Equipment Needed for First Brew

Hello All.

I am new to this board and introduced myself on the Introductions Board. I plan on eventually getting into all grain brewing and it was suggested that I try extract brewing first before I spend a lot of money and decide that this was not for me. Could you please tell me what extract equipment I should invest in first to get my first extract brew going.

Please suggest equipment that I will not need to upgrade when I advance onto all grain brewing. I plan on using glass Carboys for cleanliness instead of plastic, so also what size should I go for, 5 gallon or 6.5 gallon.

Looking forward to your replies

Niall

http://northernbrewer.com/starterkits.html

There's no reason to not use plastic buckets. A lot of us prefer them because they are so much easier to clean.

From what I have read so far it is good to have a 6.5 gallon for primary fermentation and a 5 gallon for secondary. The 6.5 gallon will come in handy during the very active stage of fermentation so you wont have foamy mess coming out of your fermentor. I am a newb as well so correct me if am off base on this one.

also I plan on going with the intermediate kit when I get home

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdBySubCat.aspx?SubCat=11166&fd=1

I like 5.5 gallons for second stage. The risk of blow off is small, but going a only five means you limit your flexibility about adding things into your secondary.

The basic kit shown in the link should be fine - there are advantages to using glass but as Cheesefood points out, there is a simplicity to cleaning plastic buckets that can be very appealing.

The kit shown looks like a good start to me. If I had a choice I would get a 6.5 carboy for primary fermentation. I have a 5 gallon now and if you want to avoid blowoff never quite fill it to the top. If I had the bigger one I could consistently get 5 gallons of beer from the recepies.

Also don't buy what you don't have to. I was thinking about getting into homebrewing and the cost was holding me back. Turns out my father in-law had a bunch of equipement from when he used to brew back in the 70's. The more I talk to people the more I find a bunch of people who used to brew that are willing to unload equipment. Or people who have upgraded.... There's always gently used equipemnt out there if you look.

My secret for bottling is using Martilli's bottles. You know the sparkling apple cider. They use a regular bottle cap and are 24 oz. Bigger bottles means less capping! They are green so I store them in old wine boxes to protect them from the light. Also don't be foolish enough to pay for empty bottles. Emptying them yourself is much more fun! and about the same price.

Papazian's Joy of Brewing is a great way to get started. And relax. You're first batch is pretty stressful but just remeber that it really does take some effort to screw up beer.

One of the oddest things about brewing kits is, they never include a kettle! You have to have a large kettle and a good heat source. 8-10 gallons for the kettle and some kind of propane burner, if you plan on going to AG soon. Many people (myself included) purchase turkey boilers. The pots tend to be a bit on the small side, but when I started doing AG, I got a bigger pot and used the old one for a mash tun.

You can do extract, extract plus specialty grains and mini-mash on a stove and with a 20-24 quart pot.

Most online places have kettles as an add on. It makes sense since many people have a stock pot big enough to handle a partial boil.

onecolumbyte said:

The kit shown looks like a good start to me. If I had a choice I would get a 6.5 carboy for primary fermentation. I have a 5 gallon now and if you want to avoid blowoff never quite fill it to the top. If I had the bigger one I could consistently get 5 gallons of beer from the recepies.

Also don't buy what you don't have to. I was thinking about getting into homebrewing and the cost was holding me back. Turns out my father in-law had a bunch of equipement from when he used to brew back in the 70's. The more I talk to people the more I find a bunch of people who used to brew that are willing to unload equipment. Or people who have upgraded.... There's always gently used equipemnt out there if you look.

My secret for bottling is using Martilli's bottles. You know the sparkling apple cider. They use a regular bottle cap and are 24 oz. Bigger bottles means less capping! They are green so I store them in old wine boxes to protect them from the light. Also don't be foolish enough to pay for empty bottles. Emptying them yourself is much more fun! and about the same price.

Papazian's Joy of Brewing is a great way to get started. And relax. You're first batch is pretty stressful but just remeber that it really does take some effort to screw up beer.

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This is very nice to hear!!! I'm doing my first batch Saturday!!!

David

Good luck and have fun. It does not take long before you are experienced enough to make beers that are way better than anything you can buy.

llain said:

also what size should I go for, 5 gallon or 6.5 gallon.

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I have a 35 liter primary bucket that gives a lot of head space for a few inches of krausen foam on a 23 liter batch. I put the lid on tight and have an hole drilled in the lid where I put an airlock. I then rack into a 23 liter carboy for the secondary. I have actually been switching from glass carboys to Better Bottles as they are way easier to move and clean. The Better Bottles are slightly smaller than the typical Italian or Mexican glass carboys though.

Cheers,
Rod.

Thanks for all your replys. I have ordered all my equipment and should be delivered by this coming monday. I will let you all know how I get on.
Niall

one good suggestion that I have learned is to spend some good money on your boiling pot. It will pay off with less boil overs. I find that a more exspensive pot has a thicker bottom on it which distrubutes the heat well and makes it come to a boil more gradual rather than all of a sudden. They can be pricey but I started with a cheap one that was thin and it was a lot easier to boil over. Just my look on things. Luckily for me my dad sells restaurant equipment so i got a good deal on a good quality pot.

What size boiling pot would you recommend I buy? A size that will be sufficient to use in all grain brewing later down the road.

Well if you are going for allgrain it's highly unlikely that you will be using a stove top. I'd say the two mush popular options are....

11 gallon keg converted to a keggle with a propane burner.

30qt(+) turkey fryer set up.

Same as usual I have a keggle and am happy with it so would reccomend that.