Hello from Saint Louis, MO

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

HarvInSTL

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2007
Messages
721
Reaction score
7
Location
Saint Louis, MO
I've been a lurker for a few months now, and I finally have broken down and purchased a couple books to get into home brewing.

I bought How To Brew by John Palmer and The Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian.

My goal is within the next 4-8 weeks make my equipment purchase and hopefully by then I won't have asked too many stupid questions without searching first.

I enjoy a cigar often and if anyone has an recommendations on cigar/home brew pairings I'd love to hear them.

I can't wait to taste the fruits of my labor!
 
Welcome Harv! STL transplant myself into Central Illinois, but the Gateway is still Home.

Sounds like you are off to a great start with the reading, and no question is a stupid one around these parts. HBT has brand new folks, and veterans, and we all are after the same thing...

Great beer. :rockin:

So ask away, and enjoy the fun!

:mug:

Ize
 
Welcome Harv! I moved to the STL area about 6 years ago. There are several brewshops in town, and also a homebrewers club, STL Brews that meets once a month. I highly recommend checking out a meeting!
 
Man, all night I had dreams about drinking some awesome beer that I made.

So when I said 4-8 weeks before I buy my equipment I really meant 4-8hours. I went to one of the LHBS today during lunch and picked up just about all of the equipment I will need for now. My first 2 or 3 batches I am going to stick with extract brewing but I'm using unhopped extract so that I can get a decent feel for AG process.

So wish me luck and hopefully later tonight I will be done with my first batch. Well unless I can't find a decent deal on a 5 gallon pot.

Thanks again for the warm welcome!

scottthorn said:
Welcome Harv! I moved to the STL area about 6 years ago. There are several brewshops in town, and also a homebrewers club, STL Brews that meets once a month. I highly recommend checking out a meeting!

I found the STL Brews club last night during some searching and spent part of this morning checking out their pictures. Looks like a very interesting thing to be a member of and hopefully in the next month or two I can be there.

I checked out St Louis Wine & Beermaking today during lunch.

fiddup_is_a_middup said:
Welcome Harv. Happy Brewing

Thanks, and how is Columbia these days? I lived there for about 15 years before I moved to STL 3 years ago.

Speaking of which I'll be Columbia for the G.Love & Special Sauce show later this month.

Ize said:
Welcome Harv! STL transplant myself into Central Illinois, but the Gateway is still Home.

Sounds like you are off to a great start with the reading, and no question is a stupid one around these parts. HBT has brand new folks, and veterans, and we all are after the same thing...

Great beer. :rockin:

So ask away, and enjoy the fun!

:mug:

Ize

I'm kind of the opposite, my home town is in IL, and I moved to MO back in 87.

Thanks for the welcome!
 
HarvInSTL said:
So when I said 4-8 weeks before I buy my equipment I really meant 4-8hours. I went to one of the LHBS today during lunch and picked up just about all of the equipment I will need for now. My first 2 or 3 batches I am going to stick with extract brewing but I'm using unhopped extract so that I can get a decent feel for AG process.

So wish me luck and hopefully later tonight I will be done with my first batch. Well unless I can't find a decent deal on a 5 gallon pot.


That's the way to dive in! :rockin:

Check out Wally World for the 5 gallon pots. Unless I'm mistaken they have a really decent one and it's under 50 bucks.

Have fun!

Ize
 
Ize said:
That's the way to dive in! :rockin:

Check out Wally World for the 5 gallon pots. Unless I'm mistaken they have a really decent one and it's under 50 bucks.

Have fun!

Ize

First thanks for the tip on Wally world, second let me give a little background on my thinking and then I'll explain what I purchased.

I plan on extract brewing at most 3 or 4 times. And from what I've noticed is that at most I need a 2-3 gallon pot to brew using extract only. And at that time I'll move on to AG brewing and planned on building a keggle for my brewing. (I've got a hookup in Columbia that is getting me some empty kegs, and bottles.) So I really didn't see the point of purchasing a 6 or 7 gallon pot(expensive) if 2 or 3 months down the road I'll be moving to a keggle (aka free keggle).

Also I've read a couple threads here and for the most part people are saying that it doesn't matter if I get a SS or AL pot.

So with that in mind I picked up a 30qt AL pot with propane burner/stand at Wally World for $37. They also have a SS pot with no propane burner/stand for $37.

So with that last purchase, tomorrow will be sanitation day and Saturday while the misses is away will forever be known as "My First Brew Day".

Thoughts/ideas?
 
Congrats on diving into homebrewing! How did things go Saturday? I also use an aluminum pot/turkey fryer and do full-volume boils. Just make sure you have enough propane in your tank!

So you say you have a line on kegs? :cool: The only thing keeping me from making 10 gallon batches is the size of my brewpot. A keggle would likely be my next acquisition...

HarvInSTL said:
Speaking of which I'll be Columbia for the G.Love & Special Sauce show later this month.

I lived in Columbia, MO from 1980-87ish. All of my family is still there so I return frequently - in fact, I'm heading over this weekend.

G.Love is playing for free in St. Louis this summer as part of the Live On The Levee series:

July 6 6:30 p.m. The Incurables
8:00 p.m. Los Lonely Boys

July 7 6:30 p.m. Gentleman Auction House
8:00 p.m. Emmy Lou Harris

July 13 6:30 p.m. Javier Mendoza
8:00 p.m. G. Love & Special Sauce


July 14 6:30 p.m. Jake's Leg
8:00 p.m. Bruce Hornsby

July 20 6:30 p.m. TBD
8:00 p.m. Ani DiFranco

July 21 6:30 p.m. Whistler
8:00 p.m. Pete Yorn

July 27 6:30 p.m. Murder City Players
8:00 p.m. Steel Pulse

July 28 6:30 p.m. Lamar Harris
8:00 p.m. Musiq Soulchild

August 3 6:30 p.m. Madahoochi
8:00 p.m. Robert Randolph and the Family Band

August 4 6:30 p.m. TBD
8:00 p.m. Vote for your favorite artist to the close the summer!


