I think it right to disclose these following truths, That I did neither undertake, nor write, and much less publish, this Discourse to please myself; and having been too easily drawn to do all to please others, as I proposed not the gaining of credit by this undertaking, so I would not willingly lose any part of that to which I had just title before I begun it, and do therefore desire and hope, if I desire not commendations, yet may I obtain pardon.

And though this Discourse may be liable to some Exceptions by those more Learned than myself, yet I cannot doubt that the General Reader may receive so much pleasure or profit as may make it worthy the time of their perusal, if they be not too grave or too busy men or women.

And I wish the Reader also to take notice, that in writing of it I have made myself a recreation of a recreation; and that it might prove so to him, and not read dull and tediously, but I have in several places mixed (not with any scurrilous attempt to confound or confuse) some innocent, harmless mirth; of which, if thou be a severe, sour-complexioned person, then I here disallow you to be a competent judge; for as Learned Persons have said, "There are offences given, and offences not given but taken".

And I would not intend to expound in this Discourse on the specific design of the home brewery, preferring to leave that to the Reader's own undoubtedly excellent judgement of their requirements and expertise. To the degree that I could lighten that task by herewith providing some of my own poor knowledge of materials, supplies, and perhaps useful formulae to aid in the various execution of the Reader's undoubtedly excellent designs, I humbly offer this Discourse.

Brewer: Welcome, my friend. Your arrival is well-timed as I have just now begun today's brewing process and we can immediately commence with your introduction to Post-Industrial Brewing.

Individual: Excellent. But, before we begin, please explain to me what Post-Industrial Brewing is.

Brewer: Ah, I have gotten ahead of myself already. My apologies and thanks for your reminder. Post-Industrial Brewing is a phrase of my own devising which signifies nothing more than the use of appropriate 20^th century technology in the home brewing process. In its extreme, it is nothing less than duplicating on the pico- or even fempto-scale (if you will) those processes used by large commercial brewers.

Individual: But to what purpose? I am brewing using a picnic-cooler mash tun and controlling the mash temperature through the judicious addition of hot water and am perfectly satisfied with the results.

Brewer: And, no doubt you transfer your lauter run-off to your boiler by hand?

Individual: Yes, but what of it? Do you take issue with that? I know you have tasted my beer and can you say with all honesty that yours is better?

Brewer: Hold! My statement was only for clarification and not meant to be contentious. What you are describing is the Pre-Industrial process that has been used and perfected over thousands of years and is, consequently, a perfectly legitimate brewing technique. By practicing it, I suspect, you have a greater claim to this same ancient brewing heritage than the brewmasters at Budweiser or Miller do, isolated in highly instrumented control rooms, far removed from the smell of mashing malt and boiling hops. While many would claim that Post-Industrial Brewing enables greater control and reproducibility of the brewing process, I would dispute this, especially on the home brewer level. With practice and attention to detail, a thoughtful and knowledgeable brewer can produce superior beer on the most primitive equipment.

Individual: I'm not sure I like your referring to my brewery as 'primitive'.

Brewer: Again, I must ask your forgiveness. My personal technology prejudice is showing through. Perhaps, 'unmechanized' would be a better description that would prevent your vexation?

Individual: It would. But, please, continue.

Brewer: Certainly. You ask, To what purpose? And I would answer by first asking, why do you brew?

Individual: Excuse me, sir. I did not come here to review a past issue of Zymurgy that is best relegated to Berea tar pits.

Brewer: Hopefully, not to reappear and reveal itself to some future civilization as an example of 20^th Century brewing! Of course not. But bear with me, please. Will you allow that at one point in our unenlightened past, one could claim that home brewing was the only way to obtain 'interesting' beers, but as a trip to almost any liquor store will show, that is no longer the case.

Individual: That is most certainly true.

Brewer: And is it not also true that it is not really more inexpensive to brew beer at home than it is to purchase it at said purveyor of fine comestibles?

Individual: An arguable point, certainly, but in that the true answer is not immediately obvious to me (and I being a guest in your brewery), I will grant you the point.

