So much for waiting until after the move...

So I'm going to brine a turkey this year and I've been looking for a food grade plastic bucket. The only place I can find that has them (that they'll tell me at least) is the local homebrew shop. Off I go, with SWMBO - hoping that maybe I can talk her into letting me buy a homebrew book (she already agreed that homebrewing in Norfolk would be cool). As we're in the homebrew shop, talking to the owner - she out of nowhere says "OK, you can buy a full kit if you want it." So I now have my first brewing kit + ingredients!

That's eff'in metal dude. I told my SWMBO after I ordered the kit

Wow!!! Plus, you're a "lifetime supporter" with only six posts! You're diving in with both feet!:rockin:

Congrats!
And for future reference, Homer Buckets at Home Depot are food grade and would work fine for your turkey...and cost about $3.

Gonefishing said:

Congrats!
And for future reference, Homer Buckets at Home Depot are food grade and would work fine for your turkey...and cost about $3.

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Holy crap! I did not know that. Very cool info!

Rhoobarb said:

Wow!!! Plus, you're a "lifetime supporter" with only six posts! You're diving in with both feet!:rockin:

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My SWMBO and I both make a very decent living, and also realize just how much hosting and vbulletin costs (since we run one ourselves). The websites I do donate to, I also do it in $100 increments. Made sense to me!

I'm really bummed that I just looked at the calendar, and because of a pending month long business trip starting in a week and a half, I won't be able to start my first brew until Feb. This sucks. Unless, can you leave it in the fermenter for ~4 weeks?

Most fermentations are left for 3+ weeks. I think you'd be fine. Bottle when you get home.

That'll be perfect. Brew it up a few days before the trip, so you can monitor any possible blow offs. Come back in a month and take a gravity reading. It should be ready to bottle. Then brew another batch.

hcarter said:

Most fermentations are left for 3+ weeks. I think you'd be fine. Bottle when you get home.

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McNasty said:

That'll be perfect. Brew it up a few days before the trip, so you can monitor any possible blow offs. Come back in a month and take a gravity reading. It should be ready to bottle. Then brew another batch.

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You guys are awesome!! I'm really, really stoked now. On the advice of the LHBS advice, I got the basic kit (he said rather than spend >$100 on the kit and not having ingredients, spend $70 on the kit and get good ingredients) plus an ingredient kit. I got "Brewer's Best Bold Series American Nut Brown". I told him that my wife doesn't like beer, but likes Cider and that I prefer a good IPA. I said that the closest my wife got to liking a beer was Leinenkugels Fireside Nut Brown, and that's why he recommended this one.

The kit has a 6 gallon fermenting bucket w/airlock and I'm only supposed to be making 5 gallons of beer. Will blow offs be an issue? We're planning on doing the brew day at the house, and then relocating the fermenter to our climate controlled storage area (stays between 68-70 degrees 24/7 and is dark unless we're there). Bottling will be done at the house - then bottles back to the storage area, and the LHBS suggested that if we wanted to do that, bottle a day or two after we bring the fermenter back so everything can settle. Does this sound like a good plan?

I leave Jan 5th for Florida (rough business trip in Jan!!), and return Feb 7th. I was originally thinking about brewing up on the 3rd (so I have the 4th to pack) should I shoot for the 2nd? Should I bottle immediately after returning? Should I get SWMBO to do a gravity reading while I'm gone just in case? Or will it stabilize and stay there?

Or should I RDWHAHB?

Wait, I can't do that - I don't have any homebrews yet

Congrats on getting started, phrog! Although, I take exception to your avatar, since 53's are clearly a superior bird.

Sounds like you're getting good advice. I'd brew on the 2nd if I were you. You're going to want to see that fermentation going... it's exciting to watch the first time and an extra day won't hurt. Your LHBS gave you good advice about letting everything settle when you get back after moving it from storage, but everything should settle in about a day, if not less. Good luck!

Oh, one more thing, assuming you're using dry yeast. If I knew I had to let a beer sit in primary for 4-5 weeks, I would rehydrate dry yeast before pitching instead of pitching it directly into the wort. Here's why...

When dry yeast are reintroduced into a solution, as they rehydrate themselves, they don't have control over what passes through their cell membrane. When you pitch dry yeast directly into wort, sugars that they normally break down prior to consuming get passed through their cell membrane. This can cause the yeast cell to "burst" and die. If they rehydrate in water, they don't have this problem and yeast viability is greater. So pitching dry yeast onto wort can reduce overall yeast viability and result in more dead yeast cells sitting in the wort, which in theory, could cause "off-flavors" depending on beer style, time, etc. In most flavorful ales and because most primary times are 1-3 weeks, this isn't a big concern. But if I had a beer in primary for upwards of 5 weeks, I wouldn't want those extra dead yeast cells sitting in there the whole time.

Whichever yeast you're using, check out their website for rehydrating instructions. If they don't have any or say to pitch it directly onto wort, don't listen to them. They're just dumbing it down for homebrewers. Check back with us for how to rehydrate.

menschmaschine said:

Congrats on getting started, phrog! Although, I take exception to your avatar, since 53's are clearly a superior bird.

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I gotta be honest, when I went through flight school - I wanted Sh!tters. In the end I'm glad I got Phrogs. Although I worked as an Avionics Software Engineer on the 53K... I used to like to tell the Sikorsky engineers that I thought Boeing made a better bird!

menschmaschine said:

Sounds like you're getting good advice. I'd brew on the 2nd if I were you. You're going to want to see that fermentation going... it's exciting to watch the first time and an extra day won't hurt. Your LHBS gave you good advice about letting everything settle when you get back after moving it from storage, but everything should settle in about a day, if not less. Good luck!

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Sounds good, I guess I'll aim for the 2nd. Should I buy a brewpot used specifically for my beer? I've got 2 aluminum pots I could use now, a 3 gallon stock pot, and a 5 gallon turkey frying pot. I'm planning on using my turkey fryer set up, and then chill in a mix of ice, water, and salt (to get it colder quicker) in a cooler outside (it's 30-some degrees right now). I'm thinking that I should use the 5 gallon, just to make sure that some of the salty ice water doesn't accidentally splash up in to the beer. This would also make it easier to slosh the beer between the fermenter and the pot, although I also though about using a slotted spoon to do the same. Thoughts?

menschmaschine said:

Whichever yeast you're using, check out their website for rehydrating instructions. If they don't have any or say to pitch it directly onto wort, don't listen to them. They're just dumbing it down for homebrewers. Check back with us for how to rehydrate.

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Oh, I forgot to mention - the LHBS didn't have the actual "kit" in stock, so he built me a kit for the same price with what he had on hand. He felt bad, apologized profusely - and to make up for it threw in a copy of "How to Brew" for free. It talked about rehydrating the yeast, so that's what I thought I had to do. I'll check the kit now...

phrogpilot73 said:

Although I worked as an Avionics Software Engineer on the 53K.

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There's a 53K now!? When I first got to my squadron (HMH-462), I started out on Alphas and Deltas (some still had patched bullet holes from Vietnam), then we got all brand new Echos straight from Bridgeport. They're all the way up to Kilos now!? Man I feel old.

menschmaschine said:

There's a 53K now!? When I first got to my squadron (HMH-462), I started out on Alphas and Deltas (some still had patched bullet holes from Vietnam), then we got all brand new Echos straight from Bridgeport. They're all the way up to Kilos now!? Man I feel old.

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Don't feel that old. The last 53E was delivered to New River when I was a young Lt, and they'll be around for a while. They skipped a few letters on the way, the 53K is still in development - first flight 2012, IOC isn't until 2015. And the Phrog will still be flying at that point!