Welcome to the beginning of Aqueduct Brewing A Journey to Nano Brewing.

Hello and welcome to one families journey to open a Nano Brewery and Tasting room. My goal is to enlighten those who are thinking of taking the very giant leap into the massive vat of craft brewing for profit.  There are many pitfalls and road blocks as I have learned to this point and I am sure many more will come along the way. My greatest hope is to help guide you on your journey so the pitfalls are easier to navigate and the obstacles become more like bumps than sink holes.

So if you have questions feel free to offer them up.

If you have anything to add please share. Our goal is to make it easier for those that come after us to get to their goal without missing the steps we did or going down the wrong path.

My name is Robert please feel free to communicate.

CHEERS!!

Lets talk about Lautering and Sparging

Todays conversation on Aqueduct Brewing is going to cover "LAUTERING" & "SPARGING" your grains. When my ex-partner and I started brewing in the converted kegs we used a hose to start lautering the wort and sparge water. That was short lived as we got our first and only stuck grain bed. What is a stuck grain bed you ask? When you start lautering expecting great flow and instead of flowing the wort stops due to a very tightly packed grain bed. You must stir and try again.

What we ended up doing was taking a short pipe drilled small holes for aeration and curved it to match the curve of the pot.

https://www.facebook.com/AqueductBrewing/photos/pb.164252793713971.-2207520000.1394232634./216443285161588/?type=3&theater


This was our first effort to run the pipe. Then we bent it a little more and we got it right.

https://www.facebook.com/AqueductBrewing/photos/pb.164252793713971.-2207520000.1394232634./216441128495137/?type=3&theater

The best advice I can give on the flow is go very slow. We used a pump and managed the flow with the ball valve at the out, closing and opening the valve will slow or quicken the flow. One thing to remember is you need to keep the water above the grain bed. That way you keep pulling through all the grain and not get channeling.

We also used a sight glass to watch the wort pass into the boil tank. This is not a must but is cool to watch.
https://www.facebook.com/AqueductBrewing/photos/a.216440988495151.47513.164252793713971/216441065161810/?type=3&theater

The boil is for the next post. See you then.


Cheers!

Chillers, why does it take my beer so long to get cool.

The debate for us was cost and past practice when it came to chillers. Most of the chillers we had seen were the immersion chillers

But after a year we found the water temp coming from the faucet was so warm that it took over 2 hours to get the beer to temperature. We even attempted a small wade pool. Don't waste your time on the kiddie pool idea it doesn't work. What we ended up doing, once we started on the 15 gal batches, was a  Therminator cooler.

You can use any of the styles but these save a ton of time and effort.  If you ask anyone who brews often the cost of one, (145.00-250.00), is well worth it when you save so much time (hours).

In the end your preference is the way you should go. Just don't use a practice because it is a practice when there are better options out there. Have a great brew day.


Cheers!

What system is right for you may not be the best for me.

As this blog has started well into the journey of Aqueduct Brewing, I will back up for those that are not familiar with the story. 3 years ago I met with a man who said he had brewed beer on his stove top. This made me curious as to how hard it would be to brew beer to save money. This is where our journey begins... Two Guys Brewing beer.

https://www.facebook.com/AqueductBrewing/photos/pb.164252793713971.-2207520000.1393955286./172957879510129/?type=3&theater



This is the system we started on, yes three kegs converted to brew pots. It can be done easier if you want but this is the system my ex-partner built from the ground up. As you can see there is a manifold for natural gas since there are three burners, one pump, and various hoses. This can get tedious, moving hoses back and forth, but until you learn the best way for your system play around with it. Find what works best for you, just don't be afraid to try things out.