by David Flint
A little less than a year ago Glenn Winters realized, “I’ve got a product here!” Winters, who lives on West Street in New Lebanon, had combined his 20 years experience in brewing beer and ale as a hobby with his talents and many years experience in metal fabricating, equipment manufacturing and product design. What he came up with is an innovative brewing system he calls the “Wort Monster.” [private]Wort (pronounced “wert”) is the sugar-rich liquid extracted from the milled grain in the brewer’s mash process prior to boiling and fermenting. Winters’ system is aimed at home brewers and nano-brewers, though he expects that larger brewers may also be interested in it as a pilot system for testing new recipes. A nano-brewery, such as Beer Diviner Jonathan Post’s Bly Hollow Brewery in Cherry Plain, typically produces less than three barrels in a batch. Winters unveiled his half barrel size system to the public on Saturday, September 28, at the Craft Brew Harvest Festival held in Stephentown at the Beer Diviner Tap Room & Market.
The system consists, basically, of three stainless steel pots for the actual brewing, one for the hot liquor, one for the mashing and the
boiling kettle. The innovation comes in the two conical fermentation tanks. Stainless steel fermentation tanks are very expensive. Winters wanted a system that would use the best stainless steel sanitary fittings yet be affordable for the serious home brewer or nano-brewer. The solution was to develop a plastic tank with stainless steel inserts molded to the plastic. The top of the tanks has a large size opening to facilitate cleaning and a threaded o-ring sealed cap with a lanyard for dry hopping. With the stainless steel inserts and fittings, Winters said the tanks are “super easy” to clean. He will be selling his system in pieces or as a package with lots of options starting October 15. It will come in two sizes, two barrel and half barrel or keg size. At the Festival he was offering a complete half barrel package with a 24 gallon fermenter for $6,295 delivered (within 200 miles of Albany).
Winters is optimistic that the Wort Monster will generate interest and sales. He believes that recent legislation in New York State providing for a Farm Brewery license will result in nano-breweries popping up all over. He plans to concentrate on local sales for now, preferring to be close to customers to get feedback and make modifications as needed.
His product, he said, will provide everything one needs to become a nano-brewery. Jonathan Post agrees, saying on his Facebook® page, “It is going to change the face of small-batch brewing.”
Winters said he spoke with a number of interested brewers at the Festival on Saturday. He plans now to actually demonstrate his system later this month by brewing up a batch in his driveway on West Street and inviting contacts he made at the Festival and anyone else interested to attend. Winters’ website is under construction, but the Wort Monster can be found on Facebook®. He can be contacted at gwinters43@gmail.com or 518-794-0499.
Jonathan Post said the Festival held on a gorgeous fall day was a great success and a lot of fun. In addition to the Wort Monster there were representatives from Albany Brewcrafters and the Albany Ale Project, vendors and exhibitors from Heiser Hops, Helderberg Hops, the Chatham Brewery, C.H. Evans Ales, Ravenshead Brewery and Green Wolf Brewery, the Helderberg Meadworks and the Albany Distillery. Local farms included Wyomanock Farm and Willowtree Farm of Stephentown, Climbing Tree Farm of New Lebanon and Trusted Roots Farm of East Chatham. Amrita Lash of Williamstown showed her ceramics and pottery. Bluegrass music was provided by a local band, and the Wandering Dago food truck, left undisturbed by the Governor’s people, was on site with scrumptious sandwiches.
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