Used to be a professional brewer and just inherited a load of homebrew kit..

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Simonr

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Oct 24, 2011
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Hello everyone,

I wanted to say hello as I'm planning to re-start brewing again as I've just been given a fairly comprehensive collection of brewing kit.

My history with beer making is that I started off back in the late 1990s as a student, making beer kits to extend my student loan. I eventually became pretty proficient and made beer kit beers for parties and weddings in later years. Fast forward to about 2012, and I paused a career in IT, to go and volunteer at a local microbrewery in Cambridge, where I very quickly was offered a full-time job and ended up there for the next 5 years. I learnt how to brew commercially and did everything from brewing batches of beer on my own, to casking, bottling, and all the non-glamorous jobs like cask washing, selling, delivering and maintenance of the brewing equipment.

It was an absolute blast, and I enjoyed many beer festival and even ended up doing a presentation about brewing at the Cambridge University Science Festival. Sadly, in the end, I decided to move back to IT as although it's not as much fun as making beer and all the goes with it, it does pay quite a lot better! I've been away from brewing for about 7 years now and always planned to go back to it, and today I took a big step towards doing just that, as I inherited a pretty impressive collection of homebrew kit from a very kind neighbour who was moving house.

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The only annoying thing is that he has lost the controller for the Grainfather - they're hopefully fairly easy to come by though. I think the only thing I need is a chiller, to keep my fermenter nice and cold - he's given me his fridge that he adapted for use with kegs so keeping it cold once it's kegged won't be a problem! Everything needs a jolly good wash after being stored for several years.

I'll post updates as soon as there's anything interesting to report. I've got ideas for my first brew as we used to make a beer at the brewery that was a real favourite but hasn't been made for years now. I just hope I can remember how we made it, and also work out how to reduce the volume from 5 barrels to whatever the capacity of my new fermeters is!

All the best for now :cool:
 
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Hi everyone - many thanks for the warm welcome and encouraging words!

@Rodcx500z - many thanks for that link. Yes indeed, that looks to be the thing. I shall buy it if the controller doesn't show up. I had a word with the neighbour and he thinks the controller may have been mistakenly put in the skip that's sitting in his drive. For the sake of £130 I think I'm going to swallow my pride and go skip diving tomorrow, in full view of the entire street. Who knows what else I may find.

The first beer is probably going to be a simple one - an amber beer using Maris Pale, Crystal 150, Cara Munich and a hint of Black Malt, then Summer Hops for bittering and Mosaic around flame out and also for dry hopping in the FV. He gave me two large tubs of Maris Pale so I'm halfway there with the malt bill.

One of the things I learnt at the brewery is the importance of temperature regulation at all stages of the process so I'll definitely need a chiller for the fermenter and conditioning tank(s). It was the one thing that I never managed to get right whilst homebrewing so second time around and armed with the knowledge and experience I'm going to do it properly this time.

It's going to be a while until I get everything up and running but I'll report back when there's news - even if it's that I didn't manage to find the control box in the skip!
 
Well, I've done a preliminary search of the skip, and although I've not found the controller yet, I did find a few more brewing accoutrements, including the missing lid for my new water heater.

I also found a load of other useful stuff, including lots of cycle tools, a car battery charger and some car ramps.

I'm planning another dive, into the other end this time - there are a couple of remote control helicopters and some bikes that I've told myself a really *don't* need! 🤣
 
Wow, what a haul! I've done similar brews where I've scaled down from a commercial size to a 23L batch and I just use the GF software. I think it maxes out at 500L so I just used to half my 900L recipe to give me 450 and then use the Scale tool. Great bit of kit, best of luck.
 
Well, I've done a preliminary search of the skip, and although I've not found the controller yet, I did find a few more brewing accoutrements, including the missing lid for my new water heater.

I also found a load of other useful stuff, including lots of cycle tools, a car battery charger and some car ramps.

I'm planning another dive, into the other end this time - there are a couple of remote control helicopters and some bikes that I've told myself a really *don't* need! 🤣

It's free.. Gets me everytime.
After such a successful first outing, you may never be able to pass a skip again.
 
Hi Simon welcome to the forum. Great story! I am in IT and thinking of going the other way in due course, to pro brewing but for semi retirement as I am under no illusions about the potential income from brewing!
Are you still in the Cambridge area? You might be interested in the Cambridge Amateur Craft Brewers group. We meet only 4 times a year, plus a few special events.
Next meeting is in November: Cambridge Amateur Craft Brewers
 
Hello again everyone,

I return to you with good news! I had a very enjoyable time skip diving, found loads of really useful stuff, and then, when I'd lost hope that I'd find the controller, my neighbour came round and handed it to me. It had been packed up in a box and he'd just discovered it. What a result! He also gave me another brewing vessel so I felt really fortunate - a very kind man, and he knows that he's welcome any time to use his brewing kit to make a beer at my place. I told him that I'm just storing it for him.

You would not believe all the things I found in the skip. I came into the house after about two hours and it was like the conveyor belt part of the Generation Game as I tried to remember it all to tell my better half who had been inside the whole time. Sad that he had to throw a lot of his possessions away as he had no space for them.

In terms of kit, I need a way to keep my fermenter and conditioning tanks cool and also to modify them with cooling coils and insulation. I've spotted a Cornelius beer cooler on eBay and I'll hopefully pick that up in the next week or so.

A few replies:

@Ellskitchen - thanks for the tip about scaling down, I will definitely use that tool.

@Jim Brewster - It was Moonshine. Quite simply the finest beers I've ever tasted. I was really lucky to learn from the owner about how he made beers and having seen the huge efforts he made and how he keeps his brewery I'm in no doubt as to the quality of the product.

@Birdsnestbrewery - thanks for that. Once I've got up and running I'll get in touch! I'm based in Fulbourn so not far from Cambridge.
 
@Simonr
A fridge and an STC 1000 or brewpiless controller will see you right for temp control.
Ask neighbour what he's doing with his fridge / freezer.
Don't forget to get some contraceptives for your kegs, they seem to multiply!!
 
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