Short Introduction

Another Mr. Beer Beginner here. Haven't even tasted my first batch yet and I'm already planning an upgrade before the end of the year.

First a little bit about myself. I'm a 30 something, male from Southeast Oklahoma. I'm a full-time father and banker and a part time bowhunter(from Oct 1st thru Jan 15). I process my own deer and love making jerky and sausage. I guess that's what really turned me on to brewing, the do-it-yourself aspect.

Well, intros out of the way, I've been doing some research(mostly on here) as to what kit to purchase but if you have any advice, I'd welcome it.

What kind of beer do you like? I went with a simple kit for my first brew. The Canadian Ale extract from AHS. The results were very good.

Also, have you ever been to Soper, OK?

Hi, MCH. Welcome to the HBT forums.

To get started, you can look at these sites (among others) for a beginner's kit of equipment:

Austin Homebrew Supply
MoreBeer
HopTech
Midwest Homebrew

Which kit is more a case of what's included. Some kits go as far as including the bottles, bottle capper, and the first brew ingredient kit. Normally the equipment kits do not come with a brew pot. For partial boil extract with grains, five gallons is nice but you can easily do it in as small as a three gallon (12 quart) pot as well. Just boil water and extract to equal about 2.5 gallons of water and top off. You don't need a secondary fermenter but they are nice to have; personally I prefer the plastic Better Bottle carboys over the glass and I think most of the suppliers will substitute (may affect price, I don't know). But others will (correctly) tell you that with care you can use glass for years without any problems . . . I just worry about the high consequences that might occur should there be a slip with a full glass carboy. You will also need a grain bag for steeping the specialty grains, though you can "brew your own" (pun intended) with a large piece of cheesecloth.


You didn't ask, but as to what to brew first, I would start with an "extract with grains" ale kit from a homebrew supply house that puts together tried and true recipe ingredients for you. The links below are to the index of recipe kits from some online suppliers:

Austin Homebrew Supply
MoreBeer
HopTech
Midwest Homebrew

In fact, right now Forrest of Austin Home Brew has a deal going with free shipping on two kits; this thread has the details: Beer recipe kits with Free Shipping!

Pick an ale that sounds like what you would want to drink and order the recipe kit. You will need a yeast to go with it -- for starting out, I would suggest you order a dry yeast and get a couple of spare packages. Liquid yeasts are not hard to use, but most folks suggest a starter when using them -- though I've pitched the "pitchable" tubes/packets without a starter and it made very good beer; maybe not as good as it could have been, but good.

I would also take a look at the site where John Palmer has the first edition of his book How to Brew available online. The first of the links below is for brewing a very simple extract, a Cincinnati Pale Ale. The second link talks about adding specialty grains. You can use whatever ingredients kit you buy and follow the process Palmer outlines.

Extract Recipe
Specialty Grains

The above sections will get you started, but the more of the book you read the more you will understand what you are doing. I would suggest ordering the book as well. It gets you the latest edition and it is handy to have around. The one thing I would ignore in the Palmer specialty grain section is the line on removing the steeped grains: "Remove the grain bag from the pot, giving it a squeeze to drain the excess wort and avoid dripping on the stove." Don't squeeze it; I think doing so can cause harsh tannins to be released into the wort. What I (now) do is to put the grain bag in a strainer that I sit over the brew kettle and let drain for about a minute.

There is also a Homebrewing Wiki here at homebrewtalk.com: Wiki

Lots of information there. And, of course, these forums are great for asking questions.

Last, as well as the above links to online retailers, if you are fortunate enough to have a local home brew supply store you should definitely check it out.

Good luck!

Rick

Thanks for the info Rick. Looks like I've got a lot of studying ahead of me.

BTW--Soper, I have been there. I also went to college with a guy from Soper. His nickname was.....Soper. Last I heard he had married and moved to Durant, though.

Welcome to HBT MCH!
You can start off with just about any of the starter kits. Remember, most of the kits don't come with a brew pot or bottles. You can get by fairly inexpensively with a 20 quart stainless steel pot and the bottles need to be the NON twist off type. You can get them by buying and drinking micro brewed beer or you can even ask bars and restaurants if you can sort through their bottles.
Keep us informed on your progress!

RichBrewer said:

You can get them by buying and drinking micro brewed beer or you can even ask bars and restaurants if you can sort through their bottles.
Keep us informed on your progress!

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I talked to the gentleman that runs the bar at our local country club. But unfortunately, the only beer he serves that has non-twist off tops are Corona and Heineken.

I'll probably just end up buying more bottles from Mr. Beer or another site.

Also the first homebrew shop online I found was homebrewheaven.com havent seen them mentioned here but they have a nice question system and they always give you a 110% answer. They are also usually a few bucks cheaper than other supply shops online in a number of items.