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Thanks to everybody who posted photos of their home bars during the month of
March on Brew Your Own's Facebook page in our "Ultimate Home Bar
Contest." With so many great entries it was a tough decision, but after lots
of debate at the World Headquarters of BYO, Tony’s amazing setup was
the winner.
My all-electric homebrewery is a basic HERMS system and the whole setup including the heat/cooled conical cost about $4000 to build. The temperature is controlled using digital controllers. It took about six months to build. I had a professional electrician do all of the wiring. All electric is the way to go — use the propane for cooking your turkeys.
"Jackie Boy Brewery basically began because of a love of real Scottish Ales..."
"My goal was to make brewing as simple and efficient as I possibly could . . ."
"I batch sparge, so I elevate my mash tun so I can heat the wort as it's draining."
The stand itself is an old Craftsman workbench (found on Craigslist for $50), old kegs (also found on Craigslist) were used for the hot liquor tank (HLT), the mashtun, and the boil kettle, and another way I found to help keep down the cost was to eliminate the "Love" temperature switches in favor of manual controls.
"I always hated bottling, so I decided to convert my Sanyo to a homebrew kegerator."
I wanted a system that was completely self-contained, could produce consistent results, and, of course, could make awesome beer.
The main component of Edwin’s system that makes it different is that it only has two vessels, can be continuously sparged and works off one pump for the whole system.
Doug's unique three-tier system utilizes Blichmann Engineering stainless steel components, which are known for their non-welded fittings that are threaded through the valves.
It all started when Doug was dreaming up a brewing system that would be big enough to hopefully brew commercially at his restaurant, Peg's, in Gulfport, Florida. He saw some photos of Jay's welding work on brewing systems and reached out for some help.
Photo credits: Dennis Brennan
I have an all tri-clamp RIMS system. I had Sabco do all the welding to my specifications for the kegs, including the false bottoms, siphon drains, and sight tubes. Everything else is from scratch.
When my wife and I decided to venture into the wonderful world of home ownership, we had many things in mind for our dream home. The singular most important thing: “where can I build the bar?”
I was first inspired to build a brew system when I saw the BYO article on “Brutus Ten.” (Plans are available at byo.com/store.)
But rather than build just one 10-gallon (38-L) all-grain system, a buddy of mine and I decided to each build one at the same time. So the birth of the “Brew Twins” was born.
In February 1995 microbiologist Terese Barta taught a Science of Brewing Malt Beverages course in the Wausau, Wisconsin area. After the course completed, Ms. Barta along with about 15 people formed a club so that her students could continue the craft of homebrewing. That club was the genesis of the current Bull Falls Brewers Homebrew Club.
I started brewing in 1989 with a Coopers stout kit from a local liquor store. In 1993, my brewing partner and I started brewing all-grain with a ten-gallon converted keg setup and a bare minimum of equipment. This amount didn’t last long between the two of us and our brewing time was not abundant. Rather than run two breweries in tandem, we decided to find larger vessels.
My name is Mark Brooks and I live in Norway with my wife, Trine, and our daughter. My homebrew dream was to have an all-food-grade, stainless-steel brewery with that magic 1,000-liter (264-gallon) capacity. I started calling different companies that sell brewery stuff, but soon realized that this would take an investment much larger than any hobby brewer could even dream of. So I started roaming dumps, dairy plants and other factories in the food-production business to scrounge for used or outdated materials. In this way, my stock of stainless grew and grew. When I told people that I was building a small countryside brewery, they all got interested. I don’t know how much beer I promised to guys in the food industry all over Norway. I do know that I am sending out beer steadily. Getting all my valuables here also took a lot of beer-bribing in the trucking industry, but as long it’s about beer they’re all helpful.
The center of the homebrew universe lies on an 18-acre farm near Wichita Falls, Texas. (Hyperbole? Nah.) Anyway, that’s where homebrewer Ken Thornton lives. It’s also where he runs the Wichita Homebrew Supply Shop. A metal warehouse across the drive from the shop serves as headquarters for WORTS (Wichita’s Only Real Tasty Suds), the local homebrew club. The warehouse is also home to Ken’s brewing equipment and his walk-in beer cooler. And the cooler is very cool indeed.
The three biggest things that have helped me brew better beer have been my lagering chest freezer, my malt mill and all-grain brewing. The chest freezer and its controller just make brewing lagers more predictable. Maintaining a constant fermentation temperature and a controlled lagering temperature is a sure way to produce great beer. The malt mill has allowed me to take full control over the freshness of ingredients and the coarseness of the grist. All-grain brewing offers me a greater diversity of ingredients than extract brewing.
My brewing set-up is a full mash, 50–60 liter (13–16 gallon) system constructed of 16-gauge stainless steel. The mash tun is copper lined to help control temperature. The hot liquor tank has a temperature controller so you can prepare your water in advance. It is capable of holding the water within one degree of the needed temperature.
My system is an ongoing evolution from a simple 5-gallon (19-L) Rubbermaid all-grain system that I used in my kitchen, with water heated on the stove to an all-electric HERMS that utilizes 10-gallon (38-L) Rubbermaid coolers and a 15.5-gallon (59-L) Sankey keg for the boil kettle.
