Brewing

From London Hackspace Wiki

Revision as of 13:00, 29 March 2014 by Russ (talk | contribs) (→‎Water)

Brewing.jpg

London Hackspace has an active homebrewing subgroup. We have a shared full-mash gas-fired brewing setup which is capable of a brew length of about 80 litres, as well as a CO2 keg dispense system. Anyone can participate, even if you've had no experience before, there's always cleaning to be done. :)

LHS barrel2.svg

Since our brewing equipment is gas-fired and the space isn't well suited to the steam produced, we brew outside on the loading dock. This is more pleasant in the summer than in the winter.

Brewing as a "project" is being driven by Det, helped by Ross, overseen by Russ with equipment borrowed from B3cft.

Get in touch

A public Google sub-group exists for planning brewdays, discussing recipes and the like. Other topics that affect the Space as a whole should be done on the main mailing list.

IRC: #london-hack-space-brewing on Freenode

Planned Brew days

Date Time Organiser(s) Beer
9/03/14 11am Ross Ross' Best Bitter v2

Equipment

B3cft has kindly loaned the space his setup The kit is to be considered Hackspace infrastructure and is not to be hacked, but can be used with respect. As always, please clean up after yourselves, and return the equipment to where you found it. (Mention the permanent location of the kit here)


Full list of brewing equipment at the Hackspace:

Item Quantity Owner Notes
100L Kettle 1x Hackspace pledged incl. hop filter & ball valve
Gas burner 1x B3cft
High pressure gas regulator 1x B3cft Replaced the perished hose, but could do with a longer one.
13kg Propane tank 2x B3cft & Hackspace (hired)
80L Stainless mash tun 1x B3cft
Converted keg kettle 1x B3cft
29L Brupak Electric Boiler 1x Det Good for HLT. Element needs regular cleaning to prevent gunking up the thermostat
25L fermenting vessels 4x Det & Ross All complete with bungs & airlocks
19L Cornies 8x B3cft Some require servicing. (perished o-rings, dodgy quick release valves, etc.)
Cornie taps & connectors 3x pairs (?) B3cft Gas & Liquid pair (Gray = gas, Black = liquid)
Copper immersion chiller 1x B3cft
Hose and fittings 25m Hackspace (Bathroom tap adapter and hose connector)
Refractometer 1x B3cft
Brew belt 1x Ross
Thermometer & Hydrometer 1x Ross
brewbot 1x Det 2x temp probes & thermowells for the FVs


Brewing equipment available but not at the Hackspace:

Item Qty if >1 Owner Notes
Mash tun (25L) 2 Ross & Det

Beers


Consumables

See this sub-page for a current stock list.

Gas bottle refills can be obtained from: http://www.londongases.co.uk/lgcalor.php They'll deliver and take away the empty for £32.50.

We currently have a 13kg propane tank and an 11kg, both with a standard 27mm screw-in regulator. Please make sure there is always one full. If one runs out and you start the new one, send an email to the LHS Brewing group to let us know, and perhaps start a pledge for a refill.

Gas status:

  • 11kg - Empty
  • 13kg - 5 brews used.

Water

Water analysis by Murphy's Homebrew from a sample taken on 22/03/2014, and from the Thames Water Quality Report 2012:

pH CaCO3 Calcium(Ca) Magnesium(Mg) Sulphate(SO4) Nitrate(NO3) Sodium(Na) Chloride(Cl) Fluoride(F)
7.14 211mg/l 89mg/l 5mg/l 48.27mg/l 25.2mg/l 39.9mg/l 43.5mg/l 0.18mg/l


Liquor Treatment Calculator

Projects

In Progress

Project Description Owner Status
Realtime Beer Stats Hack the Wii Balance Board to weigh the cornies in the kegerator Det One of the 4 sensors is a bit derpy, meaning depending on where the keg is placed on the platform, a different reading is produced. Haven't thought of a work around as yet.

Up For Grabs

Project Description Owner Status
Sparge Arm Build a better fly sparge arm. Doesn't have to be a rotating one Up for grabs Worth doing? We do already have a little fly sparge arm that can be hacked.
Hose Install an outdoor hose tap. eg. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XxJJKof2OQ & http://goo.gl/co3tWc Up for grabs Requires buying the kit and a volunteer.
Spent Grain Find something to do with the spent grain Up for grabs
Chiller Build a cooling chamber or something Up for grabs http://forum.brewpi.com/discussion/116/diy-fermentation-chamber-from-used-fridge

Completed

Project Description Owner Status
BrewPi Temperature controller/grapher/etc. Det brewbot complete. Still yet to hook up the solid state relays to anything.

Pledges

From time to time we need to buy new things, be it consumables like propane, or new kit like a new boil kettle.

Current Pledges

Completed Pledges

Miscellaneous stuff to buy:

  • 3/8" pp beer line (clear)
  • Corny disconnect push-type (John Guest) for 3/8"

Some suggested logos for the group