Hazelwood’s Brewday Part 2

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Have you moved all your beers to corny kegs or are you still using some of the king kegs. I have 4 kegs on the go but still bottle certain beers
 
In between brewing yesterday I tried my competition beers again

The saison on the left is my 5% on tap, the one on the right is my 6% competition batch. They almost taste the same but the competition batch has a bit more body. It isn’t fully clear but saison is permitted to be a little hazy.

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This is the Belgian Tripel. On the left my 7% batch on tap, on the right my 9.2% competition batch. The flavours of these two are quite different with the competition batch being more smooth. Tripels are supposed to be clear and you can see it isn’t so I need to see how it conditions over the next couple of weeks and decide if I will gain more points from the flavour than I might lose from the cloudy appearance (I think yes).

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Today I’m working on my brew-shed. The glycol chiller wouldn’t get below zero degrees so the supplier has sent me a replacement.

The glycol chiller ordinarily just does it’s job like any other freezer so it’s built in with insulation and cabinetry and sits behind all my kegs, gas, etc. It’s also of course plumbed into the shed cooling, fermenter cooling, python, and beer cooling. You’ve probably guessed it’s a fair job to remove and replace the glycol chiller which also has to be drained before it’s moved. I started by pouring a small glass of beer because my beers will be off-line for a while.

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I have the new one in and soak testing now before I plumb everything back in and re-assemble my brew-shed. Did you ever wish you hadn’t started a job!
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It’s been a busy day. I was soak testing the replacement chiller and noticed the python wasn’t getting cold. After some investigation it became clear that one of the motorised valves, used to direct coolant to the fermenter/ brewshed/ python, had failed. Also at the other end of the control wire in my control panel the wire had almost burnt through. I’m not sure if the motorised valve caused the burning or a dodgy connection burnt out the motorised valve. Either way I had to reterminate the control wire and replace the motorised valve.

I didn’t think to take a picture beforehand but it was this motorised valve. It looks like the valve might have weaped a little and maybe corroded the mechanism.
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The wire in this picture has been reterminated but it was the light coloured wire at the back in the centre of this picture. Bugger to get at!
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I’m pleased to say I’ve finished the latest changes to my brew-shed. The real issue was my glycol chiller needing to be replaced but as usual I decided that I might as well do another couple of jobs while I’m at it. One of these was to reorient the chiller to streamline the air flow through the chiller box and the other was to make a new python using 3/16 beer line rather than 3/8.

This is how the chiller was originally positioned and how it is now oriented to improve air-flow.

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This replacement chiller has an electronic controller rather than the mechanical one fitted to my old chiller. This is what makes it possible to have the chiller oriented in this way. I’ve obviously extended the wires to remotely site the controller.
 
It’s not apparent in the pictures but I had to adjust the cabinetry around the chiller to accommodate this new orientation - including lifting the insulated/raised floor and taking just over an inch off.

At the front, 4 inches of Kingspan to stop any heat spilling into the brewshed. I have to cut a small recess into this panel for the controller to sit in (it fits the same as an Inkbird).
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The insulation is fronted by a panel of ply and the controller is fixed into place. Another 2 inches of Kingspan sits on top of the chiller enclosure.
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Support bars are fitted around the walls helping to seal any gaps that warm air might sneak through and providing structural support for the top of the cabinet.
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Infill with another 3 inches of Kingspan.
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Fit the 3/4 inch ply top. This is used to finish the cabinetry but also to support the weight of kegs that sit on this shelf while conditioning.
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Finally, refit the kegs and the plumbing.
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Not being tied up working on the brew-shed I have at last kegged my latest English Bitter - yay! Even though it’s just come out of the fermenter I think there’s a chance this might be the best batch yet. It’s just a touch more bitter, just a touch hoppier, and is lighter in colour. 4.46%.

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