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BennyBrewer

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I'm very interested in brewing and mead making. So here is my main question if i buy the one gallon brew kit from northwestern i think it is... am I able to also try my go with mead? I would also purchase another 1 gallon secondary for brewing purposes. Would i need anything else for both? I of course know i need bottles and ingredients but what would you suggest as pot size and other Accessories i would need to do both.
 
Do you meant Northern Brewer? If you buy a beer brewing kit, then you'll have all of the equipment to do wine, cider and mead. Obviously you need more fermenters (1 gal jugs, or whatnot), and all of the ingredients, including yeast nutrients, stabilizers, and whatever your specific recipe may necessitate.
 
Benny, I have the same kit from Northern and you will need (from my experiance) a hydrometer, a 2-3 gallon pot, a blow off tube, a small funnel (just incase) and large bucket to sanitize everything in. It is a good kit, just needs a few small things. i only brew 1 gallon brews so i keep the pot size small, and if you dont care about OG and FG you dont need the hydrometer. OH i would suggest getting the tape on thermometer as well, it comes in handy, esp if your wife is like mine and decides to crank the heat way up.
 
Benny, I have the same kit from Northern and you will need (from my experiance) a hydrometer, a 2-3 gallon pot, a blow off tube, a small funnel (just incase) and large bucket to sanitize everything in. It is a good kit, just needs a few small things. i only brew 1 gallon brews so i keep the pot size small, and if you dont care about OG and FG you dont need the hydrometer. OH i would suggest getting the tape on thermometer as well, it comes in handy, esp if your wife is like mine and decides to crank the heat way up.

I don't mean to be too rude here, but a hydrometer is important, not something to skip. I don't always necessarily care about my FG, but I do with my OG so I know that I am in the ballpark of where I should be or what I am expecting. That is one piece of equipment I would highly recommend getting.

As for a large bucket, go to Home Depot or Lowes and get a $3 5 gallon bucket to sanitize things in.
 
Thank you all for your advice! And you werent being rude by suggesting the hydrometer. You all are very helpful! And I do plan on buying the set of 4 one gallon jugs that way im able to do batches of whatever I want in the same go. So thank all of you that replied! I figure if i can startup for a little under $100 im happy because this is more of a hobby for me than anything else since i do like to drink and cant find a hobby to fill my spare time lol. Thank you all again!
 
You can get a 5 gallon canning pot at wally world for 20-25$ or a 10 gallon aluminum on amazon for 40$ i found if you go big off the bat you save in the long run.
 
I don't mean to be too rude here, but a hydrometer is important, not something to skip. I don't always necessarily care about my FG, but I do with my OG so I know that I am in the ballpark of where I should be or what I am expecting. That is one piece of equipment I would highly recommend getting.

As for a large bucket, go to Home Depot or Lowes and get a $3 5 gallon bucket to sanitize things in.

I meant if hes just starting out and wants to make a few bottles of his first brew and doesnt really care about the FG, he can leave it in his fermenter for three weeks and bottle. If he wants to know everything thats going on ie OG and FG then sure grab a hydrometer. Ive had several kits from Northern and just left them for three weeks, came out great. But to each his own. :mug:
 
I meant if hes just starting out and wants to make a few bottles of his first brew and doesnt really care about the FG, he can leave it in his fermenter for three weeks and bottle. If he wants to know everything thats going on ie OG and FG then sure grab a hydrometer. Ive had several kits from Northern and just left them for three weeks, came out great. But to each his own. :mug:

Thanks Queen this is prolly what i will end up doing untill i figure out how far i would like to take this. My thing is if I cant figure out how to come out with my own recipe i will not pursue this. Im not a believer of "stick to proven recipes" due to the fact that this saying only came out when the internet was invented. If i can not make my own recipe i may as well stick to IPAs of every variety.
 
Thanks Queen this is prolly what i will end up doing untill i figure out how far i would like to take this. My thing is if I cant figure out how to come out with my own recipe i will not pursue this. Im not a believer of "stick to proven recipes" due to the fact that this saying only came out when the internet was invented. If i can not make my own recipe i may as well stick to IPAs of every variety.

A good place that I like to create recipes is on hopville.com. Its free which is always nice, and allows you to design a recipe and get a good idea of what the OG, FG, color, and IBU's of any recipe you come up with in your head. You can save it and then add in details after brew day so you can put in your exact readings. Then if you want, you can post it and allow others to view your creations, or keep it private so only you can view your own recipes.

I think my favorite thing about this hobby is that I can make whatever I want. I started out following recipes exactly, then after the first few batches I wanted to get away from just following a recipe because to me I might as well just go to the store and buy beer if I am going to follow someone else's recipe. When I did buy kits, I made sure to get a different one each time so I could learn about the different specialty grains and yeast strains and see firsthand what they would change about the beer. Now I have a good base to start with and then go from there. The reason I mention hopville.com though is before I start any batch, I save my recipe so I can brew the same thing again.
 
A good place that I like to create recipes is on hopville.com. Its free which is always nice, and allows you to design a recipe and get a good idea of what the OG, FG, color, and IBU's of any recipe you come up with in your head. You can save it and then add in details after brew day so you can put in your exact readings. Then if you want, you can post it and allow others to view your creations, or keep it private so only you can view your own recipes.

I think my favorite thing about this hobby is that I can make whatever I want. I started out following recipes exactly, then after the first few batches I wanted to get away from just following a recipe because to me I might as well just go to the store and buy beer if I am going to follow someone else's recipe. When I did buy kits, I made sure to get a different one each time so I could learn about the different specialty grains and yeast strains and see firsthand what they would change about the beer. Now I have a good base to start with and then go from there. The reason I mention hopville.com though is before I start any batch, I save my recipe so I can brew the same thing again.

GREAT point! Love making my own recipes. Have you tried brewmasterswarehouse.com? If you have which one do you prefer? But kits are a great way to get your feet wet.
 
While I like the Brew Builder at BMWH (a favorite source of mine when I was working in Marietta), and have several of my own recipes posted there, I have to say that BeerSmith is an improvement on it in just about every way, except cost (it's hard to beat free). I understand that ProMash was better still, but hasn't been updated in a long time; I haven't tried hopville.com, or BrewTarget (though I am considering trying the latter), or any of the mobile apps, but I have to say that just about any of the recipe programs will make life easier for you when trying to formulate a beer recipe.
 
While I like the Brew Builder at BMWH (a favorite source of mine when I was working in Marietta), and have several of my own recipes posted there, I have to say that BeerSmith is an improvement on it in just about every way, except cost (it's hard to beat free). I understand that ProMash was better still, but hasn't been updated in a long time; I haven't tried hopville.com, or BrewTarget (though I am considering trying the latter), or any of the mobile apps, but I have to say that just about any of the recipe programs will make life easier for you when trying to formulate a beer recipe.

Yes I will try the last due to the fact that I'm not trying ton make this more expensive than its worth. Cause then hell I'd just buy merry monks and say f it. Thank you for the links.
 

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