Brewer: Thank you, but I will note your reservation for later debate. But assuming we have settled these two points, why is it then that we brew?

Individual: Why, to enable us to brew exactly the beers that we enjoy and because it is an interesting and rewarding recreation.

Brewer: And it is the latter reason that brings us to the answer to your original question. Homebrewing is, at its heart, a recreation, embarked upon for personal satisfaction and pleasure.

Individual: A two-fold pleasure, to be sure, as one receives pleasure in both brewing and drinking.

Brewer: Exactly. And since brewing is a recreation performed for pleasure, it is only right that we, as homebrewers, strive to maximize the pleasure we derive from it.

Individual: Of course.

Brewer: Therein lies the answer to your question, To what purpose Post-Industrial Brewing? Is it not expected that those brewers with both an interest and talent in the mechanical arts would apply those arts to their brewing process?

Individual: Ah, I begin to see. The Post-Industrial Brewer is simply personalizing his favorite hobby.

Brewer: Hobby? My good sir, gardening is a 'hobby'. Woodcarving is a 'hobby'. Brewing is a four-dimensional allegory for life itself!

Individual: Now it is my turn to beg forgiveness. Let me rephrase my statement. The Post-Industrial Brewer is maximizing his enjoyment by incorporating his own interests in his brewery.

Brewer: Yes. Freed of the financial and temporal constraints necessarily placed on the brewer engaged in commercial trade, the home brewer is at liberty to brew using whatever techniques and equipment provides him with the greatest satisfaction. I, being of a technological bent, have embarked upon a road that has become increasingly mechanized. However, in traveling this road, I make no judgments upon the choices of my fellow brewers. We all make our choices as our natures suit us and, in the end, it is the quality of beer that is produced that is the true measure of a brewer.

Individual: I am here today as I would follow you on your road to the realm of Post Industrial Brewing.

Brewer: And I would gladly lead you. However, be warned, as I was by the Eminent Randy Mosher as I took my first steps, you are traveling out onto a slippery slope. Once embarked, you will find that your brewery is in a continual state of 'becoming'. Just as Thomas Jefferson spent his entire adult life building the Monticello and died with plans for additional construction on his desk, you will find yourself continually renovating your brewery. The roads in the realm of Post Industrial Brewing may have a beginning, but they have no end. Having offered up this warning, let us begin our trip.

Individual: Good. I acknowledge your warning and willingly accept the consequences.

Brewer: And may your friends and family be as tolerant of your trip as The Woman I Travel With has proven to be. But, a journey begun with a dry throat makes for a long trip and speaks ill of my skills as a host. As I note that it is now past 18:00 Greenwich time, I shall break no personal guidelines if I offer you a pint of cask-conditioned Mild Ale. Come, let's first to my cellar.

Individual: An excellent suggestion. Lead on!

Brewer: Here, a pint of my most recent Mild.

Individual: An interesting brew, but not a style I'm familiar with.

Brewer: But one you should definitely get to know, my good fellow! It is a low-gravity beer that has been brewed in England almost as long as that country has been brewing beer. It's low alcohol content made it a popular drink with the steel-workers of the West Midlands, where a long shift in the then Dantesque-like environs of a steel mill built up a thirst requiring something more than a single pint at one's 'local' to quench. And as we will be toiling today in the similarly hot environs of my brewery, this is an appropriate libation to begin with. If this is a style that interests you, I would direct your attention to David Sutula's most excellent discourse on this style in Brewing Techniques.

Individual: It has the appearance of a robust brown ale, but I do note its lightness in body.

Brewer: Yes. Sadly, this was a thinner beer than I had intended. My goal was a Mild with a bigger malt flavor than my poor brewing skills were able to produce. Ah, is it not true that we are always on our way towards brewing the perfect beer, but never quite there? But, enough, we must on to the brewery.

Individual: Once again, I allow you to lead on.

Brewer: And here, we see my mash in progress. Note my clever, if you will excuse a minor bit of hubris on my part, use of the sparge water to maintain the mash temperature and the method by which I maintain the uniformity of the mash temperature using a mechanical stirrer.

