Jebediahscooter
Active Member
Hi all,
I've been interested in home brewing for about 6 months (after reading Microbrewed Adventures, I came to the conclusion that I needed to do this and started saving). A friend started brewing a couple of months ago with extract, and I've talked to him a lot recently. I've decided to jump straight into all grain, as he said that he has wanted to do so since like batch #3. So I've been reading a ton on here, read Palmer's book, learned a lot, and am ready to get going. So I have multi-phase plan and wanted to throw it out there to see if anybody had any words of wisdom.
Step 1 (completed): wire my large-ish garden shed with electricity so that I can ferment in a controlled manner out there.
Our house is tiny, and one compromise with the wife was that there would be absolutely no brewing activity inside. So I basically have to start with the end of the process and work backward from there...can't ferment in 90-100* summer temps here in Raleigh without control.
Question: I store my lawn mower and gas cans in the shed, and I'm worried about fumes and sparks from a minifridge compressor. I plan to move gas cans into a plastic bin and keep them outside of the shed from now on. Will the leftover gas in the mower create enough fumes when stored to cause a fire hazard? The shed has two small vents at the top, but it's not very well ventilated.
Step 2 (in progress): Acquire and drill/plumb kegs to make kettle/HLT
I got the kegs yesterday for free from a the owner of my regular beer bar...the area brewpub that owns them hadn't returned his calls for a year, and he had left two messages with them asking if they wanted them after I'd inquired about kegs. They didn't call back after a week, so he didn't feel bad about giving them to me, and I didn't feel bad about taking them. I'm going to cut, drill, and clean them today, and I'm in the process of ordering weldless bulkheads/valves from Bargain Fittings. I'm also considering things like dip tubes, sight glasses, and thermometers. I just need to figure out what I want on each keg, and I'll go from there. I'm thinking sight glass/thermowell combo fitting for each, though.
Question: Does my HLT need a dip tube? For my BK, I'm thinking a dip tube, but I need advice on what to use to strain hops and whatnot when emptying it. False bottom? Hop Rocket or something similar? DIY something?
Step 3 (in progress): Acquire minifridge and plan/build a ferm chamber: I'm going to go the fridge-attached-to-an-insulated-box route here. I have a CL fridge lined up that I'll pick up this afternoon, and I will hit lowes tomorrow for lumber/insulation/hardware. I've been reading about temp controllers, and I think that I am going to go with the Ranco 2 stage, as fall in spring here have big enough temperature swings and the chamber will be in an uninsulated outbuilding. I'm thinking that I will build the chamber two hold two carboys with some extra space for bottle storage. I'll just be starting with ales, so I'm not worrying about hitting lower temps now.
Question: Is wiring a computer fan up so that it comes on when the fridge comes on difficult for an electricity n00b? Is the fan wired to the fridge? Or is it wired to the Ranco?
Step 4 (planning still): build a brewstand: I'm not going fancy, and I have no welding skills and don't know anybody who does. I also have the problem of not having any flat concrete spots in my yard, so I'm worried about stability. I came up with the idea of using sleeves/anchors in the ground (something like this) that will allow me to drop 4x4 posts in to the ground as the supports for a stand. I would then have bed frames or something else (maybe wood platforms with heat shields) attached with lag bolts for the burners/kettles to sit on. My thought is to make it modular so that I can tear it all down and store separate pieces in my shed at the end of a brew day. Any thoughts?
Step 5 (planning still): acquire/build MLT, get all of the various equipment and components. I'm going to use a round cooler MLT and convert it. I'll get burners, a pump if I decide to go single or two-tier, buckets, hydrometer, capper, sanitizing stuff, etc etc. All of the little things. I still haven't decided on what kind of chiller I will use. Initially, I'll do 5 gallon batches and might just go with an immersion chiller, but the ground water isn't very cool in the summer here...
Question: Should I just buy a starter brewing kit and get all of the little bits and pieces together, or would it be cheaper to just order what I need a la carte to so that I'm not getting anything I don't need?
Sorry for the long post, but I just needed to get all of that down to help me organize, and I figured that I would try to get some questions answered in the process. Anything I'm not thinking about that I should consider? Thanks for reading, and thanks for all of the great posts...I've really enjoyed learning tons from just randomly reading threads on this forum. Very cool community going here!
