Uber Newbie

Hi Ya'll,

Well, I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Mac and I live on the US/Mexico border in SE Arizona. I've been a beer afficinado all my life, (Born in Amberg Germany) and am finally getting ready to take the plunge into brewing my own. My best buddy and I have just about everything we need to get started, we're very fortunate in that we've found a source for 1/2 dozen cornelius kegs for free, and I have access to CO2 as well, we're going to go right into a 2 step fermentation/ kegging process. I've got lots of questions, but I'll dig around the forum before duplicating as best I can. Glad to find such an awesome forum.

Mac

Welcome to the forum Mac.

Welcome,
We're happy to have you on board...

Brad

Kegging from the get-go... smart!!! There is little pleasure in bottling, albiet a necessary evil...

videoman said:

Kegging from the get-go... smart!!! There is little pleasure in bottling, albiet a necessary evil...

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Ah, yes, the bottle. Frankly, I've got an extra full size refridgerator, and I'm up to 5 cornelius kegs. So, I'm pretty sure I'll be skipping the bottle thing altogether. Thanks for all the welcome.

Mac

My only advice as a former desert rat is that the swamp cooler won't cut it for controlling the temp of your beer, you need to do something to keep the temps down in the high 60's when fermenting. My solution was "wait for autumn" but if you have the money and space you can do better with a fridge or freezer.

I've got a fridge that I'm planning on using for fermenting, however, one minor issue is it won't get any warmer than 60 degrees. Is this too low for proper fermenting? Does it matter? I have an A/C in my office that I could keep at around 68 degrees and do my fermenting in there.

Mac

Welcome Mac. As mentioned, a freezer with a controller works great on keeping fermenting temps where they need to be.

Welcome! It sounds like you have an excellent setup from the get-go.

I don't know if I can trust a brewer that's never bottled a batch, though.


TL

TexLaw said:

Welcome! It sounds like you have an excellent setup from the get-go.

I don't know if I can trust a brewer that's never bottled a batch, though.


TL

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I was born in Nurenberg W. Germany, and lived in Amberg, a town of about 1000 people (at the time) that had 13 breweries. I'd be willing to bet that not one of those breweries bottled their beer!