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Tons of cool stuff going on at The Black Lodge this weekend. With some guidance from the folks at the 23b shop in Fullerton, CA we are hoping to start construction of our new foundry. With any luck we'll be smelting brass, bronze, and aluminum any day now!
This Sunday we will also be running a class on how to brew one of lifes most precious fluids..beer.
If I can find a few moments at the space I may even finish off that .22 caliber AR-15 upper I've been fucking around with.
Interested in starting a 'hackerspace' of your own? Then come check out the hackerspaces panel talk at Defcon. BethM, NickFarr, myself, and others will be there to talk about the things we do and answer questions. Check it out
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You want to get your beer off its trub* before it imparts off flavors into the brew. You typically do this a week or so into the fermentation process, right after the chaotic primary ferment begins to die down. The process is simple enough, but easy to screw up. You move your primary tank to a high location, trying not to disturb the trub. You then siphon the beer (but not the trub) into a clean/sterilized secondary tank. You then put a water lock on the secondary tank and put it back into your brewing room (or closet, stairwell, whatever). Simple enough right? Well at this stage of brewing you dont want to introduce bacteria into the beer as it could cause the beer to spoil. Bacteria could be introduced as the result of improperly sterilized equipment or even by getting too much air into the beer. When transferring the beer into its secondary tank try to keep your siphon close to the bottom of the secondary tank so the beer pours in rather than having it rain down into the tank and aerate in the process.
If when moving your primary fermenter to a location to siphon the trub gets stirred up, let it sit for a bit. 90% of beer brewing is sitting around being patient. Don't do this 30 minutes before your kid needs to be picked up from soccer practice or as your mother-in-law is enroute to the house.
If your primary ferment was over and done way before you had a chance to move things into secondary, you may want to toss some confectioners sugar into your secondary tank before you begin transfering. This confectioners sugar (1/4 cup, maybe 2/3 cup) will kick off a small fermentation in the secondary tank that in turn will help force all the oxygen out of the environment and ensure you a CO2 filled wonderland in which your beer may grow and thrive.
*trub is the sediment that collects at the bottom of the fermenter