winemaker now beer brewer

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nootay

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Ive been making wine for about 4 years. A buddy of mine started making beer recently, and since i already have a lot of the equipment that i would need, i figure i might as well start too! The part i hate the most about making wine is the bottling process, so im opting to make a kegerator and keg beer. Im getting ready to order the additional equipment i need and thought i would see if i need anything else.

Here is what i already have:

2 5 gallon soda kegs
several 8 gallon primary fermenters
6 5 gallon carboys
racking equipment
cleaning/sanitizing equipment
propane burner
spoon
wine whip/degasser (from what ive read i dont believe i need this in beer brewing)
bungs/airlock
hydrometer
thermometer

What i think i need:

wort chiller
10 gallon megapot - i dont plan on getting the one with the valve on it unless it makes this process a lot easier
fridge kegerator conversion kits
new orings for soda kegs


i think thats it? anything else you can think of?

for sanitizing ive always used potassium metabisulfite with my winemaking equipment and have never had any issues. From reading on this forum, it doesnt seem like many people use that here, any reason why?

also a question about the primary fermenting process. It seems like a lot of people use liquid yeast or go through the process of reanimating the yeast. With wine, once its down to the right temperature and the hydrometer reads correctly, i stir it up pretty good and while its still swirling, sprinkle the yeast on top. Ive never had any issues with doing this and always get fermentation within 8-12 hours. Any reason this wont work in beer brewing?

This is my first post of probably many here so glad to be part of the community!

Thanks

Adam
 
Sanitation during wine making is not as touchy as beer making I don't think. I would invest in starsan and use it. The potassium metabisulfite is to sanitize the wine must of wild yeasts ( I think) with beer making you boil the wort so THAT is not an issue. However everything that touches the wort after boiling MUST be thoroughly sanitized and it seems starsan is the easiest method.
Other than that I use my equipment for both wine and beer and haven't noticed any ill effects so far.

also if you plan on doing AG brews, a mash tun needs to be added to the list
 
I'm in the same boat, started out making wine (which I still do a lot) but now I'm far more interested in brewing. It was an easy transition since a lot of the equipment is the same. IMO almost nobody can make wine to match a great commercial bottle, but with work you can make beer that's superior to what most people buy/drink. The sky's the limit. I also like that my beer is great within a couple of months of starting, but it takes wine a couple of years to hit its peak.

Welcome to the dark side!
 
thanks for the reply! ill be doing extract brewing for a while.

Ill have to look in to starsan, thanks!
 
osagedr,

thats reason number 1 im starting beer brewing. compared to wine, the wait for the final product will be next to nothing! and since im kegging i feel the process will be loads easier. cant wait to start!
 
I would consider getting a valve in your megga pot. You are spending the money on a 10 gallon brewing pot I think in the long run you will wish you had gotten the valve.

Just my 2C
 
i assume the benefit would be to just hook a hose up to it to pour in to fermenter instead of dumping it in? i guess handling 10 gallons could be kind of tough. Right now i will be doing all 5 gallon batches, but that may change in the future.
 
The ball valve on the pot is so much easier, however if you buy one without you can get everything you need to install a weldless one from bargainfittings.com after the fact.

And that whip degasser can be used to aerate your wort/must before pitching yeast, every little bit helps!
 
I have a 80 quart pot and was able to chill it just fine in about 40 minutes. Just had it sitting in ice water, and froze a 2 litre water bottle the night before and dumped it in
 
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