I got a text from Mike Thomas, Colorado Boy Brewer extraordinaire, who was out doing the first brew with students of ours opening Tenn Lakes Brewing, in Lebanon, Tennessee. Everything was ready to go but somehow the sparge arm was lost at sea. What to do? Frankenbrew.
When I was building my first brewery in 1993, I was inspired by McMenemin’s up in Portland, Oregon and their use of old Grundy tanks as well as used dairy equipment to build their breweries. I joked about the Frankenstein system I was building using cobbled-together equipment and jokingly called it Frankenbrew.
After opening the second brewery like this in Salida, Colorado in 1994, I decided to make a video on how to do this sort of thing and called it Frankenbrew, and the name has stuck all these years later.
Don’t get me wrong, I love turn-key systems designed for efficiency and quality, but I have always argued that if you can’t afford a turn-key system, there is no harm in going the Frankenbrew way, and that is the whole idea behind The Affordable Brewery. A Frankenbrew system can make world-class beers. You still must have sanitary equipment, great ingredients and know what you are doing, but there is no harm in using these alternative systems. In fact, I find them much more interesting than a turn-key operation.
That said, I still think you should go with a proper real brew kettle from a manufacturer. After that however there are plenty of opportunities to Frankenbrew the rest. The more money you have, then a nice mash tun or fermenter are a good investment. But a $1,500 dairy tank will work just as well. Believe me.
I know this is heresy to some of my brewing friends and not for everyone, but I’m sticking to my guns here and even if you have a turn-key system, there will come a day when the unexpected happens and you need to rig something up to get through a brew. That’s simply the Frankenbrew way. I honor all those who have gone this route because it was the only way they could get their brewery done. I recommit to my allegiance with the people who embrace this philosophy, whether with a full-on Frankenbrew system, or by using imagination to create a simple sparge system. Way to go Mike.
I would love to hear your Frankenbrew stories!
I know of a brewery that took the spinning sprayer from inside a dishwasher and added it to their dairy tank mash tun for their “sparge arm” on their 7bbl system
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