Best Equipment to Start With?

Getting ready to start trying to brew my own looked in to a few starter kits but i dont have a clue about what I need or want or what works the best. I last looked a monster brew Octoberfest kit or they have another with a glass carboy. And last I live in southern Ga. how do i keep my ferment temp down.
Any help advice or thoughts are completly appreciated.

I would suggest regular buckets for fermenting. Get two 6.5 gallon buckets and I personally don't suggest a secondary vessel (carboy). For the basic starter you need:

a brew pot (at least 3 gallon, can be aluminum or stainless, but don't use a chiped enamel pot)
A fermenting bucket
A bottling bucket (I just siphon the beer into bottles because bottling bucket spiggots can be faulty)
A loooooong stir spoon for your wort during boils, to aerate, etc
Siphon tubing
airlock
thermometer for steeping grains
HYDROMETER (most important piece of equiptment
Capper/caps
empty non-twist off bottles

That is all you need to get started. If I missed anything someone can point it out. You can add more advanced equipment as you progress!

This has everything you need except a spoon and a brew pot:
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...11356&osCsid=dab91216d931e09abfffa3244c568fe8

Thats what i was looking for thank you for the help any other pointer...

If you pick up Charlie Papazian's book (The Complete Joy of Home Brewing) it has a list of all the stuff you need. Or if you go to your local home brew store, they will most likely have a kit. I got mine from brewmasters warehouse. Instead of the carboy that Charlie uses, I have two 6.5 gallon buckets as Germelli suggested. Everything else is on the list.

As far as keeping your temps down...put together a swamp cooler. There are many methods outlined on this site. I live in GA too and this is what I have done...

33 gal plastic garbage can, fill it with water to about 10 inches, put your fermenter into it, swap out frozen 2 liter bottles every 12 hours or so (mine stays around 65 at this rate) or more often to keep it lower.

Good luck and enjoy!

I looked for a brew store and there are none to be found in south Ga. but my be going near Atl soon and there are some up there. The bucket was my pick also but i wanted to know which from people who know... the swamp cooler sounds good Ill have to make one thanks for the great input

oUGAo said:

I looked for a brew store and there are none to be found in south Ga. but my be going near Atl soon and there are some up there. The bucket was my pick also but i wanted to know which from people who know... the swamp cooler sounds good Ill have to make one thanks for the great input

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I tried the swamp cooler for two batches. One turned out great, one turned out meh. I now have a 14 cubic foot freezer with a thermostat and that's what I use for all of my fermenting.

The swamp cooler method works, but swapping out water bottles sucks.

The best advice I can give is do the best job anticipating your equipment/supply needs. Plan ahead for the next step in your equipment purchases so you do not end up buying equipment twice.

Germelli1 said:

I would suggest regular buckets for fermenting. Get two 6.5 gallon buckets and I personally don't suggest a secondary vessel (carboy). For the basic starter you need:

a brew pot (at least 3 gallon, can be aluminum or stainless, but don't use a chiped enamel pot)
A fermenting bucket
A bottling bucket (I just siphon the beer into bottles because bottling bucket spiggots can be faulty)
A loooooong stir spoon for your wort during boils, to aerate, etc
Siphon tubing
airlock
thermometer for steeping grains
HYDROMETER (most important piece of equiptment
Capper/caps
empty non-twist off bottles

That is all you need to get started. If I missed anything someone can point it out. You can add more advanced equipment as you progress!

Click to expand...

plus a good cleaner (PBW) AND a sanitizer (StarSan).

For a swamp cooler, this is similar to what the guys above are talking about..hopefully you have a access to a Target: http://www.target.com/Rope-Tub-Blue-18-gal/dp/B002C0VBB8/ref=sc_qi_detaillink These do work really well. Get 4 1 or 2 liter soda bottles, put water in them and freeze them. I put two in the tub in the morning before I go to work and then swap those out before I go to bed with 2 frozen ones fresh from the freezer and that works great for me. $6.99...can't beat that for a fermentation temp control!

:rockin:

how much beer are you looking to make? sure the 5 and 6.5 gallon carboys are the "standard", but it wouldn't hurt assess your goals before buying as well. are you looking to go big and have one beer for a few weeks, or perhaps keep it smaller and rotate your stock.

fwiw, I opted for the latter, have a 2.5 gallon fermenter (makes about a case's worth for the sake of argument), and currently I have 5 different beers that I am rotating through. if I was going "standard", then I would probably only have 2 beer choices at the moment...and I enjoy having a variety

but, to each their own

Well Ga law dosent allow alot I think 50 gals a year so im thinking about the 5ish gal will be more than enoughand give me plenty of trial and error. I asked the question because i know when you start a new venture you but "kits" then usually turn around a few tries latterand upgrade everything and it cost alot more and you have things you never use so i wanted to know if anyone still just uses their "kits".

the but was meant to be buy "kits"...

