WELCOME TO BLUE DOG BREWING

THE HOMEPAGE OF MARK AND CHUCK

Bundaberg Queensland

 

THE STORY OF BLUEDOG BREWING.............

WHEN A MAN decides to go back to basics and make his own beer it seems such a simple thing but now we know just how complicated it can get. It helps to have a supportive spouse, partner, drinking buddy as the costs are sure to continue in the pursuit of the perfect beer.

We had been homebrewing, using kits, but didn't enjoy the process of bottling so we quickly turned to kegs and gassing our beer with Carbon Di Oxide (Co2). So we thought.... we have plenty of fermenters and kegs so it should be easy to take it to the next level and make All-Grain beer.

We sensibly drew up a budget and costed building a brewery, buying burners and vessels and grain and hops and yeast. Then came the bling, like silicone hoses and stainless fittings.

Needless to say we then discovered yeast farming and if you're interested, follow the yellow link above to our pages on making slants and yeast cultures.

It has been a labour of love and learning and as each new project took on a life of its own we have shared the journey with additional web pages. We wanted an honest record of our successes (and failures) and hope that the pictorial diaries inspire others to take the leap and begin to make their own gear and brew good beer.

Follow the links above and to the side and you will see how we build equipment, quite often reforming scrap steel into useful tools, vessels and lifting apparatus. Interestingly one job just seems to lead to another so we developed a "What's New at Bluedog" page {see the green link above} so if you've been here before you can see quickly jump to see the latest project we're working on.

We'd be lying if we said it was cheap and plenty of new items have been purchased which boosted the local economy and some which gave customs an extra workload too. We justify all this by reminding ourselves that buying a boat, registering the trailer and going fishing would have cost a lot more..... and we don't like fish but we do like beer.

That's also how we justified building a new 6 tap Kegerator even though we had a perfectly good 6 tap Refrigerator! And how when we hated that new Kegerator.... we brought a new fridge so we have a matching pair!!

The overhead hoist system didn't need any justifying and is worth it's weight in gold, allowing us to handle heavy objects and move them effortlessly around the brewing area. And that's how the projects continue.... one thing just somehow leads to another...

Another thing we noticed about brewers... they also seem to be Foodies... and there are endless pages devoted to making the perfect bread, cheese, sausage.... and we're just as bad. We do make our own sausage (specializing in Italian Sausage), bread, Pizza sauce and Pizza base, cheese and our latest venture is to make and smoke our Bacon. Life's to short to eat inferior food!

Please enjoy the visit and we hope you're inspired to join the ranks - if you check back always take a look at the WHAT's NEW link above... that's where we update our gear and tell you honestly how things work and what doesn't work so well.

If you're wondering about the name, Chuck is the Bluedog who's with us every step of the way

This is the current set up where we enjoy the final product...

April 2011

- and here is the VERY latest beer fridge.

What do you mean we're always changing? Oh ok, you're right. If you rollover these images you'll see the one which preceded it (if you have scripts enabled). It seems to be our motto that you can always have a better beer fridge.

You'll see that these two photos roll between the new Fridge and the previous Kegerator constructed from a chest freezer.

We were never very happy with the Kegerator. It was too difficult to clean the inside & remove the build up of water, the timber would weep brown stains down the outside and it was so high that lifting the kegs in and out was a pain... even with the little jib crane system.

Something had to be done so it was off to town to buy an upright fridge to match our existing one... For when you just have to have 12 taps - a brewer could never need more, could he?

The major improvements we made to this fridge design were:

6 Individual Pressure Regulators so that each beer can be served at just the right pressure
No more harsh overhead light when serving beer. Subtle white LED strip lights the 6 taps
Stainless back and two stainless drip trays built to order
Perlick taps of course, there is just nothing better
New way to display the names of the beer on each tap and to light the labels a blue LED strip light
Timber tap handles, made in the workshop on the lathe and stained and varnished to a dark timber finish to match other timber work on the fridge

For a full pictorial diary of the build of this new fridge and all the specifications check out the 2011 Fridge link

This was the previous fridge and the one before that... when you just knew that 6 taps would be all you could ever need!

