Graduating to 5gal set up

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Mailmanmike

New Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2011
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Location
Pembroke
I got a Mr.Beer kit as a gift from my wife for my birthday and haven't been able to stop brewing or reading about brewing since it happened.

Now I want to graduate up to a 5gal set up. I was able to get my hands on a couple of nice glass carboys from a family member who no longer brews, I'm just a little stumped on what I should look into getting to step it up.

Just looking for a list of the basics, figured I'd throw it out here for you guys.
I'm starting pretty much fresh. All I have that wasn't included with the Mr.Beer kit is bottling supplies (capper, caps, bottles, etc.)

thanks in advance for any advice/lists/help you can give!
 
Since you already have the carboys, you need the following to do 5 gallon extract kits. I went ahead and picked out everything from the same site, but you can get them from other sites if you want to shop around. Northern Brewer and Austin Homebrew are the best, IMO:

1) Starter Kit:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/starter-kits/basic-starter-kit.html

2) Stainless Steel or Plastic Spoon:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-equipment/stirring-straining

3) Stainless Steel Brew Kettle (at least 20 quarts):
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-equipment/brew-kettles

4) Extract Brewing Ingredients (pick the style you like best. IPAs, APAs, Wheats, and Ambers are probably the easiest to start off with):
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/recipe-kits/extract-kits
 
As a start, I would get (please ignore if you already have some items):

* a brew pot big enough. I have a 5gallon one (from target), and it is great for extract kit and partial mash. But if your budget allows it, consider getting a bigger pot for when you want to do all grain. I am about to buy the 44quart bayou classic to Brew In A Bag.

* the same thing as the basic starter kit from any HBS: hydrometer, fermenter, bottling bucket, sanitizer (I like iodophor because its cheap), etc. Just take this as an example. For cleaning, just use oxiclean.

* I would upgrade now one thing, especially since you are using carboys: instead of using a racking cane, get an auto siphon. You will not regret it.

* To takes samples and hydrometer reading directly in your fermenter, you may want to get a thief.

* You may want to get a wort chiller. It simplifies things a lot, and shorten cooling time a lot.
 
Thanks for the help. I Have access to a good kettle so I'm all set there but the rest are very helpful suggestions. Thank!
 
There are lot of DIY threads on building a copper wort chiller. Its a real easy and fun project to do. It take a while to cool down 5gal of wort with a ice bath, but take about 20min with a wort chiller.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top