Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: Apartment-Size Brewing Refrigerator  (Read 2492 times)

Offline Slowbrew

  • I spend way too much time on the AHA forum
  • ********
  • Posts: 2857
  • The Slowly Losing IT Brewery in Urbandale, IA
Re: Apartment-Size Brewing Refrigerator
« Reply #15 on: August 19, 2020, 08:02:23 am »
I guess I don't understand your rant.  Are you saying we are not innovative enough?  Granted, there are now a slew of Grainfathers and Picobrews out there.  But there are still those who are creative.  I have converted a used window air conditioner (bought at a garage sale for $5) to a glycol chiller.  Can I be in your club?
You definitely belong in the man club!

Me, I am a thinker not a doer. I’d rather pay someone else to build my equipment, etc.

Everyone is different.  I am in the opposite camp, sort of.  I really enjoy designing and building things.  I have many times gotten more enjoyment out of building my equipment than I did using the updates I built.  Using the devices seems incremental where as building seems substantial.  But that's just me.

I can't speak for Mark, these are just the thoughts of an old guy with four children in the Millennial and, whatever the next generation is called, groups.  These groups seem to be stereotyped as lazy, self absorbed, picky, coddled and needy.  My kids are none of these things.  Most of their friends are not these things either.  They are just as inquisitive and creative as my generation was/is.  They just have a much harder wall to climb due to the current structure of our economy and business structures.

For the record, I missed the Boomer generation by 21 days and I straddle Boomer and Gen-X.  Do you know what my grandparents thought of our generations?  They thought we were lazy, self absorbed, picky, coddled and needy.   ;D

I don't want to preach but let's all remember "individuals are smart, people are stupid" and not paint entire generations with such a broad brush.  We were all young once and I'd guess if I could have purchased a Grainfather or a Foundry in my 20's, I would have.  Innovation comes in many forms and at many points in one's life.  I have always told my kids to "fly your flag and see who follows, those will be the people you enjoy being with".  And so far, so good.

IM(very)HO.

Paul
Where the heck are we going?  And what's with this hand basket?

Offline denny

  • Administrator
  • Retired with too much time on my hands
  • *****
  • Posts: 27093
  • Noti OR [1991.4, 287.6deg] AR
    • Dennybrew
Re: Apartment-Size Brewing Refrigerator
« Reply #16 on: August 19, 2020, 08:21:53 am »
I guess I don't understand your rant.  Are you saying we are not innovative enough?  Granted, there are now a slew of Grainfathers and Picobrews out there.  But there are still those who are creative.  I have converted a used window air conditioner (bought at a garage sale for $5) to a glycol chiller.  Can I be in your club?

This plays into the homebrew attitude of the harder you work, the more valid your hobby is.  I disagree.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline Wilbur

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 876
Re: Apartment-Size Brewing Refrigerator
« Reply #17 on: August 19, 2020, 12:49:48 pm »


I guess I don't understand your rant.  Are you saying we are not innovative enough?  Granted, there are now a slew of Grainfathers and Picobrews out there.  But there are still those who are creative.  I have converted a used window air conditioner (bought at a garage sale for $5) to a glycol chiller.  Can I be in your club?
You definitely belong in the man club!

Me, I am a thinker not a doer. I’d rather pay someone else to build my equipment, etc.

Everyone is different.  I am in the opposite camp, sort of.  I really enjoy designing and building things.  I have many times gotten more enjoyment out of building my equipment than I did using the updates I built.  Using the devices seems incremental where as building seems substantial.  But that's just me.

I can't speak for Mark, these are just the thoughts of an old guy with four children in the Millennial and, whatever the next generation is called, groups.  These groups seem to be stereotyped as lazy, self absorbed, picky, coddled and needy.  My kids are none of these things.  Most of their friends are not these things either.  They are just as inquisitive and creative as my generation was/is.  They just have a much harder wall to climb due to the current structure of our economy and business structures.

For the record, I missed the Boomer generation by 21 days and I straddle Boomer and Gen-X.  Do you know what my grandparents thought of our generations?  They thought we were lazy, self absorbed, picky, coddled and needy.   ;D

I don't want to preach but let's all remember "individuals are smart, people are stupid" and not paint entire generations with such a broad brush.  We were all young once and I'd guess if I could have purchased a Grainfather or a Foundry in my 20's, I would have.  Innovation comes in many forms and at many points in one's life.  I have always told my kids to "fly your flag and see who follows, those will be the people you enjoy being with".  And so far, so good.

