Homebrewing on steeman.be

Bottle cap labels

Wed, 15 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Conveniently I label my beers on the cap and not on the bottle. This way they are easily readable without removing the bottle from the case, and once the bottle is uncapped and thoroughly rinsed, I put it in the crate on it’s head and it is ready for re-use, without removing any pesky bottle labels.

The labels I use are Herma brand, reference 4386. Each laser printable A4 sheet holds 96 round 20mm labels. Different stationary stores carry them.

Snelkoppeling voor flessenspoeler

Tue, 07 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

De flessenspoeler “Blast”, die verkocht wordt bij Brouwland , is een zeer handig hulpmiddeltje om snel de binnenkant van flessen te spoelen. Het enige nadeel is dat je hem steeds op en af je kraan moet schroeven wanneer je de kraan ook wilt gebruiken om de spoelbak te vullen of een slang aan te sluiten. Het zou zeer handig zijn om de Blast met een snelkoppeling op een standaard koppelstuk te kunnen bevestigen. Mits een kleine aanpassing is dit eenvoudig mogelijk.

My beer recipes

Thu, 18 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Here are all the recipes for the beers that I have brewed so far. Not all of them turned out so great, mind you. I like to experiment and sometimes make extreme things. Some of these beers are, mmm, more of an acquired taste… My better beers are listed in bold, although ‘better’ is a quite subjective statement. Let’s say that these are the beers that I would happily brew and drink again.

Beer rack

Fri, 15 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I like brewing beer. This means I have to store a lot of beer. There was an unused space in the basement under the stairs so I set out to build a simple beer rack there. It holds 23 cases, is constructed out of cheap 46x21mm pine and designed to hold a Duvel case in such a way that a maximum of cases can be fitted, keep the bottles accessible without lifting crates, and to allow enough room for circulation. So I put the cases halfway on their sides.

Pillar drill bottle capper

Fri, 03 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I bottle all of my homebrew. Bottling is one of the more tedious tasks of brewing, and consists of different steps; filling the bottle, capping it, labelling and cleaning. The easier and faster I can make these tasks, the better. I have a pretty good work-flow for filling, labelling and cleaning bottles, but capping needed some improvement.

I needed a very sturdy bottle capper, and decided to give my pillar drill a second purpose. I turned a capping tool on my lathe, sized to fit in my drill’s drill head. On the bed of the drill press I fashioned a bottle support. This support ensure that the bottle is inserted at the right height, and a semi-circular cut-out positions it directly under the capping tool.

Automated brewery

Sun, 25 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

My two main needs when brewing are small volume and automation, something I couldn’t find in most brewing rigs except for the (+1.500€) Speidel Braumeister. So I decided to build my own picobrewery, based on a 28L Weck kettle and a BrewTroller control module.

Forum post

Homemade malt mill

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Crushing malt is an important step in brewing. It is important to crush the malt finely so that all starch is easily accessible for conversion into sugar, but care must be taken not to damage the husks too much since they are essential to the lautering process. An ideal mill for the job is a roller mill, since it crushes flour out of the malt grains while leaving the husks largely intact. As an exercise in metalworking skills I set out to build my own malt mill.

Homemade magnetic stir plate

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

If you want to grow your own yeast, a magnetic stir plate is a great tool. It keeps the wort (and any suspended yeast) in constant motion, improving the access of the yeast to nutrients, and optimizing gas exchange so that produced CO2 is replaced by fresh oxygen. Commercial magnetic stirrers are quite expensive, even second-hand, luckily they aren’t too difficult to make yourself.

My magnetic stirrer is based on a 80x80mm computer fan. The stir speed can be tightly controlled using a PWM circuit. It has integrated heating which is controlled by a thermostat.