Missing Pieces

Brewing has been put on hold until we acquire or make these necessary pieces of equipment:

A spigot for our bottling bucket, which was mysteriously left out of the brewing starter kit that was supposed to contain it.
A larger, 7 or 8 gallon stainless steel brewpot, or another smaller brewpot (3 or 4 gallon), upon discovery that the 5 gallon one that I own will not be large enough for 5 gallons of all grain brew, which boils down for two or three hours over the course of the mashing and brewing.
Another carboy bung, because ours doesn't fit...
A (preferably) copper immersion wort chiller, which is a large amount of metal tubing wrapped in a large coil that can quickly bring hot wort down to fermetation temperature (usually 160 degrees down to half of that).
An immersion thermometer (dial type).
And most importantly, a lauter tun, which is basically a plastic bucket with a false bottom (think lots of tiny holes drilled into it), to seperate the wort from the grain husks so that we're not drinking pig slop.

I'll do my best to get these things by this weekend, but if you're at Western and you have access to a power drill (or cordless drill), please get ahold of me ASAP. We cannot start brewing without first making a lautering tun.

Everything else is in order. Again, if you can help, let me know soon, so that we may have a batch done by the beginning of October or so.

Thanks,
Sam

Almost There...

Here's a photomerged look into the infamous Dk lagering cellar, currently being used to store everything until the final pieces of equipment are acquired/constructed...

Equipment is Here!

The brewing equipment has arrived! Nate and I went to Bell's General Store yesterday and cleaned out the place. I don't have much time as of right now, but I'll post pictures of our loot and keep you all updated on when brewing will start as soon as I can! Hope everyone is acclimated themselves to another year of college life.

Sam

Finished Freezer Photos

Freezer Pictures

Lagering Cellar

OK, so yesterday Preston drove me about two hours round trip so I could purchase a top-loading freezer through the classifieds. Turns out the thing is a monster, 15 square feet to be exact. Doesn't sound big? You could probably fit me and Data in it and several smallerish orphans. Or one dancing midget hired out and chained up for the Super Bowl.

So I'm having conerns about where to fit it in the apartment, but if my roommates bear with me, we could probably store it in the kitchen without much fuss, along the back wall or something like that. It has about the surface area of a child-size beer pong table, which is wrong in many ways. I'll post some pictures of it a la Pimp My Ride, because my next line of duty is to make a big ass stencil of the Dk logo and beautify the top.

Photos to come.

Oh yeah, in case anyone is wondering, its purpose is this: I'll hook up a thermostat to its power source, which will keep the temperature not at freezing but around 45 degrees, which is the ideal temperature for both fermenting lagers and storing bottled beer once it has been carbonated. And, since you can swim in it, we might as well use it as a second fridge in case ours starts overflowing with food and drink. Plus, its compressor, it being an older model freezer, is far smaller than most, requiring less energy, so it'll hardly have an effect on the electrical bill.

So there we are. The first brewing investment has been made.

2 weeks...

Sam

Three Weeks!

Classes start (for us Western folk) in three weeks!

Not much for news on this end of things. At final tally, the beer fund has reached $830.00, 75% of which is in one dollar bills. It's like a brick of cash sitting in my sock drawer...




I'll be bringing it to the bank tomorrow because my mom has voiced concerns that it's bound to be stolen from the house or burned in a big fire or something crazy.

On the DkBrewCrew's message board on thefacebook, Michelle has offered to get started early on this year's t-shirts. If anyone has any good designs or ideas, run them by her so we can get them out faster than the last run.

I can't wait to see everyone! Once we're all settled in and normal, brewing will start.

Sam

More Beer Money?

Just as a quick adendum to the last update, the beer savings has reached the epic proportions of well over $500.00. As DJ best puts it, "it's less beer savings, and more beer trust fund." That's more than 3 times what I had originally expected to save up, which obviously reflects the promise of a far greater product than ever imagined. Right?

Right?