This weekend was a fun beer and brewing weekend. It all started off Friday with the Northernbrewer grand opening in Milwaukee. I then built a new mash tun, and had an epiphany related to the brew in a bag method I had tried. Finally, I brewed a Roggenbier this Sunday and tasted the completed DOA IPA which was the total Brew-in-a-Bag method. I will cover all of these in today’s blog postings.

Northernbrewer and The Brewing Network

Friday was culmination of my favorite mega-brewstore as well as my favorite podcast personalities. A friend of mine was going down for the grand opening of Northernbrewer in Milwaukee. I wanted to go, but I only had one day of vacation left. But then I learned that Justin Crossley and Jamil Zainasheff were going to be there as well. Well, that settled it. I could take a half day and tag along and not only attend the grand opening taking advantage of 10% off everything in the store, but also meet two of my favorite beer personalities. I am an avid listener to The Brewing Network since podcast 1 in 2005. Since then I have seen the conception of The Jamil Show/Can You Brew It, Brew Strong, and that other show. So this was a huge treat for me. Justing and Jamil are both great guys and easy to talk to. I would like to say we talked a lot of shop, but really it was more like talking with friends than grilling them about beer and brewing. Below are some pictures from the event.

Me with Jamil Zainasheff

Me and Justin Crossley

Heck, even Bub was there.

Building my new Mash Tun

This section will just be a series of pictures. Overall, this set up is 60 quarts (15 gallons) and cost me less than 50 dollars! I bought the cooler on sale at a local Walmart for $26. You have to wait until they want to get rid of them after summer. The hoses and hardware cost me $17 and some change at Menards. Here is the parts list.

1-30″ toilet supply line.

1 roll of 3/8″ OD vinyl tubing

1 roll of 1/2″ OD vinyl tubing

4 – 1/4″ hose clamps

1- small plastic valve (Drill out center screen).

60 quart cube.

Note, I need to add a 90 degree copper or stainless elbow to get better drainage.

All the hardware parts

The 60 Quart Cube Cooler.

You need to remove the inner hose from the toilet supply line. This can be difficult in a 30" hose.

You need to crimp and twist one end to prevent grains from going through the end.

Now you need to attach the open end to the 3/8" OD vinyl tubing. Then you wet the tubing by soaking it in hot water. This softens the hose and lubricates it. Then force it down the drainage hole in the bottom of the cooler.

Connect one end of the 3/8" tubing to the valve and if the other end is larger like mine was, attach the other end to the 1/2" vinyl tubing. If the valve sizes are the same on both ends, just use the 3/8" OD vinyl.

Inside shot. As you can see the angle of the hole leads the strainer up too high. For my first brew, I just tipped the tun, but I am going to add a 90 degree elbow to keep the stainless strainer on the bottom.

Here is the completed cooler.