TOTAL ROOKIE – Trying to join to this "brewing" thing.

I live in Dominican Republic. For those who don’t know, is located in the Caribbean.
There is no culture of “home brewing” here, no “Local Home Brewing Store”, etc. I’m very interested to start this like a new hobby.

I have absolutely no experience brewing and don’t know which is the best equipment to start.
I don’t live in an area which I can find everything I need, but I can buy it online and make to deliver it to me.

Being that said, I have a few questions:

1) What is the best equipment to start brewing my own beer?? Some people say that best way to start is with a Mr. Beer Kit, which is really cheap and easy to make.
Or I should go with a complete kit? I found a complete kit on Amazon which I find pretty cool.


2) What instructional book, videos, post should I take a look before starting??

3) As said before, the no culture here of what is a good beer. I tried different imported beers. But which recipe you people recommend?? I personally like Hefeweizen style. But any european style is OK.

Any tips and advices are welcome!!!



PS: Sorry for any spelling mistakes, English is not my native language.

Welcome! Did you want to use the 1-2 gallons per batch, or the 5 gallon batch size? Do you have a large boiling pot?

If you like Hefeweizens, you may like Belgian style ales as well, as they have some pretty big similarities. Plus they can be fermented warmer than other styles.

I'm not sure which/if any of the major online homebrew supplies ship internationally (I would guess most if you're willing to pay the shipping, but they may not ship all items), but I would look to Northern Brewer, Midwest, Austin Homebrew, MoreBeer, etc. The equipment kit you posted is a pretty good bang for the buck, too.

I would start by reading this: http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

That's the free online first edition, but there's some stuff in there that's outdated he's corrected in future editions. If funds aren't an issue, I would recommend buying the latest print version: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381888/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Agree read "how to brew" by John Palmer. Also go on you tube and watch brewing videos. One of the easiest ways to start is to brew in a bag. All you need is a pot and a bag. I assume you have a kitchen stove, so now you need a 6-7 gallon pot. Get your grains, heat up the water to the correct temperature, put bag in water, put grains in bag, wrap it up in an old blanket and forget about it for an hour, come back pull bag out and turn on heat. Now you are brewing. Ok there are some steps I left out, but thats the basics, so get brewing. It may get expensive shipping brewing malt in, you'll have to investigate that. Good Luck!

i'd start off by purchasing a home brew kit (for 5 gallons) and pick up an extract kit of the style you like. do that a few times. once you get comfortable, do some homework about brew in a bag (biab). extracts will get you started and you don't need a supersize pot for full wort boil. a 3-5 gallon pot will suffice in the begining. there is some complexity, but as long as you can read and follow directions, you should be good. any specific questions, don't be afraid to post and ask.

+1 on starting with extract. If you want to leap straight into all grain (whether BIAB or traditional three vessel or recirculating) brewing more power to you, but that adds more variables and chances for failure.

Starting with extract you can focus on basic process until you have that down, then consider moving up to AG.

Spartan300man said:

Welcome! Did you want to use the 1-2 gallons per batch, or the 5 gallon batch size? Do you have a large boiling pot?

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I don't know which is more suitable because of my lack of experience. But I was thinking to start brewing with 5 gallons batch.
Any suggestions?

LuisCheco said:

I don't know which is more suitable because of my lack of experience. But I was thinking to start brewing with 5 gallons batch.
Any suggestions?

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Go for it. That being said, bottling is a pain.

jaydlaw said:

Go for it. That being said, bottling is a pain.

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Which extract kit do you recommend? I personally like Hefeweizen style. But If you have any suggestions that will be great.

Qhrumphf said:

+1 on starting with extract. If you want to leap straight into all grain (whether BIAB or traditional three vessel or recirculating) brewing more power to you, but that adds more variables and chances for failure.

Starting with extract you can focus on basic process until you have that down, then consider moving up to AG.

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Do you have any recipe using extract that I can use??

Hefeweizen is one of few styles that's awesome using absolutely nothing but extract, so that's probably a good place to start.

To make it simple, I would go with two 3.3lb cans of Wheat Liquid Malt Extract, or 5 lbs o Wheat Dry Malt Extract (wheat extract is usually ~50% wheat and 50% barley, give or take, perfect for a Hefeweizen), depending on which is available to you. DME is more expensive than LME, but you need to use less to get the same sugar content, and it's more stable, so if you're getting it shipped internationally I would probably go that route. You can then use 1 oz of Tettenanger or Hallertauer hops, boiled for 60 minutes, and use either Lallemand Danstar Munich Wheat Yeast or Safale WB-06 Wheat yeast.

Look at the red stripe at the top of the page. Click on the one that reads "recipes". then you can search them by style of beer & whether they're extract, partial mash or all grain. That should give you some ideas, as we have many styles posted. you can also look under a member's avatar in any given post. Find "recipes" & click on the little arrow next to that. It'll bring up a small window with any recipes they've posted in the recipes section. Clicking on one will take you right to it.
You'd have to search on-line supply sites for those shipping to you.

LuisCheco said:

Which extract kit do you recommend? I personally like Hefeweizen style. But If you have any suggestions that will be great.

