BWB Home Brew Setup and Brew Day
Hey BWB Fans,
I want to preface this by saying I am not a brew master. In fact the only thing I've mastered is being a master of nothing. I fully accept that I am a Jack, rather Joe, of all trades and master of none.
This write up has been a long time coming. I've designed and redesigned my home brew setup at least half a dozen times. I've had to reconsider my original thoughts on home brewing to account for efficiencies, ease of use, cost, part availability, and flavor with each nugget of info I learned from the brewing community or article I read while researching.
Not only did I redesign in preconstruction several times but I also made on the fly changes during assembly that required Amazon returns and rapid new orders (I'm so happy we live in a time where 2 day shipping is the norm).
Here is a list of parts with links for my brew setup:
Cooler Assembly:
Hose Assembly:
Brew Kettle and Burner:
Sparge Setup:
½ inch Barb for Aerator Connection
Fermentation Bucket:
Miscellaneous:
Hop Basket – Returned due to cheap chain
Wort Chiller:
Keg Setup:
Tips for improvement and things I would change:
More hoses of various sizes.
Large sanitation bin/tote
Hop spider that sits in kettle not ones on a cheap chain
Bucket spout is not really needed if kegging
Dry hop when possible
Kegging the beer....
Kegging the beer is actually pretty easy. Just make sure you have no leaks and that you have plenty of CO2 prior to starting. I had a leak due to an improperly sized swivel barb for one of my CO2 connections. Luckily the other side was fine so I was able to keg at least half my batch on time. The other side got a few extra days to mature in the keg.
Before transferring the beer be sure to sanitize anything that will touch the beer. I did this by filling my kegs with sanitizer and pumping in CO2. Then I used the tap end to rinse the exterior of everything with the kegged sanitizer. Once sanitized, empty the keg(s) and then transfer your beer to the keg(s). With your kegs and gas connected, set your CO2 to 12-15psi. I like to shake the kegs during this process to agitate and aerate. There are a few methods for rapid kegging like shaking every hour but if you are patient just set it and forget it. After 2-3 weeks it is time to enjoy.
Here are some videos from brew day: