It's been a long time since we brewed -- not since we moved into our new condo, and probably not for several months before then.

A few things kept us from brewing... Our new place has a fiberglass bathtub, and bleach (our standard brewery cleaner and disinfectant) isn't good for it's surface. So, an alternate cleaner had to be found. We also had to buy rubber mats to put in and around the tub to clean the equipment. The plastic fermenter (HDPE) is also getting a little old, and should be changed soon. I'm looking at some stainless fermenters, but they're a little pricey. :-)

With the bathtub problem squared away (I'm picking up the new cleaner this week), I've decided to keep the old fermenter for now and brew a batch on September 14th. I'd like to brew before then, but I have to pickup some yeast this week and get the starter ready (takes about 5-7 days).

This week-end, I rolled out the brewery, cleaned it, and made sure everything was functioning properly. As I suspected, a crutial piece was corroded and had to be taken apart for repair. Luckily Mike was here to provide some useful suggestions, such as using a Vinegar + Hydrogen Peroxide mix to remove the corrosion.

I hope to have the beer ready for the first week of October. We'll probably have to invite a few friends over to finish the keg since we're leaving on vacation the 19th! :-)