January meeting TONIGHT (1/5/10) @ 7pm and info on the next CoC

This is a reminder that we’ll have our January meeting at the
Happy Gnome at 7pm, Tuesday the 5th.  As the Upper Mississippi Mashout
registration is now open, we’ll do a short tutorial on how to enter.
 We’ll also use this as a chance to give/get advice on any beers you
are unsure about or need to decide which category or subcategory to
enter.  
If you’re not familiar with BJCP style guidelines yet, you might want to look through before the meeting:http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.phpInfo on the next CoC from TechTalk:
“The Club Only competition coming up for February is English Brown Ale
and is hosted by The Impaling Alers.  We’re calling it “The Session
Challenge”.  Entry information is located at the AHA site and in the
current issue of Zymurgy.  Entries are due at Larry’s Brewing Supply on
or before Tuesday February 16th, 2010.  (Larry’s is closed on Sundays
and Mondays)  Judging will be held on Saturday February 20th, 2010.
 Rattle those kettles!”

Randy Clay’s Brewing System

This is my 7.5G stainless brewpot in action. Good size for 5 gallon batches. It came as part of a turkey fry kit, along with the burner stand on the left. The small kettle is a 4G that I use for steeping.The 2-burner cart was built by a friend who does a lot of cooking/catering. It turned out to be perfect for brewing.He built it to fit 10G pots for frying. When I helped him cater once and told him how much I would like to brew with it he gave it to me! I keep him supplied with beer. I will certainly call on him if I ever get around to designing/building a big rig. The wheels are a convenient add-on.This is a close up view of the cart.I’ve used a homemade immersion chiller for years. I think it cost about $15 to build. I recently added the hose attachments. I had used 3′ sections of tubing clamped to the chiller with barbed hose attachments at the other end, but I got tired of clamps that would need to be retightened/ redone every few uses. These attachments were about $6 at Menards.I got a new washing machine recently. As soon as I saw the new hoses that came with it I knew I had the perfect upgrade from the old tubing/clamps I used to have! Using this sink I can get the wort to pitching temp in about 15 minutes. Another use for chiller water- thawing a turkey….

Kevin Cotter’s Brewing System

Here is my personal humble brewing setup. No fancy sculpture – just 2 Megapots and a Polarware mash-tun with a false bottom.

I do not have any pumps as of yet, so I have cobbled together anything I can find to achieve the correct heights to perform gravity fed witchcraft. Here I have a metal frame with a two-by-fours and header board stacked to get the proper height over the mash for sparging.
I have one working propane burner, so I have to move pots of hot liquid several times during the brew day to get the job done. “I’m just waiting for the day when I can scald myself silly.”

I do have some tools to make the jobs easier, like Phil’s Sparge Arm that works fine for smaller 5 gallon brewing jobs. KalenBorg left his chiller at my house, so I’ve been using it for about 3 years now. I live in the far south metro in Credit River Township, and as such, we hicks rely on well water. Mine is about 42 degrees out of the tap, which is great for rapid wort chilling. I have a temperature correcting light refractometer to take gravity readings. Last year I acquired a Thermolyne 7200 Stir Plate and I have a small PC fan taped to the side to keep the temperature down.
Kevin is in the process of building a Brutus 10 Clone – see progress here!