Individual: I must take your word for these contrivances as I am, as yet, unable to decypher the maze of wires and tubing surrounding your equipment.

Brewer: It is understandable that my design, the end product of several years of effort on my part, should not immediately be comprehended by one unfamiliar with it. As you are familiar with the brewing process, I do not doubt that the function of the various components before you will become apparent as we proceed. Indeed, it is my hope that you will understand not only the function of these components, but also the rationale for my choice of the particular component selected.

Individual: Hopefully, yes. Then let us proceed.

Brewer: Whilst we wait for our enzymatic chemical friends to do their work, let us discuss what is at the heart of Post Industrial Brewing.

Individual: And that would be?

Brewer: Just as the Industrial Revolution signaled the end to mankind's reliance on human and animal power to perform work, the advent of Post Industrial Brewing marks the end of the brewer's reliance on his own muscles to move about the liquids he is so laboriously preparing. However, embracing the principles of Post Industrial Brewing requires the brewer to recognize a Singularly Important Principle.

Individual: Being a literary construct, I note your use of capital letters and inquire into the nature of this Singularly Important Principle.

Brewer: This Principle is, quite simply: Brewing is Plumbing. Mark this carefully, my friend, as a successful journey into the realm of Post Industrial Brewing requires a visceral acceptance of this Principle and, at a minimum, a rudimentary understanding of the plumbing arts.

Individual: You mean, I must become a Plumber?

Brewer: If becoming a Plumber and practicing the Plumbing arts offends your dignity in some way, then think of it as becoming an amateur mechanical engineer and practicing applied fluid mechanics. It is really the same thing. Plumbing is nothing more than empirical fluid mechanics, as I shall hopefully demonstrate.

Individual: Plumber or fluid mechanic, I require enlightenment in this area.

Brewer: Just so. Allow me to expand upon my point. The Plumber, faced with the need to move fluids from one location to the next, requires both a carrier for said fluid and a motive force to effect the required motion. The fluid carrier is, of course, a hose, pipe, or tube and the motive force is the generation of a pressure differential along the length of the carrier. This pressure differential is generated either through the use of gravitational forces or mechanically with a pump. Pumps and the use of gravity I shall address later. Let us first examine the carrier.

Individual: Hardly an issue of complexity or interest, can it be mercifully brief?

Brewer: Unfortunately not, my friend. But perhaps your ignorance of the topic is the source of its apparent tedium for you. Nonetheless, tedious or not, it is a forest we must travel through. I will begin with the general and then proceed to the specifics of brewing. First, you'll note that I described our carrier as being a hose, pipe, or tube. My distinction here was intentional.

Individual: But surely there is no difference.

Brewer: From a practical use point of view, no. But historically, these have been distinguished one from the other and, as a result, we are currently shackled with an arcane system of measurements used to specify pipes, hoses, and tubes. For example, here is a short length of 1/4" stainless steel pipe. Please examine it with this pair of calipers.

Individual: You refer to this a 1/4" pipe, but I find no such dimension here. The inside diameter is roughly, but not exactly 3/8" and the outside diameter is roughly, but again not exactly 1/2".

Brewer: A mystery that has baffled many, to be sure! Pipes were originally specified by their inside diameter. However, these specifications were made on the standard pipe material of the early 19^th century, cast iron. As cast iron is a relatively low strength material, cast iron pipe had to be fabricated with a relatively thick wall to obtain a useful pressure rating. At this point, a 1/4" pipe did indeed have an ID of 1/4" and an OD of roughly 1/2". However, as metallurgy improved and manufacturers began to fabricate inexpensive, high-strength steel pipe, it became feasible to produce thinner-walled (and lower weight) pipe with the same pressure rating. To maintain compatibility with existing tooling and installed fittings and valves, these thinner walled pipes were produced with the same OD but with a larger ID. Because of this, pipes today are specified according their nominal ID, which is really the ID the pipe would have if it were made of cast iron. This designation system is referred to, not surprisingly as the iron pipe size (IPS) system. The situation is additionally complicated by pipe now being manufactured in a variety of pressure ratings. The pressure rating of a given pipe is defined by the American National Standards Institute, known as ANSI according to a schedule that assigns a pressure rating to pipe fabricated with a given material having a specified wall thickness and outside diameter. For this reason, you will find pipe specified with a nominal IPS ID and a schedule number. For example, 1/4" Schedule 40 pipe or 1/4" Schedule 80 pipe, both having the same outside diameter, but differing inside diameters with Schedule 80 corresponding to the thicker wall and higher pressure rating.

