Pre-Brew Questions of a noob

So I am half way through the Joy of Home Brewing Book and have been surfing the internet to find a good starter kit and other products and or answers to my questions. I love these forums, I come here to read and gather info and this is the first few questions I have came up with.

1. Has anyone used the starter kits, products or beer kits from williamsbrewing.com? They were recommended by a home brewer on another forum (not related to beer) and so far seem like the best gear and variety of kits. Their products if you are not familiar have a stainless steel wort pot with a spout thing at the bottom and their buckets are food grade and have spout at the bottom also.

2. Would you recommended for the first brew to go to a second fermentation bucket? I think I like the idea of this process for one having a clearer beer and for the ability to have another one in the shoot. By Thanksgiving/Christmas I would like to have a ok brew for the extended family to try.

3. How bad can oxidation affect your batch? Seems like an issue when going to a second fermentation.

4. Has anyone used 5-Star Cleaner or sanitation product?

5. Corn-Sugar or White sugar seem the same to me and from what I have gathered from everyone its 50/50 opinions. Any thoughts?

I hope you all don’t mind answering my pre-brew questions. Just reading in this noob section every few days is helping answering a lot of the questions I have. I have read the stickies a few times over to make sure I have not missed anything. And I found out there is a local brew store where I will be living, can’t wait to go pick his brain.

Thank you all in advance.

1) Haven't used Williams but have heard the name. Most of the starter kits are the exact same thing no matter where you get them.

2) The best thing about a second bucket would be getting your secong brew started sooner Most only use a secondary when they're doing something like adding fruit purees or lagering. Do an 'extended primary' and you're golden. (I've been leaving my beers in primary for 4 weeks)

3) Oxidation can destroy a batch however that chances of doing that are very, very small if you're careful. Beer is quite hard to mess up.

4) Yup. Star San is your friend, don't fear the foam

5) Different. Weather or not it matters beyond the amount you use for priming is a whole 'nother debate though.

You could have your 4th or 5th batch ready to drink by Thanksgiving, btw.

Now go order your kit, some ingredients, and get to brewin!

Thanks for the info. On 5, the amount for priming, I have seemed to miss that debate. It seems pretty standard amounts mix and boil with water add and bottle process. What am I not gathering here. What is the debate, is I guess what I am asking?

Congrats on your intro to Home brewing...Its quite the addiction...Here are some of my answers to the questions you have posted...Im a reletive Newb myself but have jumped in with both feet...

1) While I havent used Williams for my initial kit I have heard great things from them...My advice would be to start by visiting your LHBS and ask the questions you have...While it may be less expensive to order online, Im a touchy feely kinda guy with no patience...I want to see and touch what im buying and in most cases I want it now...lol...I started with a "Brewers Best" basic kit...1-6.5g plastic fermenter 1-6.5g bottling bucket 1-racking cane 1-capper 1-sm container of cleanser 1-3pc airlock 1-hydrometer 1-thermometer 1-5' section of tubing 1-lid w/ grommet for airlock...I also started with one of the "Brewers Best" kits for Brown Ale...Came out great and was a nice easy Extract w/ grains...Invest in a good kettle/boil pot...If you have something at home that has the capability to boil at least 4g and it hasnt been used for cooking greasy foods, you can clean it and give your first batch a go to see if you like the hobby...

2) I did not utilize a secondary for the first batch but have in all of my other batches since...With the kit I bought, you could potentially use the bottling bucket as your secondary and bottle when you are confident w/ final gravity and clearing to your discretion...

3) Oxidation...Well, once you have cooled your Wort to pitching Temp and prior to pitching yeast, you should vigorously agitate the carboy/bucket to introduce oxygen to get yeast going (Im sure you have read that in Paps book)...Other than that, once it is in the swamp cooler I typically dont move it until im racking to either a secondary, bottle or keg...Oxidation wont be a problem unless you throw your bucket in the back of a car and drive...and according to numerous senior members here it takes a ton of oxygen for oxygenation to occur...

