Inspectors Pocket Brewery

Welcome to my Little Brewery Blog

Brewing has been a part of my life since an early age. As a sixteen year old I worked in a Bakery with my dear dad. As it happened the bakery had a supply of both light and dark malt extract stored in large drums. This was used for making malt bread, but I knew from reading that it could be used to make beer. After finding a book on brewing ales in the city library, I set about making my dad some beer. Using dried hops, which one could buy at the grocer shop back in 1967. I mixed the extract with boiled water and added bakers yeast at 72°F (the scale at the time) and fermented the 5 gallons in a large plastic bin. I remember the recipe was from an English book on brewing at home was named Avon Ale. After fermentation the beer was primed with sugar for bottle conditioning and stored away for 6 weeks. Both mum and dad thought the beer was good, but didn't request that I maintain my newfound hobby.

Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Brewery Upgrade 2014

Brewery MK VI

2014 Built a New Control Box using Auberins PID Controllers

Control Box Front Panel

BreweryMK VI

DIN rail mounted SSRs, Circuit breakers and Timer

Outlets and Probe connectors

Sparge Return Arm

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Brewery MK V

All Brass fittings now replaced with Stainless Steel, an updated controlbox and the pump has been relocated for simplicity of plumbing.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Brewery MK IV

4 Vessel HERMS Brewery

The Brewery/Bar/Shed

50L Mash/Lauter Tun

Floating Sparge/Wort Return

80L Kettle with Whirlpool

HERMS Heat Exchanger

Grain Mill and Hopper

SS Plate Chiller

Old Brewery Equipment

Cooler Mash Tun

Hot Liquor Tun

SS Braid Manifold

50L Kettle

My Little Brewery

My little Brewery was born following a caravanning holiday around Australia in 2004 - 2005.

After visiting a Craft Brewery near where we were living on the Sunshine Coast (Queensland) in 2000 I had become interested in beer which actually had some colour, flavour and aroma.

While staying in Perth, Western Australia in November of 2004 I discovered the Feral Brewery in the Swan Valley. The Ales were so complex, the experience was akin to discovering very good red wine all over again. I could not believe beer could taste so good, all over again. Having been convinced to stay loyal to my brand of fizzy yellow mega lager over some 30 years I had found them now lacking the flavours and aromas which were present so many years before. My beer brand had let me down and I had turned to wine for flavour and aromas in my alcoholic beverages, still deep down I was really a beer lover.

On our travels I began to seek out small Craft Breweries and soon found many more in WA, then South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria and finally New South Wales.

While visiting Grumpy's Brewhaus at Verdun, South of Adelaide the brewer explained how easy it was to make Real Beer at home. Not from kits or malt extract as I had done in the past, but from malted barley. Could hardly wait to return home and begin experimenting, however this was to take almost another 12 months.

Upon returning home I didn't waste any time joining the Grumpy's Homebrew Internet Forum. To my surprise I discovered there was a member of the forum living only 3 kilometres from my home. He was brewing all grain beer and buying ingredients online from Grumpy's. We were soon getting together to share knowledge and some brews of course.

In 2005 I began collecting and fabricating equipment and was soon making beer using the partial mash method, using extract and steeped specialty malts. Not long after I made my first all grain beer. Still remember how good it was, so much better than anything I had made before.

Very soon I discovered the wealth of information available on another forum Aussiehomebrewer.com where experienced brewers shared their experience and gave freely of their time. The forum enabled the forging of some valued and lasting friendships and the fruits of my brewing labour began to improve greatly. Looking back, boy did I make some crappy beer in the early days!

Over time the equipment has changed, most I have fabricated myself in the shed. Now the brewery has a brewlength of 70 litres and mash temperature is maintained using a HERMS system.