Planning start up equipment.

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.

knope

Active Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2012
Messages
28
Reaction score
3
Location
Gurabo
First of all I just want to say what a great resource you guys have made this forum. I have been lurking for about a month now and any random question I have, I just seem to be able to find the answer on here no problem. You guys rock :rockin:

As titled, I'm looking to get a decent first set up to start brewing. I bought this equipment kit from a groupon. (This store is local to me)

http://www.caribbeanbrewing.com/maestro-beer-equipment-kit-with-autosiphon.html

The groupon also included 10% off one entire purchase so I plan on getting a 5 gallon carboy, a brew pot thermometer and a scale from there.

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how exactly I'm going to brew the beer. Starting with something similar process to the Sticky Easy Partial Mash Brewing, I think I'm set on brewing in a bag once I get all the way to all grain brewing. I was thinking of getting two 32 quart aluminum steamer kettles. Aluminum because it's cheap and I'm on electric stoves for now (better heat transfer).

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0018EAV4M/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I'm thinking of putting a weldless ball valve on one of kettles and using it as a mash tun by mashing the grain in my oven preheated to it's minimum temperature (170F) and turned off to maintain ~150F (exact temperature depends on recipe). With the ball valve and the steamer rack holding up the grain bag, I should be able to do a decent fly sparge into the other pot to boil the mash. If not, I'll just batch sparge but I still have the ball valve for coolness points. Consistent efficiency shouldn't be too hard to maintain once I get a few brews under my belt.

After that it's basic brewing. Boil the mash, cool the mash in an ice bath (sink or swamp cooler), transfer to primary, pitch yeast, place in swamp cooler, wait. Siphon carefully into secondary if it helps the style, wait. Priming sugar, bottle, wait, enjoy! :tank: Obviously simplified but you get the point.

Eventually I plan on upgrading everything (wort chiller, better quality pots, more carboys, a keg?) as I get better at brewing but I think this plan should get me a really good start. Any suggestion? Comments?

Edit: I was going to make this shorter but I accidentally hit post :drunk:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sounds like you've done some reading and have a pretty good idea of what you're in for. My suggestion to anyone starting out is to read a lot. Figure out the basics and then move on from there.

The only other thing I have is that a 5 gallon carboy is worthless unless you're doing some bulk aging or apfelwein or something like that. For beer you need at least 6 gallons and a blow off tube for all the kraussen. Skip the 5 gallon carboy (I never secondary) and get a 6.5 if you can find it. Better yet save a few bucks and get a bucket or 6 gallon better bottle. I have 6 better bottles and would never use anything else.

If you do a lot of reading you'll find there's a lot of opinions on fermentation vessels, but bottom line is you need some headspace and 5 gallons won't give you that.
 
The basic equipment kit I bought has a 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket. The 5 gallon carboy would be used as a secondary. I was thinking of trying out the long primary vs secondary myself to see and taste the difference. If I think it's not worth it I would have only spent $25 or so on a 5 gallon carboy. Oh and the carboys will probably all be Better Bottles. If I say carboy, is it usually assumed to be the glass kind?
 
why not just secondary in a 6 or 6.5 gallon container? That way if you find it doesn't make a difference (and it doesn't) you will still have a viable primary. 1 to 1.5 gallons of headspace won't hurt anything for secondary.
 
If I say carboy, is it usually assumed to be the glass kind?


I don't assume that when people say it. I just think of a jug and leave it at that.
 
Without further qualification, I believe that "carboy" is usually understood to mean a glass carboy. At least, that's what I take from it.

I think it's worth having a 5 gallon fermenter around. They work just fine for beer, even as primary, unless you're unbendingly committed to producing no less than 5 gallons of finished product on every batch. They're useful for secondary when you don't want a lot of headspace, and you can always make a 4.5 gallon batch (or a 5 and accept that you'll have some blowoff).
 
Tip: don't secondary. It's a waste of time.

I'm currently drinking a beer I brewed... wait for it... 8 days ago. And it's f*cking great! Primary for 5 days, cold crash 1 day, kegged and let sit at 25 psi for 2 days. Will it get better? Sure, but all this talk about "3 week primaries" and "transferring to secondary" is hogwash. Use good practices (ferment at right temp, use whirldloc/Irish moss, sanitize well), and you can dismiss much of what you'll read about.

My (buzzed) opinion...

Cheers!
 
Wow, does anyone use a secondary at all? I'm almost tempted to just save the money and invest in keg instead.
 
Wow, does anyone use a secondary at all? I'm almost tempted to just save the money and invest in keg instead.

Hard to say. There are many people who don't secondary. I have used mine twice in 36 batches. I plan to use it again when I do a barleywine.

I would go with a wort chiller instead of a secondary. I use that dern thing all the time.

I like the idea of trying a 6.5 gallon bucket as a secondary if you are set on wanting to try to secondary. That would give you a second fermenter which, if you continue brewing, I guarantee 100% you will want. Most recipes are for 5g and would be very difficult to fit in a 5 gallon container.
 
I have rarely used secondary and only for fruiting or hopping.
BTW have you considered BIAB? It's lighter on equipment for AG and for sub 8 gallon batches it's really easy.
I would still be doing it but I went to 10 gallon batches and I need a 13.5 gallon cooler for 20 gallons of grain
and the strike water.
 
knope said:
Wow, does anyone use a secondary at all? I'm almost tempted to just save the money and invest in keg instead.

No one I know! I've been doing this for a long time and I never, ever, ever secondary... ever. Invest is a wort chiller (as previously mentioned) or a lifetime supply of FermCap S ;)
 
I have two 5 gallon glass carboys that have been sitting in my brew buddies basement for a year and half empty. Been thinking about bulk aging a barleywine or RIS in them or making a sour, but other than that they are useless for normal 5 gallon brewing.
 
chumpsteak said:
I have two 5 gallon glass carboys that have been sitting in my brew buddies basement for a year and half empty. Been thinking about bulk aging a barleywine or RIS in them or making a sour, but other than that they are useless for normal 5 gallon brewing.

Amen. I've got one just sitting (empty) under my workbench. A nice Flanders Red might not be a bad idea... hmm.
 
Wort chiller would also be useful! As the brewing budget slowly trickles in I'll get all the things I need. @bigsally AG BIAB is exactly what I was thinking. I'm going to buy two big pots and put a ball valve on one of them to BIAB mash and fly sparge into the brew pot, or something like that.
 
knope said:
Wort chiller would also be useful! As the brewing budget slowly trickles in I'll get all the things I need. @bigsally AG BIAB is exactly what I was thinking. I'm going to buy two big pots and put a ball valve on one of them to BIAB mash and fly sparge into the brew pot, or something like that.

BIAB would imply no need to fly sparge, at least traditionally speaking :)
 
Wow, does anyone use a secondary at all? I'm almost tempted to just save the money and invest in keg instead.
The only folks I know that consistently do it apparently do it simply because that is always the way they have done it or that they read it was required. You would be hard pressed to find someone that still believes it is required to make great beer. Hell, I even just tried "no chill" for the first time. But I am not giving up my mash tun for BIAB.......Yet
 
Kingfish said:
The only folks I know that consistently do it apparently do it simply because that is always the way they have done it or that they read it was required. You would be hard pressed to find someone that still believes it is required to make great beer. Hell, I even just tried "no chill" for the first time. But I am not giving up my mash tun for BIAB.......Yet

BIAB... I've been so damn tempted!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top