IM(very)HO.

Paul

+1

I like to believe there's a universal law of stupidity,  stupidity (or intelligence) cannot be created or destroyed but can only be transferred.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk


Offline kgs

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1068
  • Sonoma County, CA
Re: Apartment-Size Brewing Refrigerator
« Reply #18 on: August 19, 2020, 05:23:46 pm »
... I know that I am being a little "hey boomer," which is a pejorative that is slung at Baby Boomers by Millennials ...

Well, actually... it's "OK Boomer"

(From one to another)
K.G. Schneider
AHA Member

Offline erockrph

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 7788
  • Chepachet, RI
    • The Hop WHisperer
Re: Apartment-Size Brewing Refrigerator
« Reply #19 on: August 19, 2020, 07:22:55 pm »


I guess I don't understand your rant.  Are you saying we are not innovative enough?  Granted, there are now a slew of Grainfathers and Picobrews out there.  But there are still those who are creative.  I have converted a used window air conditioner (bought at a garage sale for $5) to a glycol chiller.  Can I be in your club?

This plays into the homebrew attitude of the harder you work, the more valid your hobby is.  I disagree.

I agree, Denny. What makes it a hobby is because I can choose what I want to invest my time in and what I want to invest my money in. I certainly appreciate the cool factor of an impressive build or gear, but I'm more interested in what makes my brew day easier or allows me to brew more often in my tight schedule.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

Offline Lisamandy

  • 1st Kit
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Re: Apartment-Size Brewing Refrigerator
« Reply #20 on: July 08, 2022, 06:55:15 am »
Call me old school, but I have always used an apartment-size refrigerator as a multi-purpose brewing refrigerator.  An apartment size (10 to 14cu. ft) refrigerator is big here enough to hold at least two soda kegs with picnic taps while providing me with space to store blank media, my culture collectidon, and sterile starter media in refrigerator section.  I store hops and dried yeast in the freezer section.  My old brewing refrigerator was a 10cu. ft. Samsung non-frost free unit.  That went with my old brewery, so I am now looking at a Whirlpool 11.6 cu. ft. Top Freezer Refrigerator.

In a day and age where people are using freezers as keezers and have dedicated chillers for fermentation,  I wonder what people are using to store their hops and yeast.  What happened to the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) approach to amateur brewing?  Did it go away after non-engineers dominated what used to be primarily an engineer's (or at least STEM graduates) hobby in the United States?  If anyone doubts that this hobby used to be dominated by engineering types, all he/she only needs to look at the pioneers.  Charlie P. was a nuclear engineer.  John Palmer was a metallurgical engineer.  I was and still am a computer scientist and engineer (BS and MS degrees in computer science and engineering).  Early brewing was like a mad monks squad of offbeat engineering types (maybe, offbeat was a little too kind).  It was a geek hobby that few people understood. My only guess as to why engineering types dominated amateur brewing in the early days is that it required engineer's ability to build things that people want using things one can get. Sure, there were non-engineers, but they were creative enough to build their own stuff.

I guess I don't get the point of your tirade. Do you mean to argue that we don't innovate enough? Yes, there are now numerous Grainfathers and Picobrews available. However, creative people are still present. I turned a secondhand window air conditioner that I had purchased for $5 from a garage sale into a glycol chiller. Should I join your club?

Offline redrocker652002

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 768
Re: Apartment-Size Brewing Refrigerator
« Reply #21 on: July 08, 2022, 08:06:44 am »
I have an old dorm fridge that was converted into a kegerator, I bought it already done for 50 bucks I think.  And it included the tap, and homemade tower made from steel pipe.  It also included the regulator.  My fermenting space is a hall closet that I am going to try a temp controller for the first time.  My neighbor just put out a standing fridge with a freezer above it for free.  She says it works, but we have had some pretty thick fog for the last few days, so I am doubting it works now.  Wife would not have been happy to see it over here, so I decided to let it pass this time and deal more with the process of me making the beer.  I love the DIY stuff, and I had some PVC left over and made a bucket and keg washer that I have been using.  Need to tweak it a bit.  Found a really cool Youtube Vid of a guy who made a bottle washer out of pvc and fountain pens.  Might give that a whirl as I have a bunch of pvc laying around.  I do say the new stuff is pretty cool, the Anvil Foundry is a wish list for me, but the fun in it all is sitting around, having a few home brews and actually making beer.  Not filling up a bucket and turning on a switch.  At least for now, that is how I think.  RR