looking to start my first brew

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bklebel

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Hello, I would like to say this is a great forum and I plan on learning a lot from you guys and hopefully this becomes a life long hobby.

I just bought a complete setup from someone that wanted to get out of home brewing and was selling everything. What I got for $150 was:

- 5 gallon ale pail fermenting bucket
- (2) 5 gallon carboys
- (1) 6 gallon carboy
- (4) 5 gallon Cornelius kegs
- Hydrometer, thermometer, siphons, bottle filler, bottle capper and lots of caps, and everything else that you need that I forgot.

Overall I think it was a pretty good deal and very convenient getting it all from one place.

I have doing my research trying to learn as much as I can and think I am ready to start my first batch. I would like to know what a good first batch would be to start out. I would like a nice crisp little beer, something that I could impress my friends with, who drink the basic light beers. I would like to know also if there are any brews that would take less time then the 1-2-3 rule. I would like to cut down the time as much as I can but I know im going to have to be patient to get a great brew. Any suggestions let me know.
 
Sounds like a nice setup to begin with.

If it were me, I would try an extract pale ale kit to start.

Steeping grains would be a bonus. Be wary of kits that seem too simplistic. Be wary of kits from a vendor that does not sell a ton of them (old yeast etc).

As far as the 1 2 3 "rule" goes.

There is no "Rule" per se.

you can completely avoid the secondary if you like ( the 2 in the 1 2 3) and go straight to bottles or kegs in your case.

I have used a secondary perhaps 5 times in the last 10 years.

Be aware however, you are sacrificing some clarity and you can produce a better beer using a secondary. It is a personal decision.

That being said, one thing this hobby will teach you is patience.

Rush the brew and you will be dissappointed.

Patience is a virtue.

Beer is good.

Time is your friend.


Let me know if you have other questions.

Cheers,

knewshound
 
Browns and Milds can be done in 4 weeks, if you keep the starting gravity below 1.040.

AK Mild

4.5 lb. pale LME
1.25 oz chocolate malt
8 oz flaked corn
1 pound corn sugar

1 oz. Goldings hops @ 60 min.

Nottingham dried yeast

This is a good one for turning BMC lovers.
 
im guessing BMC lovers = budlight, mich golden, and coors, am I right??

Thats for the suggestion, I'm planning on heading to my local home brewing store and seeing what they have and see what kind of help I can get from them.
 
If you do a small beer like what was suggested you can do 2-2 system. Two weeks in the primary and two in the bottle, or keg which are nice. By the way BMC stands for Bud, MILLER, Coors, or also known as the big three.
 
bklebel said:
Hello, I would like to say this is a great forum and I plan on learning a lot from you guys and hopefully this becomes a life long hobby.

I just bought a complete setup from someone that wanted to get out of home brewing and was selling everything. What I got for $150 was:

- 5 gallon ale pail fermenting bucket
- (2) 5 gallon carboys
- (1) 6 gallon carboy
- (4) 5 gallon Cornelius kegs
- Hydrometer, thermometer, siphons, bottle filler, bottle capper and lots of caps, and everything else that you need that I forgot.

Overall I think it was a pretty good deal and very convenient getting it all from one place.

I have doing my research trying to learn as much as I can and think I am ready to start my first batch. I would like to know what a good first batch would be to start out. I would like a nice crisp little beer, something that I could impress my friends with, who drink the basic light beers. I would like to know also if there are any brews that would take less time then the 1-2-3 rule. I would like to cut down the time as much as I can but I know im going to have to be patient to get a great brew. Any suggestions let me know.
Click to expand...
You have plenty of glass carboys, if I were you, I wouldn't use the plastic fermenting bucket. Get some blowoff tubes and put water in the bucket and submerge the tubes in the water like so.


Picture014.jpg



And I would test the kegs if you plan on using them, the gaskets can go bad on them. And if you don't have them, you'll need to get a couple of air locks. Also, I recoment you post here what kit you're looking at purchasing before you purchase. I've read about some bad and bizare kits around here.
 
bklebel said:
im guessing BMC lovers = budlight, mich golden, and coors, am I right??

Thats for the suggestion, I'm planning on heading to my local home brewing store and seeing what they have and see what kind of help I can get from them.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. Bud, Miller, Coors (and up here: Labbatts, Molson. Though Molson is now owned by Coors).
 
If I were you I'd buy an extract kit, simple and will teach you the basics with almost guaranteed success. Midwest supplies out of Minneapolis has a great on line store, and they offer a free instructional video or dvd. There's nothing like seeing it done to make it simple.

Good luck
 
Mr Bigins: what would be the benefit to that setup compared to fermenting in the bucket and transfering to a carboy for secondary?

Also, I went and checked out the local home brew store and it wasn't much. It was a hobbie shop and they had just an isle for brewing. They had some all in one kits that I think were called "Best Brews" but I can't remember exactly. The owner reccomended one of those because it includes everything as well as instructions. I wil check out midwest supplies and see what they have.
 
No, I don't like the look of that recipe's ingredients. Once I checked out that link, I said "where is this guy". Turns out you're just down 169 from me in Mankato. Tell me you've been to Bandana Brew Pub where Dave Berg is the master brewer. He's also the president of the Minnesota Brewers Association and makes some great beer that is very resonably priced especially during happy hour, and on Monday happy hour is all day.

Midwest is more of a warehouse with 1/3 of it for mail order. Tell me what kind of beer you like to drink. I would never let my beer sit in plastic for any duration of time. I wouldn't do it, Dave Berg wouldn't do it, and neither should you. I'm not saying it won't work, I just don't recomend it.
 

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