last week I managed to put some finishing touches on some home brewing components.

• remember this old post about the chill wizard?  you know, the one for $830?  well, with some helpful tips from the folks over at homebrewtalk (my new must-read forum), I scored a march pump from a forum member and got a plate chiller for a steal via germany (email me for more info), then picked up a bunch of stainless hardware from bargainfittings (fast shipping!) and made my own pump/cooling setup for less than half the cost.
• basically, I picked up a small toolbox off of amazon for cheap, installed the pump into a base end of the box, and strapped the plate chiller to the other end.  I tossed on extras like a air purge valve on the pump out and an in-line thermometer at the wort out of the plate chiller, as well as a pump switch on the top of the box.  the whole thing is plugged into a GFCI outlet so I don’t shock the shit out of myself.
• after tightening everything with some plumbing tape, I ran my portable pump setup through my (almost finished) brew setup to test it, and after a few leak fixes everything worked like a charm.  this thing might not be the prettiest setup out there, but it gets the job done just as well as the high-end options and is simpler/significantly less expensive.
• I also kegged up my bohemian pilsner and tapped the second keg of my belgian date barleywine, which recently celebrated its first birthday.

in other beer news, AP and I were in vegas at the end of last week, and after very little persuading we headed over to burger bar for another visit.

• as usual, the selection was outstanding, especially for a burger joint in a casino.  I started off with a st feuillen saison on draft, while AP went local and had a pint of sin city’s amber ale (which she thoroughly enjoyed).
• after my initial pour, I couldn’t resist any longer, and went straight for one of my hard-to-find favorites: dogfish head’s 120 minute IPA.  I pulled the same stunt as last time and ended up cruising the strip with a cup of this liquid gold (which might not have been the best idea, as outside temps were in triple digits).
• AP and I managed to return twice more during our stay, and partook in specialties such as new belgium’s la folie ’10 (significantly more sour than last year’s, according to my palate), kiuchi’s commemorative ale (spice ain’t my thing, but these guys have the belgian complexity down pat), and bitch creek ESB from grand teton.
• I was even debating ordering up the firestone 11-13 bomber flight, but lousy luck at the craps table prevented any celebratory splurging.
• again, the service and burgers were great and the beer selection made me feel right at home.  if you’re a beer fan in vegas this is without question the place to be.

this memorial day weekend I managed to sample a great variety of beers and start on some lofty projects that have been in the planning stage for quite some time.

• on saturday I was lucky enough to find a local paintball store that filled CO2 tanks.  this made for a relatively simple fill-up, as opposed to my experience in SF.
• I also dropped by bevmo to see if they had any eric’s ale bombers in stock.  I talked to one of their buyers and it seems they aren’t ever gonna get it in, which is unfortunate, since I was all set to pick up a case of the stuff.
• I was treated to a tour of the bevmo coolers, however, and walked out with a bottle of parabola, a sixer of lagunitas undercover shutdown ’10, and a bottle of mikkeller’s it’s alright!
• I cracked the it’s alright!, remembering that a tasting of it a few years ago left me a little disappointed.  I definitely liked it more the second time around – it had a ton of barnyard funk and was very refreshing.  add a little tartness to the mix and it could be a great summer beer.
• on sunday I went with AP and the rest of the posse to naja’s for a quick beer.  the place was packed, but I managed to get a pour of dogfish’s burton baton, which was killer on a hot beach day.  it made me want to place an online order for a quick dogfish fix…
• the rest of the weekend was spent BBQing and hacking away at one of my 2 consecutive projects, a basic 4-tap keezer.  I will post a more detailed writeup when the build is finished (hopefully by the end of the week), but for now a teaser pic will have to do.
• as for the other project, let’s just say it has to do with doubling my brewing capacity and halving my brew time, and was inspired by CB’s sick setup.  more to come on that front as pieces to the puzzle fall into place.

last week the CO2 tank in my kegerator ran out of gas, so I took some pics during the tank swap.

• I use a standard converted sanyo 4912 fridge with two front-mounted perlick faucets (here is a great fridge conversion guide)
• instead of a standard CO2 tank, I use 20 oz. paintball tanks with a paintball tank regulator.
• I thought paintball tanks would be easier and cheaper to get filled, since I assumed there were more paintball tank filling places than standard tank fillers around.
• however, it turns out that paintball tanks are being filled with a different type of gas, and as a result, there aren’t many CO2 tank filling spots around anymore.  in fact, I get my tanks filled in san jose since no one in the city fills them!  what a pain in the ass.
• the only benefit to these smaller tanks is that I can fit 2 corny kegs and the tank in the fridge without any modifications.  plus, I naturally carb my kegs and only use CO2 to serve my brew, so a tank lasts a relatively long time.
• however, in the future I would love to get something like a 100lb tank with a dedicated CO2 line running to a built-in bar.  I would probably need a fill-up every decade or so…

I doubt I’m the only guy who walks into a beer bar in the city and wishes he had a tap/bottle list available on his cell phone.  I always manage to block traffic or invade someone’s personal space as I scan the taps/chalkboard/etc. for the right brew. Sometimes I panic and go for a safe bet, then kick myself when I see something interesting that I overlooked.

• city beer store has the occasional email update, and dave over at healthy spirits updates his blog on a regular basis, but I think we still have a way to go in this area.
• the thing is, the idea of a mobile tap broadcast isn’t new. check out taplister, a user-updated bar database that is accessible via SMS and twitter and is optimized for mobile access.  they even have a live video feed of a bar’s chalkboard.  only thing is, it’s available only in Portland at the moment, and I don’t think it gets updated that often (Higgins has zero beers on tap? hmmm…).  a basic rundown can be found here.
• on top of that, there’s this affiliated program called beer signal that enables you to tell your friends where you are imbibing real-time so they can meet up.  this could be a great way to organize a city beer store session after work or to promote a happy hour.
• I figure some beer lover in SF could easily throw together a mobile web app (and maybe an accompanying iphone app) for the city in the same vein as taplister, but with even more features.  individuals could update and view existing tap lists using their phones, and the app could even link existing taps to style descriptions or even beeradvocate ratings to allow for more informed beer selections.
• i had also read somewhere that one or two individual bars in portland have released proprietary mobile programs where they update their beer selection.  I would definitley prefer a more universal application, but I wonder how long it will take before toronado, magnolia, or 21st amendment jump on board and start offering similar services…
• for other somewhat interesting phone beer apps, check out here and here.