Suburban Brewing

After doing some homework I’ve decided to go with a three tiered gravity flow system for my setup. Initially I thought about building shelves utilizing steel builder’s squares from Home Depot but I found nice steel shelves online that can hold up to 800 lbs and are modular. The plan was to buy 3 sets of shelves in different height levels then attach them together so it created a 3 tiered/step system. After measuring my garage I found that my ceiling is 85 inches from the floor while the brewing system including pots, burners and shelves exceeded that by 12+ inches. So… I had to modify my plans and instead go with 2 sets of shelves and low-profile propane burners. The bottom tier will stand on the floor instead of being elevated. I’m okay with that type of a compromise, besides it will save a bit of money as well since I don’t have to buy shelves for the 3rd level (bottom).

Friday I received a copy of my water report from Aqua PA and here are the results:

1. Calcium – 30 mg/L
2. Magnesium – 9.8 mg/L
3. Sodium – 27 mg/L
4. Iron – Not Detected
5. Bicarbonate – Not Reported
6. Sulfate – 46 mg/L
7. Chloride – 40 mg/L
8. Alkalinity (Bicarbonate) – 53 mg/L
9. Hardness – 110 mg/L
10. Chlorine residual – 1.82mg/L

Overall it is not too bad. It will need tweaking for certain once I start brewing but that will depend on the beer styles I ended up making. For the most part Calcium is too low, needs to be above 50 mg/L and higher. Magnesium is also too low, should be in the 30 range.

Interestingly Aqua actually sent people over to my place, I’m assuming to take the sample directly from the tap but since it was during business hours no one was here to give them access to the water. Few days later I received a letter from them which contained two reports: one was from the Pickering East Pump and the other from Pickering West Pump 1. So I’m assuming these samples were taken and analyzed at the pumping station which supplies my neighborhood.  Once I get close to brewing I’ll either request another report or have an independent lab test my water at the destination as opposed to its source.

I’ve decided to get a 10 gallon Polar Ware pot (with false bottom, 1/2 ball valve and thermometer port) as my mash tun. I know size is always an issue but since I will be brewing alot of batches I don’t want to waste too many ingredients if a batch turns out undesirable. Utilizing a 10 gallon pot will be perfect for 5 gallon batches and should give me enough room to prevent boil-overs. I’d hate to sound negative but I’ve become disappointed a bit with my local Home Brewing Stores. I called 4 stores today and none stock the type of pot I described above. Now I would really like to support my LHBS but if they don’t stock merchandise what else can I do? With some online retailers offering $7.99 flat shipping and no tax plus stock  availability how can you go wrong? It looks like my 10 gallon mash tun will be coming from Texas.

While I’m still in the “equipment purchasing mode” I decided to find out a bit about the water supply in Drexel Hill. I went to Aqua Pennsylvania’s web site and found a link to Water Quality Reports Search. Here I was able to find  and download this PDF Water Quality Report for zip code 19026. I was so excited about my find until I looked closer and realized these reports are just summaries and they lack details. Specifically details important for brewing are missing such as the levels of:

• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Sodium
• Iron
• Bicarbonate
• Sulfate
• Chloride
• pH levels (these I could measure myself)

I picked up the phone, called Aqua’s Customer Service and asked for a detailed report which they said they do not have. Instead they offered to have my water tested tomorrow and a detailed report generated. They asked me what type of analysis I wanted and what should be included in the report. I provided the above list of elements which were added to my request. I asked for an Order # to make sure my request doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

Now we wait!

4 x 6.5 gallon Carboys

We left Drexel Hill at 6:30pm today and drove to Columbus, NJ to buy these jugs at Rubino’s. They advertised Italian carboys for $35 per bottle on their website, which is a heck of a deal. Knowing how expensive shipping would be I figured it would be cheaper to take a ride to Columbus and pick them up. I remember seeing carboys for $60+ when the only manufacturer of them in North America shut down few months ago. Since then a new supplier was found in Italy and prices have been dropping steadily.

Rubino’s was the only place relatively close to me that had 6.5 gallon glass carboys in stock and they were willing to stay open past their 7:30pm closing time while I was en route to their shop.

So why did I buy 4 of them? I’d like to brew and ferment 3-4 batches at a time. Doing this will also allow me to make slight variations or alterations in the recipe and see which one produced the best results. Depending on how things progress I may buy 2 more carboys in the near future and brew 5-6 batches at a time.