Mobile Beer Lab: Staying organized and portable

I try to keep my brewing equipment clean and organized, but that doesn’t always happen. Clean, yes . . . organized, no. When it comes to quality control tests while homebrewing, it can be easy to skip over a step because you just don’t want to look for that packet of pH buffer solution you swore you left tucked away next to your pH meter and you don’t need a fresh calibration to make beer. You can absolutely make beer without a hydrometer or pH meter. You definitely don’t need a microscope. But for those of you who do want to calculate your efficiency and compare it to the last batch, or test your mash pH and make water adjustments, or dial in that pitch rate on the dregs you propped up from a bottle of Orval, you’re the ones who need to know where the pH meter and buffer solution are. Sure these aren’t necessary, but isn’t it fun to know exactly what’s going on in your beer?

While some homebrewers are lucky enough to have all of their brewing, fermentation, and packaging equipment all located in one spot in their house, many of us don’t have that convenience. Maybe brew day occurs in the garage, while fermentation happens in the hallway closet, and bottling takes place in the basement . . . stuff can easily get lost in the shuffle. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a testing toolbox?

For a process dependent on living organisms to achieve a desired outcome, the more you know about your beer, the more in control of the brewing process and final result you can be. But if our equipment isn’t in an organized, easy to access location, even the best of us might not use it.

That’s the great part about DIY, you can customize it to fit your exact needs.

Once my kids get a little older hopefully they’ll enjoy investigating tiny life forms under my microscope, but for now it’s just used for brewing. Because of the awkward shape and fragility of it, my microscope was stored in my office. I wanted a safe place to keep it where it was easily accessible with the rest of my brewing equipment, precariously stacked in the basement next to the laundry.

I started looking online at microscope cases. Some were just made out of canvas, that wasn’t quite what I was looking for, some looked really old and bulky, then I found a simple wooden box with a door and a handle. Perfect. But, wouldn’t it be nice if it could also fit all of my lab supplies? Then I could keep everything together. I decided to make my own combined microscope case and mobile lab.

For this project I enlisted the help of my grandfather. He’s the one who first taught me how to brew and got me spiraling onto this trajectory. He also comes with lots of power tools and a knack for building things.

My microscope case/mobile lab is designed to hold a microscope, hydrometer, thermometer, pH meter, notebook, and miscellaneous lab equipment. Yours may just be for your hydrometer and pH meter, or maybe you have other fragile brewing equipment you want to keep in a safe place, like an Erlenmeyer flask and stir plate for a yeast starter. That’s the great part about DIY, you can customize it to fit your exact needs.

Tools and Material

• ½-in. x 2 ft. x 4 ft. (12.5 mm x 61 cm x 122 cm) board
• 1/4-in. x 2 ft. x 4 ft. (6.4 mm x 61 cm x 122 cm) board
• Wood screws
• Carrying case handle
• (2) Cabinet hinges
• Drawer knob
• Magnetic door catch
• Velcro or other fasteners
• Drill
• Circular wood saw
• Hacksaw – for shortening screws