Hello from Kansas

Hi all - a buddy of mine pointed to this site. I've helped friends brew and I finally got my own starter kit, so I'm looking to learn whatever I can. Thanks and Cheers!!

Welcome to the hobby, and the group, from nearby CO. I am a HUGE Boulevard fan, drinking a clone of their BBQ right now.

Well, bottled up my first round today!! Guess we'll wait and see how it turns out

What part of KS are you in?

Just south of you - in Gardner

Someone close! We have been brewing at Brew Lab in Overland Park while setting up a brewery in our basement. It's an interesting place if you've never checked it out I would recommend a visit.

very cool - just checked out their web page - looks good.

I just started myself. I live in Overland park. Did you guys start with LME or all-grain? Is there any bits of advice any of you can give a newbie?

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I started with all grain. Read a bunch of info. When I started I bought the palazzian book and the Palmer book. Read a lot on this site and most people here are willing to help you. If you are in OP check out Brew Lab. We started brewing there and they have both extract and all grain setups you can use. You can ferment there and even bottle all with their equipment and Tyler (red beard Tyler) is super nice and knowledgeable.

Roadie, thanks. I have been wondering about the Brew Lab. Can you give me an idea of prices, like is it per person or session?

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It's per session. $90 for 4 hours plus grain/hop cost for the all grain system we have been using there. Tyler is there to walk you through everything and help as much or little as you need him to. Same cost for 5 or 10 gallon batch so we brew 10 gallons at a time. We fill two carboys then come home and aerate/pitch/ferment and eventually keg. You can ferment in the brew lab basement if you want and when done go there and bottle. If you split the cost with a buddy or two it wouldn't be that much.

Beer policy is bring a beer in for every one you drink from their cooler while brewing. We usually bring in more than we drink and leave the rest for the next guy.

They do all cleanup and sanitization. We usually hit it lucky with no one brewing after us so if we want to sparge/mash/boil longer than 60 minutes its not much of a problem. We try to keep Tyler in good beer and try to feed him while we are there so when we want to do a 90 minute mash and a 90 minute boil he doesn't care too much. Their equipment is top notch.

This brew lab sounds pretty sweet. Probably would never happen here on LI due to ridiculous real estate prices but if it was local enough it would make life a lot easier and be a nice reason to get out of the house for a few hours. Worst thing here at home is lack of space.

bigmike99 said:

This brew lab sounds pretty sweet. Probably would never happen here on LI due to ridiculous real estate prices but if it was local enough it would make life a lot easier and be a nice reason to get out of the house for a few hours. Worst thing here at home is lack of space.

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It's a great place to learn about electric brewing on some cool equipment as they have Kal's control panel and Stout kettles. We enjoy brewing there but as Dorothy said "there's no place like home".

sounds like a great place!! I just did an extract. I have helped a couple of friends do both extract and all grain - I just need to build up my brew equip.

bmcdowell said:

sounds like a great place!! I just did an extract. I have helped a couple of friends do both extract and all grain - I just need to build up my brew equip.

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Places like Brew Lab fill-in for people who are building their own system until it is up and running. They also have an extract set up there as well.

Since time is always a factor having them there to sanitize,clean, etc helps a lot. Also a great thing being able to try out different systems before buying something.