Hi All...
I finished reading through all 200+ pages earlier in the week.... I have wanted to get into brewing for over a year, but between the cost of the equipment and not knowing what to do with 5 gallons of beer, I kept putting it off. I thought about smaller batches, but this thread helped solidify some things! So I want to thank everyone -- HomeBrewTalk rocks!!!! :rockin:
Tonight I brewed my first beer!!!
1.5 gal of EdWort's Haus Pale Ale (all grain). I really wanted to brew a Boddingtons clone, but my LHBS didn't have the 'proper' yeast.
If you're on the fence, JUMP! DO IT! Start brewing, go all grain and don't look back -- it was easy using BIAB!
It took 4 hrs from start to end of clean up, and I think I could speed some steps up once I get the process down.
I think I'm going to have to prime the pipeline over the next few weeks, as this was fun.
My set up is middle of the road:
12 qt Cuisinart kettle w/pasta basket and steamer (didn't use the basket, but the steamer was invaluable when squeezing the grain post mash out).
3 gal Better Bottles w/3 piece airlocks
Dual scale refractometer
A nice stirring spoon that I notched for volume measurements
Portable scale to weight the hops to 0.01g
Table top bottle capper
Mini auto siphon
Auto shutoff/spring loaded bottle filler
I think that's it...
Here are some picts. Sorry about the crappy quality -- I'll use a real camera next time.
Boil; nothing special, but I did use a small paint strainer to contain the hops.
I took advantage of the midwest winter and chilled the beer in snow while it was 6F outside...
I am fermenting in a Better Bottle. For temp control, I'm using... wait for it.... a Cool Brewing fermentation cooler -- that I won from HBT this summer!!! I haven't seen any posts (not to say there aren't any) where someone was employing something they won from this site. Thanks again to HBT and Cool Brewing!