In Antcipation Of Brewing

It's been a while. Holidays you see. But I'm back, back and eager to brew. Eager like never before.

My new equipment has been collecting dust while I've been away, so I dusted it down and thought I'd better get prepared for brew #1.

Work prevents me from diving straight in, but there's a few things to get sorted beforehand, anyhow.

Conveniently, the other half disappeared for a couple of days, so after work I had the opportunity to crack on. I filled the HLT with water, heated it a bit to check the element was working, played with valves and pumps to get the liquor circulating in the system, and checked the element in the copper was working also.

I worked out a crude form of calibration on the sight tube on the HLT, so I know the relevant volumes and did something similar in the copper so I know how much wort is being collected.

Those that don't brew probably wouldn't believe how much anticipation all this playing creates. Me, I couldn't believe how much water ended up on the floor.

But nothing was an issue and even the tatty old cd player that was destined for the dump managed to spark into life. The garage was somehow magical; there was no one to interrupt me, tunes from AC/DC, Van Halen and the like, filled my world as I twisted valves and drank beer. I even ate my curry in the garage that evening.

Like a churlish schoolboy hiding in his den with ill-gotten gains, it felt good. The sort of feeling you get when you know what you're doing is wrong, but you're actually loving every second.

New Brewery

It's arrived!

Trouble is, I can't use it just yet, as I'm waiting for the electrics to be sorted out. I guess I could have got that sorted while I was awaiting delivery but, to be honest, I wasn't sure if the unit was going to fit where I had planned for it to go. As it happens, there's just enough clearance from the garage door (you can just see it in the top of the photo), so it would have been fine.

It looks pretty good on that awful floor. I'm itching to get some water in there so I can start playing with the pump so I can get used to all the valves and stuff. At the moment I'm thinking the plastic bucket routine I'm familiar with is far simpler, but I guess it will be fine once I've got used to it.

I'm not expecting to make better beer, but it will save me taking over the kitchen for seven hours and also save my back from lots of lifting. I'm also hoping my efficiency will improve slightly as it was pretty poor using the grain bag and plastic bucket method.

As promised, in return for her consideration, I'm going to have to buy the wife a new bag. Now, do I do that before the electrics are done, or make her wait until I'm up and running?