The Beer Brewing Process: Brewing Equipment Explained
I was given a video that shows you how to build your own micro-brewery on a budget. In the video Tom Hennessy goes through commercial brew systems from several micro & craft breweries, including his own. These brew systems are not your normal turn-key systems that can cost about a quarter of a million dollars. These systems are built with used tanks from dairies and other places.
The name of the video is FrankenBrew, because the brew systems are made from spare parts and brought to life and some do look like brew monsters. It was great to hear the different brewers talk about how they built their brew systems, where they found the parts and demonstrate how the work. I like the old wooded ore used as a mash paddle. You also hear a few things they say they would not do again, ever.
I was very impressed with Tom’s presentation; he has a thorough understanding of the brewing process and how to get things done on a shoestring budget. He not only shows how to build a big brew system on a budget, he also explains how the system works. As a homebrewer I learned quit a few tricks that I can use when brewing. As a beer lover it was great to see and understand what goes into brewing the craft beer I love.
I think anybody who is into craft beer should see this video. It will help you appreciate the process and equipment used to brew beer, including the bottling and labeling process. I have a feeling that anybody who watches this video will have the urge to start their own micro or craft brewery.
The video I had received was on an old VHS tape and it was produced back in 1995. A friend of mine wanted to by a copy of the video on DVD but it was nowhere to be found. He was interested, because he is hoping to build a small brewery over the next year or two. FrankenBrew was not being produced anymore and it had never been on DVD.
Well, I tracked down Tom Hennessy to ask him about the FrankenBrew video. I found him in the mountains. He is a part-time mountain ranger and of course he is in the process of building another craft brewery. Once you get brewing in your blood, it’s there for the rest of your life.
I talked with Tom about the current boom in the Craft Beer industry and the beer markets trends. There is a big shift from the light, tasteless, fizzy water to robust flavorful full bodied beers. And, with the shift there needs to be more breweries that can brew the beer people want.
With the popularity of craft beer Tom and I talked about the need to revive FrankenBrew. He was well aware of the Craft Beer craze and wanted to bring it back on DVD already. In just a few weeks FrankenBrew was digitized and converted to DVD and repackaged. The only place that is selling it so far is BeerBooks, but I am sure you will be able to find it everywhere soon.