I live over an hour away from a brew shop so I do most of my shopping online. I would recommended Midwest Supplies beginners brewing kit. It can be found HERE. I've done a lot of online shopping and they have some of the best products and prices. I started with that kit and have added on to it over time. They also have a couple other kits that have more of what you need (bottles, brew kettles, secondary carboy, etc.) so you can start brewing right out of the box. Their extract kits are easy to use and turn out great. It also comes with a small instructional book and a DVD.

And no I don't work for them, just enjoy their products and prices

Thats the information i was looking for is there anything that didnt come with you kit that you needed?

oUGAo said:

Thats the information i was looking for is there anything that didnt come with you kit that you needed?

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The only other things you "HAVE" to have are ingredients, bottles, and a brew pot (at least 4 gal). They do have an "Everything" package HERE but you can save money by re-using commercial beer bottles. Just make sure they are pry-off bottles, not twist off.

Ronnie

Yea i Started saving bottles last week so ill have more than enough. I appreciate everyones help and input. Thank yall so much Ill continue to ask questions as they come to mind if anyone has any other new brew advice its welcome.

oUGAo said:

Well Ga law dosent allow alot I think 50 gals a year

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You are correct. I looked this up a few weeks ago
its 50 gallons a year at up to 14% ABV as long as it is brewed for your own consumption.
The really interesting part of the GA Law IMO is that you can legally start brewing your own beer at any age as long as you are not considered a dependent by any one for tax reasons.
So in theory a 16 year old emancipated minor could make and drink his own beer.

Leave it to good old Ga but he can only brew 50 gals which is low form what ive read but im trying to get the equipment in order to try i most likely wont brew my first untill october so it will be cool enough not to worry with any cooling equipment...

I couldn't brew good beer in the summer here in North Texas until I got a spare fridge with a temp controller. It stays around 80 in the coolest part of my house in the middle of the summer. I learned the hard way what happens to beer brewed at too high a temp, not that I didn't drink it anyway

I understand that you make you TRY to enjoy it. Thanks to everyone who posted or just read your advice is much needed Im glad I found this site.

I also recommend the Midwest Supplies starter kits. You'll have to come up with a brewpot, I found a 30 qt. SS Procter-Silex on sale for $40 delivered. In the 3 years since I started I've made some changes, of course, mostly necessitated by the move to all-grain. But starting is starting....which I did with the Midwest kit on the kitchen cooktop making extract kits with steeping grains. No regrets.

oUGAo said:

Thats the information i was looking for is there anything that didnt come with you kit that you needed?

Click to expand...

I didn't see a Sanitizer in there....buy a big bottle of StarSan with your kit and I'd also recommend you buy some extra cleaner such as PBW.

And don't do what I did. For a 5 gallon bucket, you don't need to fill it with 5 gallons of cleaner or sanitizer. Just a gallon or two on the cleaner and all hte sanitizer needs is to wet the surface for 1/2 a minute...you can literally spray it on with a spray bottle...and it's a no rinse deal so just leave the solution on it.

There is a no rinse sanitizer included with the kit. LD Carlson Company's Easy Clean powder. It's not as good as StarSan but it will get you started I used it on the first few batches I made.

Qeelin said:

There is a no rinse sanitizer included with the kit. LD Carlson Company's Easy Clean powder. It's not as good as StarSan but it will get you started I used it on the first few batches I made.

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That's a cleaner (similar to PBW), not a sanitizer & not the same as StarSan I believe. You need both.

Centexbear said:

That's a cleaner (similar to PBW), not a sanitizer & not the same as StarSan I believe. You need both.

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Huh, I used it with the first 4 or 5 batches and had no problem. I guess I got lucky.

oUGAo said:

I looked for a brew store and there are none to be found in south Ga. but my be going near Atl soon and there are some up there. The bucket was my pick also but i wanted to know which from people who know... the swamp cooler sounds good Ill have to make one thanks for the great input

Click to expand...

Ever hear of this place ?

http://www.savannahbrewers.com/index_files/SavannahHomeBrewShop.htm

The one-step does not have the proper government certification to be labeled a sanitizer, but it will work. Apparently the cost of obtaining that certification can be prohibitive. That being said, also purchase a large bottle of StarSan and use it when the one-step runs out.

The other suggestion that I would make is going with a brew pot large enough to do full boils, and since your kitchen stove will not likely have the BTUs to handle it, an appropriate heat source. A turkey fryer works nicely. I have one of these and am very happy with it. It works well with the pot included, and even takes my 15 gallon pot without a problem. If you go with a pot much smaller than the 7.5 gallon one, you will end up buying a larger one if you ever want to do full boils.

I found the Savannah brew shop the yesterday while looking for more sorces now i just need to visit them. i already have a turkey fryer so the boiling is not the issue just the rest of the stuff. Everyone has been a wealth of knowledge! it really make the idea alot easier to know this is a click away thank yall so much ill let you know when i make my fisrt effort. I think im going to try an octoberfest of some sort... Donno yet.