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Home Photo Galleries Equipment Galleries Steve Smyczek • Brookfield, Wisconsin

I love having friends over for a brew session where we can drink and talk about beer. I frequently offer my brewery to others interested in the hobby. My standing policy is “You pick the style, we split the cost of ingredients, you help brew and clean, and we split the beer 50/50”. I even have an extra dispensing system I lend out since I really don’t like bottling.

What fun. It’s great for brewing while playing bar sports, watching a game or a race. It’s my version of the ultimate home brewery.

My system is set up to be symmetric. A low brew kettle allows for gravity runoff and only one pump is needed. The burners stand on top of a spill proof custom made stainless steel counter. I had natural gas hard piped to all burners, and put in a ventilation system.

The System
I made a HERMS (50’ copper coil in the HLT) for step mashing, then use the hot water for my sparge. I put a vorlauf into the brew kettle to reduce particle transfer, and I have a hop back I use for my signature American Pale Ale (with home grown hops). I cool things down with a counter flow wort chiller before pumping it into a 12 gallon temperature controlled stainless steel conical fermenter. After primary fermentation, all beer is put into 5 or 10 gallon corny kegs. I have a fridge in the back room for lagering, and a commercial 3 keg beer cooler under the bar for serving and storage. I have the ability to have 4 beers on tap.

Hot Liquor Tank

Mash Tun
I decorated the entire area with vintage advertising from the heyday of Milwaukee breweries, and a tin ceiling reminiscent of many a Milwaukee pub. Since brew sessions are long, I included a few creature comforts too. I have about 2,000 watts of stereo and an 84” big screen TV along with a dart board and foosball table.

Bar


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