andy6026
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2013
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Hello everyone! I'm Andy and I've been lurking here for some time while I research how to home-brew.
Having spent about a year doing batches of beer at the local U-brew I'm finally ready to bring the operation home. I've decided to go with a 15 gallon kettle with built in thermometer and ball spigot which should easily accommodate the 5 gallon ready-made recipe kits, and then once I'm confident enough, graduate towards all-grain with potentially larger batches (I suppose up to 10 gallons, but more likely in the neighborhood of 7-8 gallons). However, assembling the equipment hasn't been the cheapest undertaking, nor is researching what is most suitable to my desires always clear-cut and obvious. So, if I may tap into the expertise of others, I'd appreciate some advice.
1) I'm thinking that the 6.5 gallon buckets (both fermenter and bottling) that seem to be standard with the 'starter kits', although ideal for 5 gallon batches, don't provide the room to grow. So should I instead go for a plastic fermenter and bottling bucket that are in the neighborhood of 8-10 gallon capacity? The 'starter kits' to seem to be fairly cost effective so I'd rather not have to buy everything individually unless I'm destined to replace most of the components 6 months or a year down the road. On the other hand, an idea that struck me is that I could buy a starter kit and use the 6.5 gallon buckets while learning the basics, and then convert them into a mash-tun when I'm ready to get into all grain bewing - at which time I could then buy 8-10 gallon fermentor bucket and a bottling bucket. What do others find to be the sensible thing to do?
2) Propane burners. I've thus far looked at a small range of burners. Thus far they seem to range 55k btu, 65k btu and 105k btu. I'm guessing that 105 seems a bit overkill while 55k seems a little underpowered? Would I be satisfied with 65k btu if I were to eventually do a 10 gallon batch? I'm also concerned about the stability of these units. Are they really designed to hold up a giant kettle with that much liquid in them or are they very precarious, requiring the purchase or construction of some kind of stand? I have a 5 year old daughter that I obviously don't want to scold in some freak event (nor myself or others) due to poor product design or me not doing things properly. That said, I have no desire at present to weld my own stand together. Given that I'm having to shop for these online and can't really assess their sturdiness, how concerned should I be that this might be a problem if I don't shop carefully enough?
3) Last, and probably most trivial question... bottle cappers - hand or bench? Big difference in efficacy, efficiency, comfort of use, etc?
Thanks everyone!
Having spent about a year doing batches of beer at the local U-brew I'm finally ready to bring the operation home. I've decided to go with a 15 gallon kettle with built in thermometer and ball spigot which should easily accommodate the 5 gallon ready-made recipe kits, and then once I'm confident enough, graduate towards all-grain with potentially larger batches (I suppose up to 10 gallons, but more likely in the neighborhood of 7-8 gallons). However, assembling the equipment hasn't been the cheapest undertaking, nor is researching what is most suitable to my desires always clear-cut and obvious. So, if I may tap into the expertise of others, I'd appreciate some advice.
1) I'm thinking that the 6.5 gallon buckets (both fermenter and bottling) that seem to be standard with the 'starter kits', although ideal for 5 gallon batches, don't provide the room to grow. So should I instead go for a plastic fermenter and bottling bucket that are in the neighborhood of 8-10 gallon capacity? The 'starter kits' to seem to be fairly cost effective so I'd rather not have to buy everything individually unless I'm destined to replace most of the components 6 months or a year down the road. On the other hand, an idea that struck me is that I could buy a starter kit and use the 6.5 gallon buckets while learning the basics, and then convert them into a mash-tun when I'm ready to get into all grain bewing - at which time I could then buy 8-10 gallon fermentor bucket and a bottling bucket. What do others find to be the sensible thing to do?
2) Propane burners. I've thus far looked at a small range of burners. Thus far they seem to range 55k btu, 65k btu and 105k btu. I'm guessing that 105 seems a bit overkill while 55k seems a little underpowered? Would I be satisfied with 65k btu if I were to eventually do a 10 gallon batch? I'm also concerned about the stability of these units. Are they really designed to hold up a giant kettle with that much liquid in them or are they very precarious, requiring the purchase or construction of some kind of stand? I have a 5 year old daughter that I obviously don't want to scold in some freak event (nor myself or others) due to poor product design or me not doing things properly. That said, I have no desire at present to weld my own stand together. Given that I'm having to shop for these online and can't really assess their sturdiness, how concerned should I be that this might be a problem if I don't shop carefully enough?
3) Last, and probably most trivial question... bottle cappers - hand or bench? Big difference in efficacy, efficiency, comfort of use, etc?
Thanks everyone!