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Home Brew

kunaji

Essayons
Location
wisconsin
I have found myself wanting to try and start making my own homebrew. Can any of you guys help me out on how to get started, what ingredients to buy and what equipment I'll need to buy? I'm starting with very little knowledge of what I need and how it's done so any info you are willing to share would be appreciated.

TIA,
Matt
 
http://www.northernbrewer.com Located in St. Paul. Their starter kits look pretty good.
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/ for their forums.

I may actually brew this weekend, if you're interested in making a run over the border.

I'd suggest starting with _How to Brew_ by John Palmer. Should be available at better bookstores, always on the shelf at NB.
 
I'll second the NB starter kits, the deluxe one in particular if you want to bottle. If you want to jump right into kegging, you would probably be better off to piece together the items from the deluxe kit minus the bottling stuff, pick up some used kegs, and find a local connection for the CO2 eguipment.
Add a turkey fryer and you're all set.

NB's ingredient kits are easy and almost always turn out good, or there are plenty of recipes in books like Beer Captured or the Clonebrews series, and there are lots more posted online in the various homebrew forums.

It's definitely nice to start brewing with someone with experience, if Jeff is too far away look for a local homebrew store that could introduce you to other local brewers.
 
I've got Sunday and Monday off from work and possibly only half a day on Saturday if that works for you. Can you PM me your address so I can start planning?
 
Either Saturday or Sunday, whichever is more convenient for you. I allow 3 hours from the time I start getting the stuff together to the time that I'm done cleaning up.

Which reminds me, I need to start putting the Irish Draught Ale in the fridge, it's done carb'ing. Yes, there will be home brew involved in home brewing.

I'm going to start kegging eventually, but bottling for me works much better at the moment as I don't have a kegerator going. Plans are to set up both a kegerator and a lagerator. It also helps that I'm bribing coworkers to bring me their empty Fat Tire bottles in exchange for home brew ($9/case of 22 oz. empties.)
 
ChiXJeff said:
... Yes, there will be home brew involved in home brewing.

That's the only way to do it right!
 
Another book I found very informative was homebrewing for dummies. I recommend reading it before "how to brew". I'd also recommend starting with an extract kit from one of the big homebrew suppliers. (Northern Brewer has been great!)

You'll see as you go along how your tastes and attitude will change from BMC (BudMillerCoors) to Amazingly complex and awesome beers. You'll come to know your favorites and be able to tell the difference between different types of hops, yeast, etc. Extract brewing is the most fun when you start, but you'll quickly want more. Enjoy brewing/drinking first, acquire your tastes, then move on if you want to try all grain brewing.

As far as supplies, I agree with LessLimited; get a basic kit, or piece it together. Not too expensive, and you can always sell it if you don't keep the beer bug. Check craigslist in your area for deals. If you are like me, you'll loathe bottling and waiting so try to look around for the parts to keg your own brew. (much easier IMO, and you can force carbonate your beer)

PM me if you have any questions.

John
 
I helped a few guys brew before I bought anything. Made a list of the things you actually need and found a place that offered free shipping on orders over $100 and saved a bunch over most "kits". That way I didn't end up with anything I don't need and got a few upgrades that I would have done anyway.

For instance, I didn't want plastic fermenters, so I added glass ones instead. I would highly recommend you do the same.
 
Primary fermentation in plastic for me, secondary in glass.

If you're not willing to be *VERY* picky about what goes in the plastic, your point is well taken. Any unsanitized scratch is an invitation for illegal aliens to take up residence.
 
Does anybody do just a primary fermentation or is the general consensus you want to do a primary and then a secondary fermentation? I can see myself trying to brew stouts and dark ales more than pales and pilsners.

Right now I'm looking at the deluxe kit from NB and getting kegging equipment as suggested since I have a spare fridge I can convert into a kegerator. Is there any additional equipment that's nice to have that wouldn't come in the kit?
 
I would like to brew some stouts and Ales . I have a ton of old fridges , so that wouldn't be a problem .

Problem is , nobody lives near me around these parts that brew .
 
kunaji said:
Does anybody do just a primary fermentation or is the general consensus you want to do a primary and then a secondary fermentation? I can see myself trying to brew stouts and dark ales more than pales and pilsners.

Right now I'm looking at the deluxe kit from NB and getting kegging equipment as suggested since I have a spare fridge I can convert into a kegerator. Is there any additional equipment that's nice to have that wouldn't come in the kit?

Secondary is usually more conditioning than fermenting, as the majority of the fermenting takes place in the first week. It is good to get the beer off of the spent yeast and any other stuff that may have been transferred from the kettle. Different beers will behave differently, but there will always be additional stuff that settles out in secondary.

Other than a turkey fryer for doing the boil, a wort chiller is nice. They can be bought from NB, or just get a roll of copper tubing and wrap it in a coil around a paint can or bucket that will fit in your kettle, add some hose fittings, and you're done. You can always do an ice bath, but then you're carrying your kettle full of almost boiling wort around, with all the potentials for disaster that entails.
 
With the price of copper these days, it's almost cheaper to just buy a wort cooler. I scored a good wort cooler off the discount shelf at NB. BTW, if you're not doing full boils, you probably don't need a wort chiller.

Even if you're doing partial boils, a turkey fryer will get it out of the kitchen, along with the associated odor. I like it, consider how your S/O feels about it..

Like John says, secondary is conditioning and clarification. I've been doing pretty well with both primary and secondary fermentations, from a cream ale to porters. While I might not need both fermentations, I doubt any harm will come from secondary.
 
Well, bought a basic starter kit from a local homebrew shop and also came home with grain, malt and yeast to start as soon as I get a wort chiller and turkey fryer. I'll probably be doing my first batch on Sunday, a red ale using northern bittering hops and saaz aroma hops fermented with a wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast.

With any luck we'll be able to swap some bottles when you swing through in December Jeff.
 
I've got my Revolutionary Red ale in secondary right now. I may hafta cave in to the wifey and take her shopping at the mall of america one of these days and stop by.
 
ChiXJeff said:
I've got another batch going, a bourbon barrel porter (http://www.northernbrewer.com/specialtybeers.html.)

I'm not sure that I'm going to be running through in December.

Save me a bottle of that, please, I've been wanting to try that one.

I just ordered the Irish Draught Ale, Scottish Wee Heavy, and California Common. On tap, Tongue Splitter, St. Paul Porter, Kolsch, World Wide Lager, and Czech Pilsner. In secondary, Super Alt and Lefse Blond, and Three Hearted Ale in primary. For a change I brewed not using a kit on Sunday, to use some extra hops I had. It's a higher gravity lager loosely based on Sam Adams.

Some of these may make it to Winterfest...
 
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Late post but here goes.
Mr. Beer, www.mrbeer.com.
I have had it for years. Brewing one right now for turkey day. Good quality, easy to use and a great learning experience before you go to the big boy kits.
I got it at a local K's Merchandise.
My .02

PS

55 gallons is the limit in my state for home brew before I need to apply for a distributors license.:cheers:
 
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55 gallons? Geez, I'm *NOT* that far away from that.

John, I'll make sure I set aside a couple of bottles. I may have to hide them from Deb, though. I have a batch of the Irish Draught that I'm just about through. It's getting better with age, but I doubt that I'll brew this one again. It seems to lack...... character, for lack of a better term. I've shared a few bottles of it, and the folks who like BMC enjoy it, the folks who drink craft and microbrews feel that it's just not quite up to snuff. St. Paul Porter is in secondary.
 
Does this look normal for beer in the secondary?

HPIM0393.jpg
 
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