markstache
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2013
- Messages
- 244
- Reaction score
- 100
Hello brewers,
Like many fathers today, I am sure, I received official blessing to start brewing, including $120 to spend at Northern Brewer. My wife will be visiting the in-laws in Minneapolis in a few weeks, and I'd like to have her pick up the order on her way back. I'm hoping to get some feedback on how to spend this money and get started making my own beer. I've been reading about brewing for about a year, but I am short on experience. Please correct me where I go astray.
A little background: I generally prefer ales. Porters, stouts, brown ales, and wheat beers are my usual preferences. My wife strongly prefers wheat beers. We got a keg of Oberon for our wedding. While I like IPAs, I tend to be indifferent to pale ales. I like bocks, but overall, lagers haven't been my thing.
My primary interest in brewing is bringing down the cost of beer, while gaining the satisfaction of brewing it myself. To begin with, I think I would prefer to stick to simple (in terms of ingredients and steps) recipes, including SMaSH or two/few malt recipes.
I would like to start with all grain recipes. I was thinking that I could brew 2 2.5 gallon batches on my stove top using the BIAB method, perhaps with an additional dunk sparge. I think I could do this using 4 or 5 gallon pots, which are available for not much money. This would allow me to make two styles in a single setting at not too much additional time cost. This would also allow me to try more variations.
I am hoping to source the kettles and fermenters locally (I'm hoping to pick up some 3 gallon pails and lids at local groceries). Otherwise, I have not equipment.
I was thinking of thinking of buying two bulk grain bags (a 2row and a wheat malt), a few pounds of misc. crystal malts, 2 lbs of hop pellets (say cascade and willamette), dry yeast (should I get anything other than US-05?), sanitizer, a hydrometer/tube, a few bubblers/stoppers, and some tubing.
I haven't nailed down my bottling strategy yet. I'm generally the kind of guy that if he is going to have a beer, I'm going to have a few, so I think 12oz seems like a lot of work for the result. On the upside, they are easily available second hand. I'd be interested to hear success or failure stories about larger volume bottling (2L bottle, e.g.). Kegs are probably out of the picture for cost reasons for now.
Thanks in advance for comments and criticisms!
Like many fathers today, I am sure, I received official blessing to start brewing, including $120 to spend at Northern Brewer. My wife will be visiting the in-laws in Minneapolis in a few weeks, and I'd like to have her pick up the order on her way back. I'm hoping to get some feedback on how to spend this money and get started making my own beer. I've been reading about brewing for about a year, but I am short on experience. Please correct me where I go astray.
A little background: I generally prefer ales. Porters, stouts, brown ales, and wheat beers are my usual preferences. My wife strongly prefers wheat beers. We got a keg of Oberon for our wedding. While I like IPAs, I tend to be indifferent to pale ales. I like bocks, but overall, lagers haven't been my thing.
My primary interest in brewing is bringing down the cost of beer, while gaining the satisfaction of brewing it myself. To begin with, I think I would prefer to stick to simple (in terms of ingredients and steps) recipes, including SMaSH or two/few malt recipes.
I would like to start with all grain recipes. I was thinking that I could brew 2 2.5 gallon batches on my stove top using the BIAB method, perhaps with an additional dunk sparge. I think I could do this using 4 or 5 gallon pots, which are available for not much money. This would allow me to make two styles in a single setting at not too much additional time cost. This would also allow me to try more variations.
I am hoping to source the kettles and fermenters locally (I'm hoping to pick up some 3 gallon pails and lids at local groceries). Otherwise, I have not equipment.
I was thinking of thinking of buying two bulk grain bags (a 2row and a wheat malt), a few pounds of misc. crystal malts, 2 lbs of hop pellets (say cascade and willamette), dry yeast (should I get anything other than US-05?), sanitizer, a hydrometer/tube, a few bubblers/stoppers, and some tubing.
I haven't nailed down my bottling strategy yet. I'm generally the kind of guy that if he is going to have a beer, I'm going to have a few, so I think 12oz seems like a lot of work for the result. On the upside, they are easily available second hand. I'd be interested to hear success or failure stories about larger volume bottling (2L bottle, e.g.). Kegs are probably out of the picture for cost reasons for now.
Thanks in advance for comments and criticisms!