Brew Season continues

I brewed a Pale Ale today with my neighbor Paul Teeples. We made 13.5 gallons. I am pitching my yeast from two of the previous batches. The East Coast Ale yeast is going into 2 of the 6 gallon fermentors. I have about 1 gallon going to the Kolsch. This is jsut a small beer that I will continue to reuse the the yeast from.

The new equipment worked well and is going to be a time saver. I have to put the pump below the water so it primes. My brew day was shortened substantially. By at least 1 hour.

I changed everything to 1/2" and added the march pump. I have a blichmann sparge set up that will regulate the flow into the mash tun, but I have to get a 2" hole driller to make this happen. Paul did not have one. Maybe Dermot.

The Pale Ale is 1.043 with British Pale grain and mixed with American. Cascade. Low hop schedule because I thought I had more but I was left short. Next step is to make purchases at the beer store for the current batch. That way I will not be short.
Thanks Paul for the help

Fall 2010 brew season begins

I just brewed on Sept 21 starters of Kolsch yeast that was saved in fridge since 7/31. It smelled a little...sourish, but that might be the style. I only have a gallon and a half anyway. The other 3 gallons are White Labs East Coast Ale. Billed as similar to Chico west coast Ale but less citrusy. The Kolsch fermented within a few days, and the East coast as of today is still swirling. It is high 70s in temp and the Kolsch is clearing with a few bubbles. My next batch will be ten gallons. If the Kolsch yeast tastes fine I will use that yeast for on 5 gallon fermenter and the east coast with the other 5 gallon. I am going to try to save the yeast until it generates a Pale Ale 1.045 aprox, an IPA of 1.070ish and a Porter and a Stout and finally an imperial Stout. I ordered a new chiller, a counterflow chiller and moved all my fixtures to 1/2" from 3/8". It should take away transfer time. Also have a pump on the way and an auto liquid flow regulation sparge arm from Blichmann.

I want to redo my shed so I can have a chest freezer to house my fermenters and kegs. drill the top out to have a tap system too.
Wish me luck