I use a home built two-tier RIMS (Re-circulating infusion mash system), using recycled 50 litre stainless steel kegs. The tops have been cut open.

This is the hot side of my brewing set-up:

A typical brewing session goes like this:

Plan recipe

First I decide what to brew. Maybe someone at the previous Wort Hog meeting inspired me. Maybe I tasted a brilliant beer somewhere... I use a software program to calculate levels of ingredients, etc. I have various forms for to keep track of things on the brewing day. Those homebrews for the nerves have a habit of letting things go astray...:

Make yeast starter

I am a yeast man - I usually grow up a starter from some slants I keep:

Or I'll start with an imported yeast smack pack. Or I'll get some fresh yeast from Moritz (Drayman's Brewery). More fun - I'll try to capture yeast from commercial beer (draft preferably!).

This usually takes about a week - a speck of yeast into 5ml of wort, shake like hell, two days later pitch into 50ml of wort, two days later into 500ml and finally into 2 litres of wort. Two days later into the brew

This is what the yeast starter looks like, just before pitching:

Clean brewing tanks, etc

Measure and crush malt

I use a home built crusher, built by my brother Johan. It works like a bomb! It takes less than 10 minutes to crush 10kg of malt:

Measure hops

Fill hot liquor tank

Calibrate pH meter

Adjust hot liquor pH, salts

A picture of my "lab":

Heat hot liquor to 77C.

For heating I use high pressure gas burners - check that flame:

Sterilise counter-flow chiller, pump, etc.

This I do by re-circulating boiling water from my boiler through the chiller for 10 to 15 minutes. I built a counter-flow chiller using 15ml and 20ml copper tubing. It reduces the temperature from boiling to 25C:

Here's a picture of the magnetically coupled pump:

Sterilise fermentation tank, fermentation lock and fermentation fridge

Mash in

Using a ratio of 2.5 units of water (62C to 68C) to 1 unit of malt, I mash in into the mash tun. It has a false bottom to allow for the drawing off of clear wort. This is the inside of the mash tun:

I keep the mash at the desired temperature for about 90 minutes, using the pump and the gas flame under the mash tun. (I do not re-circulate all the time - only when the temperature drops too far). This is what the mash looks like:

Measure pH after 10 min

Fill hot liquor tank for sparging

Adjust sparge water pH

Heat sparge water

Re-circulate wort until clean, about 10 minutes

Sparge wort into kettle

Using water heated to 77C, I sparge the wort from the mash. This usually takes about one hour. I use gravity feed for the sparge water:

Measure first runnings

Measure last runnings

Measure volume, SG, pH of wort

Boil wort

I believe in a vigorous boil for 90 minutes, like this:

Add bittering hops t-60, where t= end of boil time

Add flavour hops & Irish Moss t-15

Discard spent grains

Add aroma hops t-1

Top-up water to desired level

Stop boil

Stir and wait 20 minutes

Sterilise oxygen stone

Sterilise oxygen pipe

 Force cool wort into fermenter

This is what is left in the boiler after the wort has been pumped off:

Add oxygen

 I add medical grade oxygen at 35kPa for 5 minutes, pumped through an oxygen stone, like this:

Pitch yeast

Ferment in fermentation fridge

Clean-up

Finished for the day!

By now I've earned the couple of homebrews I've been drinking to ease the process...

Later the week:

Sterilise bottles/ kegs

Sterilise secondary fermenter

Rack beer into secondary

Prepare finings

Wait 24h

Add finings

Wait two to three days

Sterilise racking off container

Rack off

Bottle/keg

Drink!