2011 is shaping up to be a BIG year and setting up two identical upright fridges is the idea.

This shot of the bar shows the newest fridge closest to camera, with new lighting, timber handles on perlick creamer style taps.

The centre fridge will now go to the workshop to be re-worked so it's identical to the first one.

The third fridge in the photo is the storage fridge, and holds what needs to come into the serving fridges.

And of course the Bluedog guards them all!

A night shot of the new 2011 fridge.

Subtle LED track lighting, blue to highlight the Beer nameplates and white to shine down onto the serving area.

We had the stainless backs and drip trays made to order and we drilled all the holes in the stainless drip trays.

So this was the set up for 2010 - before we ditched the poor old kegerator....... Arhh 12 taps it's barely enough

This was going to be the best thing on wheels but personally we didn't like it. Follow this link if you'd like to see how the Kegerator was built.

Inside the Kegerator: CO2 bottle fits neatly inside the 275L Chest freezer along with 6 19L Corny Kegs

Inside the upright fridge, again... 6 x 19L Corny Kegs on a two tiered stand. Easy to get in and out.

This Kegerator was taken out of the fold in April 2011 and sent to the brewery to become a chilling, gassing and conditioning chestie. The 6 perlick taps were recycled into the new upright fridge.

Custom built sink unit with an end cabinet to house the CO2 bottle.

Fridge on the right holds 5 kegs & is connected to high pressure gas for initial gassing before kegs are moved to the serving fridge on the left.

The bar. Seats 6 comfortably, a few steps from the beer fridge. Made from scrap steel from the dump and a timber slab. We sit outside at the bar {in a screened room} every evening & use a patio heater a few times during winter.

Building things for mates

Built this for a brewer who had a height restriction in his shed. It has a winched platform to handle the HLT

The winch raises up out of harms way when not in use

Even had a hinged step so he could see in the mash tun!

This item has nothing to do with beer making but if you're in the building game and need to use cyclone straps... I designed and built this unit for a builder mate.

Does 300 straps in about 20 minutes, adjusts to fit several sizes/style of strap and requires very little effort to press the straps into a perfect shape every time.

So easy to operate the apprentice or wife can do it!

Building the new All-Grain brewery

We kept a photo journal of the building process as there were no plans or prints to work from and it was quite a bit of that old rule about measure twice - cut once! This is what we achieved.

Click on this link if you'd like to take a look at the BlueDog Self Contained Brewing UnitNo! we're not taking orders. It was a labour of love.... we love our beer

Building an overhead hoist system

About a year into all-grain brewing we realised that we weren't getting any younger and the loads weren't getting any lighter.... This called for some serious consideration of our health and well being so we designed and built an overhead gantry system which covers a 3m x 6.5m area.

As we use chest freezers as fermenting and crash chill cabinets this hoist allows easy lift and manoeuvre of kegs and double fermenters anywhere in the brewing area.

Once again there were no plans or prints to work from - just a man on a mission to ensure he can keep brewing as old age creeps inevitably nearer.

This is a link to the HOIST Construction and installation page

We hope you enjoy reading about these brewery project. We don't hold ourselves to be experts by any means but we enjoy the end product so we're always trying to improve the brewing process for ourselves.

If you've learned anything here, we're delighted. We're also glad to receive any feedback or if we can help, just ask. Cheers !

Links to Other Beer Sites

Aussie Home Brewer This is the site where we learned how to brew all-grain beer. Forums, advice and a recipe database

Craftbrewer And this is a good starting place to buy stuff - They are very efficient and prices are excellent

Beersmith This software is designed by brewers for brewers. You can create Recipes and also send & receive them

Country Brewer An Aussie supplier of all your brewing needs

Beer Belly Another Aussie supplier

Contact the Blue Dog by email at...........