Welcome to the Forever Brewery, home of long time prominent Falcons, Bruce Brode and Brian Vessa.
Together these two go on brewing sprees every spring to support a set of parties they throw and to bring beer to the club
festivals. The Forever Brewery was named after the amount of time they thought it would take to finish the brew system.
The big features on the their system is the use of a combination mash tun / boiler and a set of cooler based
lauter tuns. The big kettle they use is unique to their brewery and was ordered from a Midwest manufacturer. The original design was for
the cosmetics industry, but B & B have added an extra valve for running off during the boil. This central feature of the system cost the
pair several hundred dollars. Fortunately, it's been working for them for over a decade.
This is a big gallery of pics from their system and is split across a couple of pages.
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Housed behind Bruce Brode's apartment, the Forever Brewery is a large scale system
shared by Bruce and Brian.
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One of the major features on the system is the large ball valve used to remove the mash from the tun.
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You've got to wear the sun glasses when you're brewing, doncha know?
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The secret operational brewer fuel for the Forever Brewers.
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This mash may look a little strange, but don't be disturbed. The odd bumpy things are puffed corn that Bruce and Brian use in this Cream Ale recipe.
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It's early in the day and Brian takes his crack at the brewer aerobics program as he raises the beer to adjust for a temperature fluctuation.
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Now Bruce gets his exercise to work off the beer. The photographer did take his turn at the paddle, but fortunately no photos were taken.
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Foundation water is added to the lauter tuns for preheating and foundation water. The water is distributed down a Y and falls through the slotted pipes on top. This is also how Bruce maintains the youthful glow of his skin with brewing session steam skin treatment.
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Brian makes a funny face as the steam rises from the lauter tun. This small green lauter tun is used whenever the Forever Brewery is running at maximum output.
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From the mash/boil kettle, the mash runs at a full tilt boogie into the lauter tuns. You can see the steam rising off the mash which has finished a mash out rest of 170.
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When the mash kettle valve is opened, Bruce stirs in the kettle to keep the flow free and smooth. Brian maintains the two lauter tuns.
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Bruce and Brian are very proud of their little system.
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The very last bits of the mash are scooped out of the kettle with a help of a tilt as Brian stirs the bed to even it out.
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And to be good frugal brewers, a kettle scraping finishes the mash.
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To change the kettle from mashing to boiling, the boys clean the kettle. On the left hand side of the kettle you can make out the plug that is exchanged to have a ball valve for flowing out the wort after the boil.
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This is ball valve that is screwed into place before the boil and is what they use for attaching the counter flow chiller. You'll notice the creative use of duct tape to support the tube through which the wort flows.
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To ease the collection of the wort for transfer and recirculation, the Forever boys use a small pot traditional lauter grant.
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