Lots of decent music! I'll venture down to the Arch for Bruce Hornsby, Steel Pulse and Robert Randolph for sure. G.Love is a strong possibility too. I'm a live music junkie...
 
scottthorn said:
Congrats on diving into homebrewing! How did things go Saturday? I also use an aluminum pot/turkey fryer and do full-volume boils. Just make sure you have enough propane in your tank!

So you say you have a line on kegs? :cool: The only thing keeping me from making 10 gallon batches is the size of my brewpot. A keggle would likely be my next acquisition...

I lived in Columbia, MO from 1980-87ish. All of my family is still there so I return frequently - in fact, I'm heading over this weekend.

G.Love is playing for free in St. Louis this summer as part of the Live On The Levee series:

July 6 6:30 p.m. The Incurables
8:00 p.m. Los Lonely Boys

July 13 6:30 p.m. Javier Mendoza
8:00 p.m. G. Love & Special Sauce


July 14 6:30 p.m. Jake's Leg
8:00 p.m. Bruce Hornsby

August 3 6:30 p.m. Madahoochi
8:00 p.m. Robert Randolph and the Family Band


Lots of decent music! I'll venture down to the Arch for Bruce Hornsby, Steel Pulse and Robert Randolph for sure. G.Love is a strong possibility too. I'm a live music junkie...

I couldn't wait until Saturday to start brewing so I started Friday @ noon. :rockin: First 5 gallon batch of Simple American Wheat went perfect, then i cleaned and sanitized and started a 5 gallon batch of Robust Porter around 5pm.

I placed an order last night for all the ingredients for a Kaduva IPA, and a 6.5gal Carboy and a 5gal Carboy. I must say Austin Home Brewing is awesome with their $5.99 flat rate shipping.

I would love to support my LHBS but there is no way I'm paying $7 for 4oz of hops when I get 8oz for that same price online. That and the closest LHBS is 15miles away. And we all know 15 miles in STL is about 45mins worth of driving :D

Anywho I haven't used the turkey fryer yet, so far I've just been boiling on the stove.

I do believe I have a line on kegs, and if i can get a decent supply of them one of them is yours.

I'm a huge live music junkie, and I'll be at the July 6,13,14 and Aug 3 shows. I've seen Robert Randolph live in Memphis and it was a freakin' amazing show.

So between, the Ben Harper show :fro: , Keller Williams, and Memphis in May it should be a great music summer. And if you haven't checked out the Wakarusa line up, do it!
 
HarvInSTL said:
I do believe I have a line on kegs, and if i can get a decent supply of them one of them is yours.

Hey HarvInStl,

Welcome aboard and sorry I missed your intro. I feel like the loan St. Louis'n here sometimes so it's good to have you on, along with Scott.

I know what you're talking about with the local shop. Great guys, but for the volume brewer, it's just to expensive. I've been using Midwest to have my stuff delivered. Great prices and great service. Every now and again they'll throw in a free cap-lock bottle as an appreciation for my weekly order.

Your turkey fryer setup will work great when you make the move to AG. I just upped my equipment to do 10-gallon AG batches.

By the way...where is your secret supply of kegs coming from? I need some additional capacity and only have 6 cornies now. Is there a local supplier?

You can PM me if you'd prefer.

Thanks again and welcome. :mug:
 
BierMuncher said:
Hey HarvInStl,

Welcome aboard and sorry I missed your intro. I feel like the loan St. Louis'n here sometimes so it's good to have you on, along with Scott.

I know what you're talking about with the local shop. Great guys, but for the volume brewer, it's just to expensive. I've been using Midwest to have my stuff delivered. Great prices and great service. Every now and again they'll throw in a free cap-lock bottle as an appreciation for my weekly order.

Your turkey fryer setup will work great when you make the move to AG. I just upped my equipment to do 10-gallon AG batches.

By the way...where is your secret supply of kegs coming from? I need some additional capacity and only have 6 cornies now. Is there a local supplier?

You can PM me if you'd prefer.

Thanks again and welcome. :mug:

I've been to both Worm's Way and to STL Wine & Beer and i felt more at home at STL Wine & Beer. With the summer months coming up I'll be buying my yeast local, but unless I need some ASAP I'll stick to online ordering for everything else.

I'd love to support my LHBS but I won't support gougers unless I have to.

I'm trying to figure out if I want to go to 10gl AG or not. But either way hopefully when I get back from Memphis in May i can finish working on my brew stand.

Lil Sparky has been very helpful providing pictures, measurements,etc of his and I've found a local welder at very decent price.

My secret supply of kegs isn't too secret. hehe

I grew up in Columbia from 4th grade til I was 25. (I'm only 28 now) so I know quite a few bar owners, and have quite a few friends that work in bars as well.

The keg supply is pretty limited, between three bars i they gave me a total of 4 kegs. I still have to pick them up, but I don't want to push my luck with asking for like 10 kegs.

As far as bottles go all I do is ask my friends that are working that night to set a trash bag full of them out by the dumpster and I toss them in my trunk when I leave. The goal is get 4-6 cases of bottles every time I'm back home.

And any extras i don't need I'm going to offer to anyone that needs them.

Are you a member of STLBrews?
 
Back
Top