4) As far as cleaning/sanitizing goes and being in the medical field I use the philosophy of changing sanitizers every few batches...The thought behind it would be that bacteria wont become as resistant to the same sanitizer over time...(i.e. Starsan for a few batches, the switch to iodaphor...etc)

5) When you start out with your first kit, your corn sugar will be part of your kit...Follow the directions that are enclosed...If you decide on a Brewers Best kit and I feel that they produce some pretty good kits IMO, and they are apparently getting better (Different hops and fresh Extracts)...They are also packaging in boxes that arent sealed anymore and you can open them up and pick and choose what you want to create that style of beer...They also offer a Premium group now (tad more expensive)...and you can see the actual list of ingrediants and get the recipes prior to buying from

Brewer's Best - High Gravity

Well I hope this helps and you can always find great info with this site and its stellar members...Also if you have an IPOD/MP3 player there are numerous resources and podcasts available for free on there as well thru apple.com

Basic Brewing™ : Home Brewing Beer Podcast and DVD - Welcome
The Brewing Network.com - Beer radio | The Brewing Network™ for craft brewers and microbrews

Congrats once again and welcome to the lifestyle...

1. ... williamsbrewing.com?

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Sorry, no.

2. Would you recommended for the first brew to go to a second fermentation bucket? I think I like the idea of this process for one having a clearer beer and for the ability to have another one in the shoot. By Thanksgiving/Christmas I would like to have a ok brew for the extended family to try.

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I'd personally go with a second primary instead of a secondary, it allows you to get another batch going while the first one is fermenting.

3. How bad can oxidation affect your batch? Seems like an issue when going to a second fermentation.

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As above... you almost have to try to oxidize a batch of beer... not that it cannot be done, but this is a common fear that *almost* never shows up.

4. Has anyone used 5-Star Cleaner or sanitation product?

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Highly recommended.

5. Corn-Sugar or White sugar seem the same to me and from what I have gathered from everyone its 50/50 opinions. Any thoughts?

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It's not quite the same, though most are forgiven for that exact assumption. There are slight differences in the product, I personally use the corn sugar (dextrose) for primary fermenting and sucrose (table sugar) for priming, as the sucrose is consumed faster, and with slightly more "cidery" taste. Just my opinion.

I hope you all don’t mind answering my pre-brew questions. Just reading in this noob section every few days is helping answering a lot of the questions I have. I have read the stickies a few times over to make sure I have not missed anything. And I found out there is a local brew store where I will be living, can’t wait to go pick his brain.

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I have been just at my LHBS this afternoon, looking for a solution to cold crash and 2 litres of protein and trub. These people are the perfect ones to ask (assuming we are not here) and as long as you are buying something from them, they're usually happy to answer your questions.

Pistols said:

Thanks for the info. On 5, the amount for priming, I have seemed to miss that debate. It seems pretty standard amounts mix and boil with water add and bottle process. What am I not gathering here. What is the debate, is I guess what I am asking?

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A primer on priming

The whole thing is almost required reading but Papazian's book covers the pretty much the same stuff (and more).

The debate is can you taste the difference? Some think it makes a difference some don't. It's really such a tiny part of the process I wouldn't get too caught up with it. Just know that if you need x amount of corn sugar, you need to use y amount of cane sugar.

Thanks for the tips. Yeah I figured it was only the taste topic with the priming. Let the games begin.

As someone who just started too (working on 4th batch) I'd like to say the idea of getting two primaries is a good one. The first batch is going to be tough since you are doing it for the first time and you are bound to screw something up. That isn't saying the beer will be bad, but you will (like me) probably think of what you could have done differently or better. Well, if you brew on the weekend (like me) then you could think about it for the week and start another batch the next weekend.

What I have found frustrating is the waiting. I don't have the space to brew several batches at a time so at the very least it's 4 weeks from start to finish before I know how things worked. If you have one batch running right after the next you have something else to look at for new and hopefully better results.

Plus it doesn't have to be a screw up. Maybe you get the first one done, read more, search the internet, and find something else you want to try. Having that other primary means you can order it and get going.

Just my 2 cents.

pretzelb said:

don't have the space to brew several batches at a time

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You will be amazed at how creative you will become at finding space for multiple brews.

VTBrewer said:

You will be amazed at how creative you will become at finding space for multiple brews.

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The post office has a solution if you run out of space. PM me and I'll send you my address.

But yes, there's certainly some cool closet or basement somewhere that's underutilized. I've got a three corny system, and I routinely have one or two fermenting so as soon as one keg empties, I've got something to replace it with. Doesn't take up much room at all, compared to other hobbies.