Micro Brewery on Board ?

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by billgow

Is there any way to use plastic water bottles?

My concern with water bottles would be, can they handle the pressure? Plastic soda bottles will work fine, though you need to clean them out well to get rid of any residual soda taste. As with all bottles, if they are clear then you need to protect them from light to avoid skunking.

[denverd0n]

Here ya go, Minggat...

1 POUND SODIUM METABISULPHITE @ Williams Brewing

$4.90 per pound for sodium metabisulphite.

[fishwife]

Home Brew - Wine & Beer making kits Sodium Metabisulphite 1 kg

£4.55 per kg

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by Minggat

Not a name I'm familiar with, Googled it.

From "Wine Sense"

WineSense handles three different products for cleaning and or sanitizing,Sparkle-Brite,Aseptox and Sodium Metabisulphite. Each one of these three products has different features and a package of each is included with yourWineSenseStarter Kit.

SPARKLE-BRITE: a chlorine based cleaner-sanitizer.
---------------------------------------------------------
I'd have to say that if this the same Sparklebrite you're talking about, that this was one of my fears when I first read "sterlizers" in this thread.

Chlorine and membranes are not friends. So Sparkle-Brite, at least this one, is NOT a good choice for purposes of this conversation. If there's another one that you're talking about, please let us know.

Thanks Minggat. The next time I see Sparklebrite I'll check it. It might be just my memory but I recall the stuff I used actually saying Sodium Metabisulphite on the label but home brew shops often repackage stuff themselves.

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by billgow

Interesting read.

Like so many, I started out with extract brewing and ended up with a 40 gallon, all stainless brewery and small walk in refer consuming most of my garage. I even had an agreement with a guy who raised pigs to bring him the spent grains in exchange for meat.

Hobbies can get out of hand. I got tired of committing a whole day to brewing and cleaning equipment and finally parked the whole kit. I miss my beer. I think I’ll visit the homebrew store this weekend and pick up an extract.

Is there any way to use plastic water bottles? I was thinking, instead of sucking the water out of these, open and pour into another container and then add a smidge of sterilizer in the empty bottle shake and recap. Just throw them away when done. I hate washing bottles!

I certainly understand that. I've been brewing 35 years and really enjoy it. I don't competition brew so brew to suit myself, keep it to 20 litres at a shot and use sanka kegs all of which keeps it simpler. Still each batch starts with a 5 or 6 hour day. I read while stirring the wort and clean while the mash is working and generally find it passes fairly quickly. I'm the sort that also loves to cook so it's a good fit.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

if you want to brew award winning beer (and I have)

Congratulations!! I'll be anchoring right next to you!

Of course, I just brew to get plastered.






(To those that think that means condoninig alcoholism I don't. A friend of mine has liver cancer and may be dead in a year. Its from the bottom of a bottle. Beware)

[billgow]

The extracts I used when I started brewing were liquid malts in sealed plastic bags, pre-measured for a 5-gallon batch. You would have to add your own steeping grains, hops and yeast. This gives you pretty good control over the process and allows for an unlimited variety of beers. You can also buy the liquid malt in 5-gallon pails. I used to recycle my yeast so if you do this, you won’t need a collection of little bottles cluttering up your boat. Instead of using a coil of copper tubing to cool my wart back then, I used to make batches in 3-gallon sizes and just add ice after the boil until I reached the 5-gallon level and then add the yeast. I used to mess around with hydrometers but quit after a while as I saw no need for them. The beer is usually done fermenting in a few days and mucking around with a hydrometer isn’t really necessary.

Now, if the fermented beer can be dispensed into plastic, throw-away bottles, you have a pretty simple and small operation. Ferment in a 6-gallon plastic bucket and when you’re not using it, all your gear goes into it. This can be seated into your boiling pot (which you’ll also need for steaming lobsters anyway).

So, what’s the consensus on disposable plastic bottles? Will they just blow apart? I’ve never tried it myself. I started with glass bottles until I learned about the old soda kegs and never thought about bottling again after that.

[Ruf361]

i have been brewing into glass bottles for a while and am seriosly tired of cleaning them. no room for a bottle tree on board. i will be using a pony keg next time i brew and never dealing with bottle sanitation, storing and capping.

Mark, any chance you want to semi move to Costa Rica and open up a brewery? I think i can get the start up capital and the labor there is cheap. I think this could be a semi serious money maker. I have actually put some decent thought into this.

[billgow]

Originally Posted by hummingway

Still each batch starts with a 5 or 6 hour day.

I installed a 220V water heating element into my kettle and put it on a timer. It was set to have the water at 180 degrees by the time I walked into my garage. I found this saved me a couple hours in the beginning of the process. Since I never really had to mess with this container, I had filtered water running directly into it. I had to cut a hole in the ceiling of my garage to get it to fit... At the end of the process, I used it for cleaning as well.

Even though my brewing day could have realistically been cut in half by this, there was nothing I could do with the second half of the day as I usually had to sample prior batches during the process just to be sure quality hadn’t degraded...

[fishwife]

I lived in Saudi Arabia for a while, where alcohol is forbidden. In many supermarkets and in the Commissary of Aramco you could buy tins of hopped malt syrup - with recipes for making bread on the label.
It made a drinkable brew, nothing outstanding - until you remembered that it was the only beer in town

P.

[Ruf361]

is there legal trouble for someone finding homebrew beer on your boat?

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Ruf361

is there legal trouble for someone finding homebrew beer on your boat?

In Saudi Arabia, yeah! Most places though, no. As usual, best to check local laws.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Ruf361

is there legal trouble for someone finding homebrew beer on your boat?

Only when its brewed is there any alcohol in it. Before that its just sugar, water and some flavours.

[billgow]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

My concern with water bottles would be, can they handle the pressure? Plastic soda bottles will work fine, though you need to clean them out well to get rid of any residual soda taste. As with all bottles, if they are clear then you need to protect them from light to avoid skunking.

Sorry, I missed this. I was thinking the thin water bottles would probably blow too. I'm not worried about a beer getting skunky from a 5 gallon batch, it doesn't last that long...

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by boatman61

If your looking for sterilizers whats wrong with the tablets used all over the world for purifying baby's feed bottles...

Well, my response is that there was a little thread drift here and the subject of "sterilizers" as they relate to RO membranes. Bleach is a sterilizer, but not one you want to get anywhere close to your watermaker membrane.


to fishwife and denverdOn,

Thanks. My question was regarding a product that one could walk into a market and pick up off the shelf that would be watermaker friendly. I was originally looking to make sure that was indeed sodium metabisulfite and not just any sterilizer.