first time brewer do I have enough to brew?

http://www.northernbrewer.com/

below are the items I want to buy and want to make sure i have what I need

Rum Runner Stout 1 Gallon Recipe Kit
1 Gallon Small Batch Starter Kit
1" ID Blow Off Hose 3.5 feet

have-2 Gallon Stainless Kettle
can get-Approx. 1 dozen pry-off 12 oz beer bottles

ohiobeer29 said:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/

below are the items I want to buy and want to make sure i have what I need

Rum Runner Stout 1 Gallon Recipe Kit
1 Gallon Small Batch Starter Kit
1" ID Blow Off Hose 3.5 feet

have-2 Gallon Stainless Kettle
can get-Approx. 1 dozen pry-off 12 oz beer bottles

Click to expand...

Looks good. Only thing I'm unclear on is what you'll use to mix in the priming sugar. The 2 gallon pot you have will probably do just fine though. Just might need an extra set of hands while bottling.

hanibal is correct…

We;re not sure what comes in the starter kit but you'll need a fermenter, airlock, sanitizer, bottling bucket, bottling wand, capper, and a hydrometer.

It's also handy to have a bottle brush if you're using bottles that aren't brand new or plan on re-using your bottles. If you're a super-organized person then you'll rinse out bottles immediately after pouring them into a glass, thus eliminating the need for a bottling brush. But for me I inevitably end up leaving some un-rinsed for a few days (or longer) and don't feel comfortable using them unless I scrub them out with the brush.

Another handy, but unnecessary, item is a small electronic kitchen scale. It'll be good for accurately measuring out your hops and especially handy for measuring your priming sugar.

Good luck on your first brew. My first few were disasters, but it was fun nonetheless and didn't take long to get to 'drinkable' and then on to 'fantastic'.

hannibalmdq said:

Looks good. Only thing I'm unclear on is what you'll use to mix in the priming sugar. The 2 gallon pot you have will probably do just fine though. Just might need an extra set of hands while bottling.

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cool I'll research the priming sugar. thanks

andy6026 said:

hanibal is correct…

We;re not sure what comes in the starter kit but you'll need a fermenter, airlock, sanitizer, bottling bucket, bottling wand, capper, and a hydrometer.

It's also handy to have a bottle brush if you're using bottles that aren't brand new or plan on re-using your bottles. If you're a super-organized person then you'll rinse out bottles immediately after pouring them into a glass, thus eliminating the need for a bottling brush. But for me I inevitably end up leaving some un-rinsed for a few days (or longer) and don't feel comfortable using them unless I scrub them out with the brush.

Another handy, but unnecessary, item is a small electronic kitchen scale. It'll be good for accurately measuring out your hops and especially handy for measuring your priming sugar.

Good luck on your first brew. My first few were disasters, but it was fun nonetheless and didn't take long to get to 'drinkable' and then on to 'fantastic'.

Click to expand...

kit comes with
Kit includes:

1 gallon fermentation jug with cap and airlock
Mini Auto-siphon and tubing
Bottle filler
8 oz Easy Clean cleanser
Bottle capper and caps
Your choice of recipe kit
FREE "Homebrewing 100: The Small Batch Way" DVD

andy6026 said:

hanibal is correct…

We;re not sure what comes in the starter kit but you'll need a fermenter, airlock, sanitizer, bottling bucket, bottling wand, capper, and a hydrometer.

It's also handy to have a bottle brush if you're using bottles that aren't brand new or plan on re-using your bottles. If you're a super-organized person then you'll rinse out bottles immediately after pouring them into a glass, thus eliminating the need for a bottling brush. But for me I inevitably end up leaving some un-rinsed for a few days (or longer) and don't feel comfortable using them unless I scrub them out with the brush.

Another handy, but unnecessary, item is a small electronic kitchen scale. It'll be good for accurately measuring out your hops and especially handy for measuring your priming sugar.

Good luck on your first brew. My first few were disasters, but it was fun nonetheless and didn't take long to get to 'drinkable' and then on to 'fantastic'.

Click to expand...

Invest in oxyclean for those that don't get rinsed right away, plus it makes delabeling childsplay. I got a ton of bottles from local pub, some had mold in bottom. Soaked in oxyclean for about a day and they were spotless. Once delabeled, I boiled them for 30 minutes.

The kit looks fairly complete, but

It lacks a hydrometer for determining when final gravity has been reached. You could let the ferment go at least three weeks and call it done. It will be done, but could also be a stuck fermentation leaving fermentable sugars in the beer. This could lead to excessive carbonation levels in the bottle. (I prefer the large scale hydrometer. Reads from 0.980 to 1.020. Scale makes it very easy to read for FG.)

There is no bottling bucket. You could use your boil kettle to rack the finished into, mix in priming sugar, and bottle from there. Plastic wrap can be used to cover the kettle after racking.

Using the boil kettle to bottle from will entail fastening the bottling wand to the auto siphon to fill the bottles. This will work if you have someone else to hold the siphon. This person would also hold the kettle tilted to get the last drop out. (You could get a 2 gallon food grade bucket from a deli for bottling. Add a spigot and attached the wand directly to the spigot with 2 inches of the siphon hose.)

Priming sugar is not included. You can use table sugar instead of the traditional corn sugar. Use Northern Brewers priming calculator and weigh out the amount to use. (A tablespoon and teaspoon can be used to measure, but volume is less accurate to work with than weight.)

Bottle brush. Necessary for cleaning even new bottles. New bottles can have manufacturing oil residue or just a load of dust in them.