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i would look for a kit online that contains everything you need for at least the first try. there are quite a few places you can look. u mentioned amazon, you could start there, but also places like northernbrewer.com would be another place to look. if you do go with northernbrewer's kits, don't forget the yeast. hefeweizens are fairly easy and amount to boiling water and malt extract (liquid (LME) or dry (DME)), and inserting the included hops during a specific timeframe. also look into youtube videos, you could probably find a ton using keywords like "extract" and "brewing" to get a better idea of what it entails.

with recipes it would be pretty easy for a first timer to forget to purchase something, and the recipes online may require more experience or cost more money than the kits. get your feet wet first with kits, then extract recipes, and when you are ready, and if you have the time and resources, go all grain.

As Jaydlaw mentioned Northernbrewer.com is a great place to buy extract kits and equipment! Their customer service is awesome and their products are too.

I recently purchased the fastferment system from them and have been happy so far. I will be kegging my IPA when I return home from my trip!!

Welcome to the forum!!

I don't think Northern Brewer ships internationally.

Everybody has a brewing progression. Here's mine;

Started out 4 years ago doing extracts. 7.5 gallon turkey fryer pot on an electric stove top. Boil the water, add the extract, stir stir stir, add hops, boil 1 hour, Cool, strain to a fermenter, pop in a swamp coller, ferment 4 weeks, bottle conditiion 4 weeks, chill, enjoy.

Advantages:
1. Only needed to buy 2 fermenters, a bottling bucket and valve, racking cane, siphon tube, and a kettle.

2. Fairly simple. Extracts mean you always know what your OG will be. No mash to fuss with.

Disadvantages:
1. if they don't make extract in the grain bill I want, I'm out of luck. recipie is dependent on what extracts are available.

2. takes forever to raise 5 gallons of water to a boil on an electric stove.

Next I went to extract and steeping grains. Use extract as a replacement for base malt. Heat water, and warm water to 155, put specialty (non base)grains in a hop sock and soak in the water for 45 minutes or so. Remove sock, raise to a boil, add extracts, proceed as per previous. Was able to pretty much synthesize any all grain recipie. Partially removed disadvantage 1.

Next, I bought a banjo burner ( KAB 4 Bayou classics) and a 15 gallon blichmann boilermaker. Now able to 10 gallon batches. Also went to brew in a bag. Bags made of Voile curtain material. One slider panel, cut in half width wise. Each slider panel makes 2 bags. Rod pockets receive a drawstring. Must have a sewing machine to fabricate. Bag needs to be big enough to fit the brew kettle completely inside. Bring water to 157F, flame out, place bag inside kettle, add grains, stir to mash temp( 145F-155F depending on desired fermentability. i do 155 because I like malty) MAsh 60 minutes. Pull bag, squeeze bag ( yes Im a squeezer ) boil, hops, cool, ferment, enjoy.

That's where I am now.

This season I'm investigating switching to kegging.

Welcome! My grandparents lived for many years in the Dominican Republic, and they often talk about how much they loved it and would like to return.

So, several people have suggested John Palmer's "How to Brew." That is a great book. However, it is very detailed and technical, and it can be hard to determine which parts are most relevant to you as a first-time brewer. I learned to brew from it, but I can say that I found it intimidating prior to brewing my first batch. I think is especially true if your first language is not English.

SO...I think it is easier to see how the process works. I would recommend, in addition to the "How to Brew" book, one of these videos by John Palmer and Brad Smith (probably the extract one):

How to Brew Extract: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L1SFLOA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

How to Brew All-Grain: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OPK9WNC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

These are also available to buy digitally through http://beersmith.com/dvd/

JordanKnudson said:

Welcome! My grandparents lived for many years in the Dominican Republic, and they often talk about how much they loved it and would like to return.

So, several people have suggested John Palmer's "How to Brew." That is a great book. However, it is very detailed and technical, and it can be hard to determine which parts are most relevant to you as a first-time brewer. I learned to brew from it, but I can say that I found it intimidating prior to brewing my first batch. I think is especially true if your first language is not English.

SO...I think it is easier to see how the process works. I would recommend, in addition to the "How to Brew" book, one of these videos by John Palmer and Brad Smith (probably the extract one):

How to Brew Extract: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L1SFLOA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

How to Brew All-Grain: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OPK9WNC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

These are also available to buy digitally through http://beersmith.com/dvd/

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If you read the whole thing of How To Brew it can be overwhelming. I know folks who've been brewing for years without ever doing a decoction mash or worrying about water (not necessarily making the best beer but that's not the point). Even they would skim past those sections.

What you want is the section on brewing your first beer.

Qhrumphf said:

If you read the whole thing of How To Brew it can be overwhelming. I know folks who've been brewing for years without ever doing a decoction mash or worrying about water (not necessarily making the best beer but that's not the point). Even they would skim past those sections.

What you want is the section on brewing your first beer.

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True. However, I think that it would be easier (again, especially for someone who doesn't speak English as a first language) to have some supplementary resources, particularly video. How to Brew is great, and I really mean that, but damned if you can't tell that it was written by an engineer (or more specifically, metallurgist, I think?).

There easiest would be YouTube