Greet Spring with a home-made bazooka

Seasons here are nuts.... It officially turned Spring last week, and suddenly this week half the trees are covered in blossom and daffodils are growing on bowling balls in airless rooms.

Last weekend we finally got the chance to play with some of our new beer toys... Out of a combination of necessity and parsimony, our shiny, shiny home-made bazooka-screen was born:


This neat piece of equipment screws into the inside of our new brewing kettle (on the opposite side of the tap) and filters all the wort as it pours out, removing all the hops and stuff. This is especially important when using a plate chiller, as getting that blocked would be a big pain in the proceedings.

Here's a picture of the new kettle at work (the bazooka is already in place, of course):


And the plate-chiller in action.... It's a happy miracle of physics, the way boiling hot wort enters from up the stairs, and 20°C wort comes out the other side. It saved an immense amount of time and water, and is extra-awesome for working the same way as penguin feet.

Kettle ahoy

A kindly welder took pity on us, and modified our 55L keg into a brewing kettle.... There's just something about a large vessel that requires looking into:



It's universal.