This should get you through your first brew. After the first one you will know what can make it go better. (Take a look at the 5 gallon starter kits for what is included there that you don't have.)

Two other very important items you will need beyond the brewing kit itself. 1. Water without chlorine or chloramine. This rules out all municipal water supplies. 2. A place to keep your fermentor which will keep the active, heat producing fermentation, within the yeasts optimum temperature range.

Wish you the best and a happy brewing lifetime.

hannibalmdq said:

Looks good. Only thing I'm unclear on is what you'll use to mix in the priming sugar. The 2 gallon pot you have will probably do just fine though. Just might need an extra set of hands while bottling.

Click to expand...

I'd imagine that like most, he has a standard old pot that will hold 8 oz of liquid and a few ounces of priming sugar. I would never use a 2 gallon pot to mix up some priming sugar at bottling just because I own other pots that I cook with.


OP: looks like you have everything except I would go ahead and buy some star san. I am not familiar with easy clean but if it is like beer brite, I used that but it's a cleanser and sanitizer (so it says) that requires heavy rinsing. Such a pain to clean then rinse then sanitize then rinse. Star san is worth every single penny.

thanks guys I'll get the items listed.wish me luck!

I just meant there's no bottling bucket included in his kit. So he'll need to figure it what he's going to do to get it from the fermenter, mixed with his sugar, and transfer red to the bottles.

hannibalmdq said:

I just meant there's no bottling bucket included in his kit. So he'll need to figure it what he's going to do to get it from the fermenter, mixed with his sugar, and transfer red to the bottles.

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If it were me, I like what you said about getting a 2-3 gallon bucket from the deli. I have a 3 gallon I got free from my local BiLo deli/bakery. I just drilled a 1" hole and I use that as my bottling bucket for small batches. I like the 3 gallon better, in case you wanted to brew a 2-2.5 gallon batch. Anything bigger than that and I just use the 6 gallon buckets NB and others sell.

one more question I'd like to add some bourbon,vanilla bean and espresso bean flavors to my beer from what I've read most put 1 bean of each with the bourbon in a tubber ware container for 2 weeks would 1 cup be too much to add also should I add it right after I brew it so it can ferment with the beer or add it right before bottling.

also thinking of adding 1 oz Malto Dextrin to increase mouth feel

ohiobeer29 said:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/

below are the items I want to buy and want to make sure i have what I need

Rum Runner Stout 1 Gallon Recipe Kit
1 Gallon Small Batch Starter Kit
1" ID Blow Off Hose 3.5 feet

have-2 Gallon Stainless Kettle
can get-Approx. 1 dozen pry-off 12 oz beer bottles

Click to expand...

I do a lot of 1 gallon batches. I started with Midwest's kit because it is all-grain. Others are giving you good advice. You won't actually need more than 10 bottles, but keep an extra one or two handy in case you break one.

A bottling bucket is extremely handy. I use a 2 gallon one, with spigot. On the inside, a 90-degree PVC elbow fits well and with that setup you can drain all but about an ounce into your bottles.

I prefer a spring-loaded bottle filler vs. whats in the kits, but YMMV.

A 1-inch blowoff hose is overkill on a 1-gallon. Even a small hose that fits in the airlock hole in a bung has always worked for me. But always use it until the fermentation slows down.

Check out Midwest's all-grain BIAB 1 gallon kits too, that's how I started (in fact, I've never done an extract). Once you get the hang of it, you can adapt other recipes here down to 1 gallon. Midwest even publishes their recipes so you can buy the grains for about $5 per kit, and split your yeast packs among batches.

Hello said:

I'd imagine that like most, he has a standard old pot that will hold 8 oz of liquid and a few ounces of priming sugar. I would never use a 2 gallon pot to mix up some priming sugar at bottling just because I own other pots that I cook with.





OP: looks like you have everything except I would go ahead and buy some star san. I am not familiar with easy clean but if it is like beer brite, I used that but it's a cleanser and sanitizer (so it says) that requires heavy rinsing. Such a pain to clean then rinse then sanitize then rinse. Star san is worth every single penny.

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Star San is key. You can sanitize and not worry about rinsing. Mix up 1.25 gallons and save what you don't use.

A spray bottle makes it easy to use, too.

ohiobeer29 said:

one more question I'd like to add some bourbon,vanilla bean and espresso bean flavors to my beer from what I've read most put 1 bean of each with the bourbon in a tubber ware container for 2 weeks would 1 cup be too much to add also should I add it right after I brew it so it can ferment with the beer or add it right before bottling.

Click to expand...

Do a very successful first brew before thinking about all sorts of additions. You will be much more satisfied with a successful KISS beer.

thanks guys I got everything ordered today will report back with how it's going and how it turns out thanks for all the help I have a long way to go with learning everything

ohiobeer29 said:

thanks guys I got everything ordered today will report back with how it's going and how it turns out thanks for all the help I have a long way to go with learning everything

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I don't have the brewing experience like most here have (only been brewing for about 2 years), but if this is going to be your first batch, the best advice I can give is patience. The waiting game is the hardest for that first batch since there is essentially nothing in your pipeline. Once you get the inventory going, then the waiting game gets much easier.

Good luck!

Your 1 gallon beer kits from northern brewer comes with fizz drops that you put into the bottles during bottling. One fizz drop per bottle. No mixing priming hm sugar and come out th with decent carbonation. May not be to style but for the r first couple of batches it will give you an idea

brewed it last night. appears to have come out OK.
happy I used a blow off tube as I researched and heard about the aggressive ferm.and sure enough I get up 7 hours later to a inch of blow off .