Equipment for first brew, it'll be AG

I've pulled together most of the bigger stuff throught gifts, CL, freecycling, and a few purchases. I'd like to wrap it up and purchase the rest of the stuff I'll need to brew and keg. I plan on a 3 tier gravity setup. I've got a place to put everything for that. Take a look below and see if you can think of anything I've forgotten. Suggestions regarding cleaners would be welcome. Here's my current status:

What I've got:
Cooler for HLT (needs fittings)
Cooler for MLT (needs fittings)
Turkey fryer
5 gal carboys (qty 6)
1 corny keg
Fridge I can drill a hole in
Faucet, hoses, and fittings to dispense from corny keg
CO2 tank (regulator probably needs to be replaced, but I can take care of that after brewing)
Sanke keg with the top cut out

What I need:
Fittings to convert cooler to HLT
Fittings to convert cooler to MLT
Air locks
One more corny so I can do 10 gallons at a crack
Hydrometer
Racking cane
Carboy brush
Sanitizing pan/wallpaper tray
Sanitizing solution
Wort chiller
Hydrometer
Turkey baster

Looks like you have hydrometer on your list twice...you will want a thermometer, a mash paddle, some beer line for transfers, a spray bottle w/sanitizer and few buckets to keep cleaning/sanitizing solutions in during the brew, a mill, false bottom, sparge arm, hop strainer for the kettle...

To be honest, I'd recomend a partial mash/extract brew if you have never brewed before. Get a couple of those batches through the boil, knocked out, fermented and packaged first...plenty in that part of the process to learn before tackling the mash.

Plus, you would hate to have a sucessful mash only to botch it near the end of the process.


Remember: cleaning is not sanitizing and vice versa...use a cleaner (like PBW), rinse, then use a santizer (like star san) on everything that touches your wort post boil and before it's packaged and you'll be brewing up tasty brews in no time...Cheers!

Padstack31 said:

Looks like you have hydrometer on your list
To be honest, I'd recomend a partial mash/extract brew if you have never brewed before. Get a couple of those batches through the boil, knocked out, fermented and packaged first...plenty in that part of the process to learn before tackling the mash.

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I've only done about six brews -- 3 extract and 3 partial mash, but I would agree with the sentiment. Everyone whose lips have come in contact with what I've made so far has been very happy -- if you are going AG because you think an extract or partial will be inferior you should reconsider.

I agree with the others, you may want to try a couple of extract batches first. You can buy the same equipment. I've done pre-hopped extract, extract with steeping grains, partial mash, and all grain. There are a lot of things to get the hang of even with extract batches. It's very easy for the beginner to start to worry about all the things that might have gone wrong with the process. I've also found that beginners are not familiar with the tastes and smells at various stages. They don't know what is normal yet. If you've had a chance to watch someone else brew, it may be a big help. However, if you decide to start with all grain, the members of this forums will be more then glad to help answer any questions you may have.

As far as sanitizers, I like One Step because it's cheap and it gets the job done. A lot of people like Star San. I've never used it because it's more expensive. The advantage of these sanitizers is that you don't have to rinse them off. Their called "no rinse" sanitizers.

I did one extract batch. I'm glad I did one just to get an idea of those general techniques, but I'm glad I didn't do any more. The grain mash is the challenging, creative, and rewarding part of homebrewing for me. I don't know why you'd feel the need to do a bunch of extract brews in preparation for all-grain. Everything from the boil onwards is pretty simple and straightforward compared to the mash, in my opinion, and you'll learn those techniques just the same whether you're mashing or not.

I too think starting with extract and maybe some steeping grains is the way to go. I think it's just a matter of getting the process down in your muscle memory, so to speak, before introducing a bunch of extra procedures that you have to worry about to make a batch of beer. The human brain develops a pattern memory for repeated procedures that allows you to "forget" about things that would otherwise occupy your immediate attention if you were doing it the first or second time. So, if you do a few batches of extract brews first, it means less stuff for your brain to focus on when you make the switch to AG, which will result in fewer problems throughout the process.

Also, there's already plenty of factors just in extract brewing that can affect the final outcome of your beer, and switching to AG multiplies that by an order of magnitude. Maybe just my opinion, but if you have no baseline by which to judge your process and which factors result in which outcomes, you're going to have a tough time resolving problems, or even identifying what is a problem and what is normal.

Thanks for the tips guys.

I probably should have mentioned that I expect to have several experienced brewers on hand for assistance and direction. That's a big part of why I plan to go straight to AG. I want to take advantage of their knowledge while I can, rather than doing extract or partial mash with their help and possibly jumping to AG when they arent there.

I looks like I still need a thermometer, a mash paddle, some beer line for transfers, a spray bottle w/sanitizer and few buckets to keep cleaning/sanitizing solutions in during the brew, a mill (I'll be using a friend's), false bottom (I'm going with SS mesh), sparge arm(I consider this part of the fittings when converting cooler to MLT or I may batch sparge), hop strainer.

tomwirsing said:

Thanks for the tips guys.

I probably should have mentioned that I expect to have several experienced brewers on hand for assistance and direction. That's a big part of why I plan to go straight to AG. I want to take advantage of their knowledge while I can, rather than doing extract or partial mash with their help and possibly jumping to AG when they arent there.

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In that case all grain may not be a bad way to start. If you can get someone to show you, it changes everything. I think a lot of people are learning from reading stuff online.

I'd like to make a suggestion. Pick one of those people to show you your first brew. I think having several experienced brewers there may do more harm then good. Here's what I see could happen.

1) They all try to help arguing about the "right" way of doing things.

or

2) No one tries to help, assuming one the the other brewer's will do the job.

I've never used a 5 gallon carboy for primary, I use 6.5Gal and many of my beers require blow-off hoses.
I would suggest getting a couple of bigger carboys, or some of those foam reducing drops - or you will have a mess on your hands.

I have split batches between 2 5 gallon carboys though, that works fine. I did one extract batch as well... but, I wish I had went straight to all grain. I think you're doing it right