the slow cooker to heat up. Got a couple gallon-sized FoodSaver bags of left over in the freezer for Oktoberfest or the wedding rehearsal.

This way was really convenient because it's always annoying when the smoke goes over time and guests are waiting. Plus, to have to ready by 6 PM, I'd have to get up at like 3 AM. In theory, once the meat get to about 140 or so, it shouldn't take on much more smoke. I wasn't really on the ball during the smoke and forgot to add as much wood as I normally... would, but it wasn't quite as smoky as before. It was still very good, but I wouldn't say there was no difference with tossing it in the oven. Next time I'll just keep stuffing it with wood to compensate.