A couple weeks ago a brewed up a third beer from the Brooklyn Brew Shop Beer Making Book. This time, I went with the Well Made Tripel at 9.9%. And I employed a few new tools to make the process a little easier.

First, I picked up a 10-inch strainer from a local cooking supply shop. It can hold a full batch of grain and sits nicely over my 8 quart pot and my new lime green bucket with pouring spout.

Instead of sparging over my pot, I ran water over the mash into the bucket.

Then I transferred the strainer with mash to the pot, and poured the wert through once more.

My second new tool is a bigger funnel to which I stuck a tea strainer. The strainer has an adhesive and is used inside tea pots.

This worked well to strain the hops.

Perhaps too well. As I needed to push aside the hops sediment else the liquid would not pass through.

Two Weeks Later

After two weeks under the counter, it was time to bottle this beautiful looking beer.

The auto siphon once again made this a breeze. Though I find it’s a two-person job. One person pumps while the other ensures the tubing stays in the pot. After it gets going, one person can handle it, as you can see.

I bottled this nearly two weeks ago. So might give it a try this coming weekend.

A finally, a gratuitous shot of the trub looking down through the fermenter.

Brewed: January 28, 2012
Bottled: February 11
Drinkable: February 25