Individual: A confusing system to be sure, but is it necessary that I commit these dimensions and schedules to memory?

Brewer: Indeed, no! I explain the mystery of pipe dimensions strictly for you edification. The pressure ratings for all of the common schedules are so far above what you will require for your brewing purposes that they will be of no concern to you. But, take heart, my friend, I am almost finished with my apparent digression. You'll remember that this whole discussion has been regarding pipe. The situation with tubing is somewhat simpler.

Individual: ...And I expect I am about to learn that tubing is very different than pipe.

Brewer: In a practical sense, no. However, historically, the automobile, refrigeration, aircraft and boiler industries have referred to the tubular products used in their industries as tubing and, as a consequence, an entirely different method of specifying tubing has developed. Unlike pipe, tubing is specified by its outer diameter. The hard copper 'pipe' that is ubiquitous in most residential plumbing is, in fact, designated as tubing. 1/2" copper 'pipe' does, indeed, have an outside diameter of 1/2". Tubing of varying pressure ratings are presently produced, and in copper tubing these are indicated by "K", "L", and "M" grades that are stamped or printed on the tubing. "K" is the highest pressure grade, typically specified for underground installation, "L" is specified for residential water supplies, and "M" is appropriate for low pressure hot water heating systems.

Fortunately, for we denizens of the late 20^th century, industry has retained this historical system for all tubing and, consequently, anything designated as tubing, be it hard or soft metal or plastic, is specified by it's outer diameter. However, as there is no consistent pressure rating system across all varieties of tubing, one must also pay heed to the ID of any tubing one is putting into service.

Individual: And what of hose, which you also mentioned earlier?

Brewer: Hose, historically, is considered to be nothing more than flexible pipe and is also specified according to the IPS system, regardless of the material it is constructed from.

Individual: And how may I put your so generously supplied knowledge to use in my brewing process?

Brewer: Well, my impatient friend, now that I have given you the background, we can proceed to the specifics. As a Post-Industrial Brewer, you will require either pipe, hose, tubing, or some combination of these for your brewery.

Individual: Yes, yes, yes. Obviously, this is the case. But what should I use for my brewery?

Brewer: That issue we shall address presently. However, we must first discuss the methods by which these carriers-of-fluid are connected one to another and to you brewery equipment....And as this is another broad and diverse subject and I am sensing some impatience in you tone, I suggest we repair to my cellar, where we might enjoy the forth-coming discussion over another tankard.

Individual: An excellent idea, good sir!

Brewer: And here allow me to pour a glass of my Classic American Pilsner, authentically brewed with six-row barley and corn, although I deviate somewhat from the classic recipe by including a small amount of Vienna malt.

Individual: But why brew such a beer? Is this not the beer produced by the giant megabreweries that almost killed creative brewing?

Brewer: Certainly not! This is the beer that your great grandfather drank in the days before the megabreweries, not the watered-down concoction that the general public has been convinced by Madison Avenue to call beer. Now before you speak anymore and further reveal your ignorance, drink!

Individual: You are right! This is no watered-down lawnmower beer. Despite it's very pale color, it is a big, full-bodied brew that has been aggressively hopped. I stand pleasantly corrected.

Brewer: Just so. But, we were speaking of plumbing. Leave us move to the next step. Having discussed the variety of pipes, tubes, and hoses available, we must now move on the means by which these may be joined together. As before, we will start our discussion with pipes. Connectors for pipes are referred to as 'fittings' and are specified according to the nominal diameter of the pipe they are used to connect.