The Brewery
All brewing activities take place in Ninkasi Brewery, which is my toolshed. I brew, ferment, and store the beer in the toolshed.
Brewing System:
Brewing System
I mainly use Brewtools B40pro to brew my beer
The B40pro is a brewing system without compromise. Built for enthusiasts.
- 46-liter (12 gal) tank volume and 9kg (20 lb) malt capacity
- 20-40 liter (5-11 gal) pre-boil volume for flexibility
- 3.2kW heating power (2×1.6kW) utilizing two mains inputs makes heating and boiling fast
- High accuracy with 2 digital sensors
- Conical bottom with center draining for fast and easy cleaning
- Powerful control system with 7″ touch-screen, Wifi and Bluetooth 4.2
The B40pro has an 40 liter (10 gal) boil capacity and about 9kg (20 lb) malt capacity. It is equipped with a powerful pump, which can be controlled from the touch-screen. The wort is circulated up through the center-pipe and the pump is fitted using Tri-Clamps making it very easy to remove, even when the tank is full.
The malt pipe has latches that folds out when you lift it, so you can use both your hands for lifting.
Sparging is done without tubes or pipes outside the tank. A sparge tube installed on the outside of the centerpipe follows the malt pipe when lifted also lifting the wort spreading device. This makes it very easy to sparge from a separate tank without making a mess.
After brewing with the B40pro, you never have to turn it upside down for cleaning. The centerpipe is removed easily, and you can easily clean the unit, and all the trub will be drained directly to a bucket or the drains. Use the included circulation device as a CIP solution to save time and cleaning chemicals.
The system has two digital temperature sensors – one in the bottom of the tank and one before the pump. The maxium static offset is ±0,5°C. The sensors can be individually calibrated for maximum accuracy. They have an accuracy of 0.1°C. It’s also possible to connect a third sensor (accessory) to monitor the temperature of the wort returning from the counterflow cooler, so you can pump directly to the fermenter when the temperature is right.
With powerful heating elements combining over 3,2kW (two individual 110V circuits) of power, heating the water or wort is very fast. During the boil, the PID system is deactivated and you can adjust the power output to achieve the perfect rolling boil. You can also adjust the maximum current of each mains input, to 10, 13, 15 and 16 Amps, to make sure you never blow a fuse.
All ports are 34mm Tri-Clamp fittings for maximum flexibility without leaks. As standard the system is shipped with one 3-way valve. All silicone tubes are 16x25mm food grade silicone.
The control system is custom developed and features high quality electronics. The software is constantly being improved with new features. It is updated via WiFi.
Main Fermentaion System
I use Grainfather conical fermenter with a Glycol chiller.
Temperature control is one of the most crucial elements for producing a good quality beer. It needs to be regulated and stable throughout the whole fermentation process to ensure the yeast doesn’t get stressed and ferments correctly to get the right flavor profile.With the ability to individually power and control the temperature of up to four Grainfather Conical Fermenters, each with their own fermenting schedules, the Grainfather Glycol Chiller is the perfect addition to ensure craft brewery-like results
Additional cooling connection kits (item# GF1138) are needed for each fermenter (system comes with one out of the box). With the addition of the Glycol Chiller, your system is operating at the ultimate level and you are even able to cold crash and lager. The cooling sleeve is located in between the two stainless steel walls of the Conical Fermenter which is then hooked up to the Glycol Chiller. Temperature is dialed into the digital temperature controller and the liquid travels through this sleeve, cooling the stainless steel which in turn cools the beer in the fermenter. The cooling sleeve never comes into contact with the beer, is completely concealed and does not need cleaning or sanitizing – a true innovation for a fermenter on this scale.
Secondary Fermentation system: FermZilla Flat Bottom 30L placed in a refrigerator with the heating source, which is controlled by Inkbird in a used refrigerators.