I've been interested in home brewing for about 6 months (after reading Microbrewed Adventures, I came to the conclusion that I needed to do this and started saving). A friend started brewing a couple of months ago with extract, and I've talked to him a lot recently. I've decided to jump straight into all grain, as he said that he has wanted to do so since like batch #3. So I've been reading a ton on here, read Palmer's book, learned a lot, and am ready to get going. So I have multi-phase plan and wanted to throw it out there to see if anybody had any words of wisdom.
Step 1 (completed): wire my large-ish garden shed with electricity so that I can ferment in a controlled manner out there.
Our house is tiny, and one compromise with the wife was that there would be absolutely no brewing activity inside. So I basically have to start with the end of the process and work backward from there...can't ferment in 90-100* summer temps here in Raleigh without control.
Question: I store my lawn mower and gas cans in the shed, and I'm worried about fumes and sparks from a minifridge compressor. I plan to move gas cans into a plastic bin and keep them outside of the shed from now on. Will the leftover gas in the mower create enough fumes when stored to cause a fire hazard? The shed has two small vents at the top, but it's not very well ventilated.
Step 2 (in progress): Acquire and drill/plumb kegs to make kettle/HLT
I got the kegs yesterday for free from a the owner of my regular beer bar...the area brewpub that owns them hadn't returned his calls for a year, and he had left two messages with them asking if they wanted them after I'd inquired about kegs. They didn't call back after a week, so he didn't feel bad about giving them to me, and I didn't feel bad about taking them. I'm going to cut, drill, and clean them today, and I'm in the process of ordering weldless bulkheads/valves from Bargain Fittings. I'm also considering things like dip tubes, sight glasses, and thermometers. I just need to figure out what I want on each keg, and I'll go from there. I'm thinking sight glass/thermowell combo fitting for each, though.
Question: Does my HLT need a dip tube? For my BK, I'm thinking a dip tube, but I need advice on what to use to strain hops and whatnot when emptying it. False bottom? Hop Rocket or something similar? DIY something?
Step 3 (in progress): Acquire minifridge and plan/build a ferm chamber: I'm going to go the fridge-attached-to-an-insulated-box route here. I have a CL fridge lined up that I'll pick up this afternoon, and I will hit lowes tomorrow for lumber/insulation/hardware. I've been reading about temp controllers, and I think that I am going to go with the Ranco 2 stage, as fall in spring here have big enough temperature swings and the chamber will be in an uninsulated outbuilding. I'm thinking that I will build the chamber two hold two carboys with some extra space for bottle storage. I'll just be starting with ales, so I'm not worrying about hitting lower temps now.
Question: Is wiring a computer fan up so that it comes on when the fridge comes on difficult for an electricity n00b? Is the fan wired to the fridge? Or is it wired to the Ranco?
Step 4 (planning still): build a brewstand: I'm not going fancy, and I have no welding skills and don't know anybody who does. I also have the problem of not having any flat concrete spots in my yard, so I'm worried about stability. I came up with the idea of using sleeves/anchors in the ground (something like this) that will allow me to drop 4x4 posts in to the ground as the supports for a stand. I would then have bed frames or something else (maybe wood platforms with heat shields) attached with lag bolts for the burners/kettles to sit on. My thought is to make it modular so that I can tear it all down and store separate pieces in my shed at the end of a brew day. Any thoughts?
Step 5 (planning still): acquire/build MLT, get all of the various equipment and components. I'm going to use a round cooler MLT and convert it. I'll get burners, a pump if I decide to go single or two-tier, buckets, hydrometer, capper, sanitizing stuff, etc etc. All of the little things. I still haven't decided on what kind of chiller I will use. Initially, I'll do 5 gallon batches and might just go with an immersion chiller, but the ground water isn't very cool in the summer here...
Question: Should I just buy a starter brewing kit and get all of the little bits and pieces together, or would it be cheaper to just order what I need a la carte to so that I'm not getting anything I don't need?
Sorry for the long post, but I just needed to get all of that down to help me organize, and I figured that I would try to get some questions answered in the process. Anything I'm not thinking about that I should consider? Thanks for reading, and thanks for all of the great posts...I've really enjoyed learning tons from just randomly reading threads on this forum. Very cool community going here!