Even if it isn't as delicious or complex as an all grain craft beer, a dry cider will take the maiden voyage in the new Spike 10gal conical. I needed to get a cider going for the upcoming Mead & Cider Cup so 5 gallons of locally pressed Skagit Valley Cider, 8 ppm O2, and a smack pack of Wyeast 4766 should do the trick.
0 Comments
New additions: Led lighting inside the fermentation chamber, Driftwood door handle, and some sweet stainless steel.
Took a vacation to the southern hemisphere with my lovely wife to celebrate her 30th birthday. We visited Auckland, New Zealand as well as Sydney, Cairns, and Manly, Australia. The craft beer scene in these countries is growing, but still appeared to be in it's infancy. There were several local, craft breweries near the Sydney metropolitan area, but they became scarce the further away you moved. I was able to meet the owner/head brewer of the one craft brewery I made it to in New Zealand (Urbanaut Brewing Co.). They're making excellent beer and are just beginning their foray into new styles like Brut IPA and Neipa. Previously, my wife and I lived in Gricignano di Aversa, Caserta (Italy) and fell in love with Birra del Borgo (brewery). As luck would have it, one of the brewers from Birra del Borgo (Brooks Carretta) spun up the Nomad Brewing Co. in Manly, Australia! So armed with that knowledge, we sailed across the Sydney Harbour to Manly finding great beer at Nomad Brewing, albeit in a relatively seedy location. Making the connection to a brewery we loved in Italy, a world away in Australia, was a one-of-a-kind experience.
I have long dreamt of having a glass front fermentation chamber to show off my conical, mostly inspired by the setup over at Ones and Zeros (http://onesandzerosbrewing.com/)...and now I have it! I found this gem on a local craigslist ad and quickly rescued it from it's watery, moss-covered grave (it was stored in a leaky shed in the Chuckanut Mountains). With a few runs to the hardware and local HVAC stores, it's up and running. Originally a Coca Cola fridge (GDM-23) it needed a bit of an update. I leaned on the craftiness of my wife to help make a custom sign for the new rig and it looks great.
I recently added the capability to track what is fermenting in my fermentation chamber at home, right here on Weiss.Beer! (see the "WHAT'S FERMENTING" page) The data is pulled from my Tilt hydrometer, via Google Sheets publishing. I'm currently pulling logs manually with my phone since my Fermentrack system isn't able to reach the Bluetooth signal...yet.
|
Jamie WeissHomebrewer, Recognized BJCP Judge, aspiring Certified Cicerone Archives
November 2023
|