pre-noob from South Africa

Howzit going guys!

Living in the states now, at grad school in Athens GA.

Have been looking at starting, have read how to brew books, priced out all the equipment I would need (I want to start with something that I wont have to upgrade in a year, i.e two corny kegerator, carboy etc.) and have even convinced the girlfriend that its a good idea!

I guess now the decision is whether to go for it.

Do you guys ever see people brew once or twice and then give up/lose interest? I guess I'm scared of that!

Brewing my first batch tonight!

Have cleaned everything with brewclean from kegconnection just to be sure, and I'll be santizing in a little while. I'm going to be making a Bass clone that I got from midwest, just though it would be a nice first try.

Next I'm planning on a milk stout and then as we hit the depths of winter maybe a lager of some kind just to take advantage of the lower house temperatures.

its a pretty rewarding hobby Safa, most people get really into it. at least on this board that would seem to be the consensus. i got a couple people into who don't even really like beer, but there making ther own ciders and stuff like that now. now, you dont need half the equipment for that, boil kettle,HLT,ect.. brewing equip holds its value fairly well to! unless you really beat teh hell outa it!!.. corny's could have 100% return value if you try. boil kettles are good for more then just beers.. the equipment used is really not junk even if its not making you beers.. so i would say don't worry about it to much

it's a pretty engrossing hobby. you sound a lot like me - read up tons, have it all planned out, know what you're doing (relatively speaking, for a noob). i have zero doubt that you'll be doing this for a long time. good luck with your first brewday. in case of last-minute questions, come post on the board (in the Beginners sub-forum) with the words "URGENT" in the title - someone should help you out quickly.

relax, don't worry, make a homebrew!

p.s. i have long maintained that biltong is the PERFECT food to go with beer, alas no one here seems to know what it is. *sigh*...

Welcome!

I understand your hesitation as, while not extremely expensive to get into this hobby, there is a cost. IMO there really is no need to start with a keg set up or any of the other expensive add-on type things, especially if you are not sure you decide to continue. (I doubt this BTW)

You can decide to either jump in feet first with all grain or go extract for a few batches and get your feet wet. If you really enjoy beer I am sure you will have a great time and want to keep at it. There are a lot of great beginner kits out there that get you everything you need to brew beer for reasonable money. In fact Midwest supply occasionally has a groupon for $64.00 and it comes with a recipe kit!

I've been brewing for years, all grain and I still bottle everything, not a huge fan of kegging, nor the space to deal with it. Whatever you opt to do be sure to take your time, plan your brew days and ask questions before you have a problem, in the end you'll make beer!

Thanks guys! Thoroughly enjoyed brewday 1. Went pretty damn well, and I must say that planning is everything. Looking back I can just imagine how screwed up everything would have been if I hadn't spent as long as I did browsing these forums just picking up random tips and bits of info.

Primary is bubbling away right now, and I'm going to back sweeten my cider tomorrow, so we will see how that turns out!

Safa said:

Thanks guys! Thoroughly enjoyed brewday 1. Went pretty damn well, and I must say that planning is everything. Looking back I can just imagine how screwed up everything would have been if I hadn't spent as long as I did browsing these forums just picking up random tips and bits of info.

Primary is bubbling away right now, and I'm going to back sweeten my cider tomorrow, so we will see how that turns out!

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Hi dude.
Another Safa here in Adelaide Oz, been brewing for about a year now, started while living in the Uk.
Hope you enjoy the journey, I sure have so far.
Hope your first is a pearler!

Thanks!

Building a keggerator this afternoon and kegging my first batch today as well!

Hope oz is treating you well, though I suppose it's not a whole lot different from home with Hal of our country heading your way over the past decade.

Nice one, put up a pic of your kegotator when you're done. Thinking of building one myself. Like to see how yours turned out.

Here it is!
There is space for two cornies. The fridge is a danby 440. I followed in the footsteps of a whole lot of guys on HBT, there must be 10 different danby kegerators on here!
Mine was a bit weird, door panel didn't have screws, so I had to cut the plastic shelving out and silicone over the top of the insulation, turne out pretty well though. I'm waiting for the silicone to dry (24 hrs) before turning it on and trying my first pour!

Has some friends over yesterday and we destroyed the cider. Was a big hit!

Has a taste of my first beer too, it was only slightly carbonated but man it was good. Beginners luck has been very good to me it seems!

Kegotator looks cool. May the brewing Gods bless you!
I'm on about my 12th batch and still going through teething problems, but then I'm super critical about my beer. I'm hopeful the hoppy summer pale I have on the go will be good!!

Thanks! Good luck with the teething! I'm pretty easy going with my batches I suppose. I'm not expecting too much early on, I'm just happy that it tastes like beer.