Another FNG!

Good morning fellas!

First let me say Happy New Year! I am a new brewer and found this forum while searching for info on my first real batch of beer I plan to make this upcoming weekend. I live in the Daytona Beach area and have 3 local brew shopws within 40-60 miles. I am married with 3 children (two boys, one girl) and one "unknown" on the way that is due in June. I work as a law enforcement officer and when I am not working, I am either shooting or doing something outdoors related. I own a very sucessful firearms blog which also takes up alot of my time. I am most recent introduced by a good friend and after expressing interest, my wife bought me an entire brew kit from Williams Brewing for Christmas...her parents then bought me most of the rest of the equipment and supplies I needed to get it done.

One thing I have noticed is that being a home brewer is like riding motorcycles...when you ride by another motorcycle on the road, even if you don't know them you wave and always have something to talk about. Home brewing seems to be the same and everyone I have met and talked to thus far has been awesome and nothing more than completely helpful. I am hoping for the same interactions here and I can't wait to start my first brew this weekend.

So far here are some components I have for amy first few batches:

Kits:
Williams K35 Triple Hopped Ale kit (everything included)

Yeasts:
Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Ale smakpak
Whitelabs WLP300 German Hefeweizen Liquid Yeast
Fermentis Dry Yeast (general)

DME:
6lbs Briess Bavarian Wheat (unhopped)

LME:
3.3lbs of Cooper's Light LME
3.3lbs of Cooper's Amber LME

Hops:

10oz Cascade Whole Hops (6.0 % AAU)
10oz Centennial Whole Hops (10.0 % AAU)
10oz Newport Whole Hops (12.0 % AAU
10oz US Fuggle Whole Hops (4.5 % AAU)
*All hops fresh from October 2013 harvest via Mount Angel Oregon*

So as you can see, I am trying to do a little stock piling on components to give me a little room to play around. I have a nice man room where I reload and now brew...so I am planning on getting another fridge for beers, yeast and hop storage...and maybe even a little kegerator Nice meeting everyone and I can't wait to start. Will post up from pics from this weekends first brew! Tschuss!

-Sapp

Welcome to the hobby and the group. A deep freezer with a temperature control is great for storing bottles, lagering, and as a kegerator- simultaneously!

I have a separate chest freezer for primary fermentation- I travel for business for a living, lots of AMEX points help. Temp. control is #2 in making great beer (#1 being sanitization).

I have a small chest freezer that I usually use for bait storage during the summer when I am fishing alot. The freezer has been unplugged for about two months now and I was wondering if I would be able to use it for anything. What would I need to control the temperature and what are the temp ranges with a controller? My house is a constant 70 degrees and I have read where some yeasts need it even cooler to work best, so I have been trying to figure out how the hell I can get the temps I need without freezing everyone out of my house!

-Sapp

Hey, Sapp,
You can get external temperature controllers that will cycle the power to your freezer to maintain a cooler temperature. Johnson and Ranco are two of the most common, just because they've been around the longest. There are lots of ways people have rigged up other options for temp control, though.

70 is at the high end for ales, but you can still make decent beer if you find a yeast with flavor characteristics you like. Cooler temps will generally give you a beer with fewer esters in the flavor. Temp control becomes even essential if you make lagers, where you want the temperature in the low-to-mid-50s F.

Welcome to the obsession!

Sounds like I'm in the market for a temp controller!

-Sapp