greenfurnace.blogspot.com is now greensandmachines.com

Quick update to viewers who might be being redirected from the blog; I purchased a domain name, so we are now officially greensandmachines.com. I'd like to thank all the viewers for being with me every step of the way.

Brew Day: English Brown Ale + Recipe

We're back in action. I had to bang on some pots and pans to wake everyone up today. This time we're making an English brown ale to test our new mash/lauter tun setup. Additionally, we have purchased Star San, a concentrated solution of phosphoric acid, to sanitize our equipment. After the infection of our last batch, we aren't taking any chances today.

Getting the kitchen clean and spotless

Operation "Woody" Part 1: Drive Center

I originally tried to make the teeth of the wood center out of some 3/4" stock, but I drilled the center hole too big and accidentally messed up the drive teeth by a combination of not hitting my dimensions or using a faulty indexing head.

I decided this time I would just make it out of a square shaped stock with bigger diameter.  I turned it down to 13/16" and drilled a smaller center hole.  This way, there would be more room for the teeth.  Next I went to the milling machine and put it in a vise and milled the teeth one at a time with an end stop on the other end.  Since the end was squared previously, I could mill the teeth perfectly timed 90 degrees apart.  Also this setup was much more rigid than a rickety indexing head.

I utilized a left handed endmill so I could cut the direction I wanted without climb-cutting.

Zapap Lauter Tun -- Brewery Upgrade

As part of our brewery renovation campaign after our last batch got infected, we decided to do away with the brew-in-a-bag method for all grain brewing and build an actual lauter tun. We watched a video showing different methods and devices used for a lauter tun. Some options included buying 5-10 gallon water coolers. We opted to use three 5 gallon buckets to build ours (known as a zapap lauter tun) since we are cheap.

1/8" inch drill bit used for the holes

Swiss Chard Plenty -- Garden Update 11/13/13

I'm a day late posting this, as I took these photos yesterday. My hydroponic system is doing well along with the plants upstairs. The weather has been nice, but I am beginning to lose a lot of sunlight. Here are some photos.

DOWNSTAIRS

Lettuce

The bigger plants are blocking sun from hitting the smaller plants in the middle. I should start to harvest leaves to eat salads.