No matter how sketchy this setup looks, I assure you, it’s just homebrew.
Here’s the situation. I had just a bit of grain leftover from my last all-grain batch. Scaling down my batches was already my current theme, and I was also trying to think of ways to tighten up my bottling process to minimize oxidation. That’s when the thought occurred to me: why not brew a tiny batch that never has to be bottled, because the fermenter IS the bottle? Thus, growler batches were born.
This really has the feel of something that shouldn’t work, but the thing is, I can’t think of a single, specific reason why it won’t. At least not from the outset. Since I plan to pour the finished product right out of these things, I felt that a couple of additional precautions were necessary. I had to minimize the trub by (i) brewing 2 gallons and just siphoning off the top 1 gallon and (ii) using whole-leaf hops. I also had to minimize blowoff during fermentation, since even a little could cost me half my batch. As soon as I saw the krausen rising, I beat it back with foam control drops.
Things seem to be going well so far, but a couple of obstacles remain. I have to figure out how to prime the growlers, since the potential exists that all that yeast laying at the bottom will go crazy as soon as it gets another taste of sugar, and I have to try and drink them in a reasonable time frame, since the beer will be spending more time than usual sitting on the yeast.
I must say, I really love the idea of this process and hope to see it work out. If the idea of a “living” bottle-conditioned beer is romantic, how much more so a beer that is served right out of the fermenter? Even so, I still hedged my bets. In the background, you can see my safety beer.
Here’s where things get a little stupid. They call this step a “dough-in” for a reason. I dipped the whole grain bag in the mash water, and I instantly got a huge dough ball. I had to stir like crazy to break it up, and of course I forgot to turn off the heat during this process, so the temperature went out of control, too. I had to stick the pot in the fridge for a few minutes, but I got things back under control. To the right you can see my sparge pot, where I am steeping the specialty grains separately.
Amazing but true: when I turned the heat off and just wrapped these towels around the lid of my pot, the mash held its target temperature (150-155F) for 60 minutes. I think I only had to turn low heat on once for a minute or two when it threatened to drop below 150F.
minutes. That metal strainer that fits over the top of my brew pot, I feel like it’s one of best pieces of equipment in my whole kit. Also, please take note of my super high-tech kitchen with all those fancy knobs. I brew beers for the atomic age! Duck and cover.