lady_brewer
Well-Known Member
So... moving to "AG" brewing... have only ever done pre-hopped extracts, but I did awesome on my Organic and Physical chem labs in University and am pretty good with baking, so not too worried about skipping the extract step.
I have been collecting equipment to do DB's stovetop brewing for my first go around. This is what I have so far, but I am worried that I am missing something, and will only find out in the middle of the process. Let me know what you think.
1. Recipe: Still deliberating between BM's centennial Blonde, DB's SMaSH APA, and O'Flannigan's Stout... will be ordering hops and grains in the next week for all three, may not decide until brew day what I am making... but if you want to put in an opinion here I am all ears.
2. Pots: I have 2 stainless steel 20quart pots. (22.5 L) Out of curiousity I checked on how long it takes to bring 4 gallons to a boil on my stove... it is one hour. Will factor this into my brewday. I may yet get a turkey fryer from Canadian Tire (has a 7Gal pot) or I may split my boil between two pots. Checking sales, and how the wallet feels before deciding.
3. Chiller: Hubby is going to build me an immersion chiller. Rumour has it he can get a price on a 50ft coil of copper tubing.
4. Grain Crusher: I bought the clay roller/ pasta maker/ soon to be grain crusher from Michael's. 50% off with coupon. Woot.
5. Thermometer: paid $20 for this at walmart. Supposed to be for turkeys, but also says it is good for candy. Figured out how to set it in my pot without it falling in. Still going to waterproof it. Calibrated it... 213F at boiling, 33F in ice crush water. ie it reads 1F above what it really is in (correct me if I am wrong, I live in a world of Celcius). Has some fancy features... can set it to beep when it hits the temp you keyed in, has a timer. Going to be real great after my first batch (where these features are useless since I will be watching it like a mad person and getting nothing else done during the day)
6. Fermentors/ Secondary/ Hydrometer/ Tubing/ etc: Have all this stuff since you do have to do some things, even with cheater's pre-hopped wort.
7. Bag: Since i plan to do the "BIAB" I have a nylon mesh bag to stick my grains, and later my hops in. This means no need for a mash tun... will have to pick up a second (or use my wine-fruit bag) if I do split the boil between two pots.
8. Camera: Not only do I have to torment you people with the excruciating details of every step I take, but my dad wants a blog-like play-by-play, since it was always his "dream" to go this route while he was homebrewing. I would invite him out, but he would only get underfoot, plus I am going to be busy obsessing.
So... what am I missing? Any words of wisdom? Advice?
Minor other things I will make sure of... a well thought out "to-do" list... well laid out ingredients (hops for example), music? Other tasks to keep the hubby from being underfoot... except for when I need lifting... HB for after to cooling stage...
I have been collecting equipment to do DB's stovetop brewing for my first go around. This is what I have so far, but I am worried that I am missing something, and will only find out in the middle of the process. Let me know what you think.
1. Recipe: Still deliberating between BM's centennial Blonde, DB's SMaSH APA, and O'Flannigan's Stout... will be ordering hops and grains in the next week for all three, may not decide until brew day what I am making... but if you want to put in an opinion here I am all ears.
2. Pots: I have 2 stainless steel 20quart pots. (22.5 L) Out of curiousity I checked on how long it takes to bring 4 gallons to a boil on my stove... it is one hour. Will factor this into my brewday. I may yet get a turkey fryer from Canadian Tire (has a 7Gal pot) or I may split my boil between two pots. Checking sales, and how the wallet feels before deciding.
3. Chiller: Hubby is going to build me an immersion chiller. Rumour has it he can get a price on a 50ft coil of copper tubing.
4. Grain Crusher: I bought the clay roller/ pasta maker/ soon to be grain crusher from Michael's. 50% off with coupon. Woot.
5. Thermometer: paid $20 for this at walmart. Supposed to be for turkeys, but also says it is good for candy. Figured out how to set it in my pot without it falling in. Still going to waterproof it. Calibrated it... 213F at boiling, 33F in ice crush water. ie it reads 1F above what it really is in (correct me if I am wrong, I live in a world of Celcius). Has some fancy features... can set it to beep when it hits the temp you keyed in, has a timer. Going to be real great after my first batch (where these features are useless since I will be watching it like a mad person and getting nothing else done during the day)
6. Fermentors/ Secondary/ Hydrometer/ Tubing/ etc: Have all this stuff since you do have to do some things, even with cheater's pre-hopped wort.
7. Bag: Since i plan to do the "BIAB" I have a nylon mesh bag to stick my grains, and later my hops in. This means no need for a mash tun... will have to pick up a second (or use my wine-fruit bag) if I do split the boil between two pots.
8. Camera: Not only do I have to torment you people with the excruciating details of every step I take, but my dad wants a blog-like play-by-play, since it was always his "dream" to go this route while he was homebrewing. I would invite him out, but he would only get underfoot, plus I am going to be busy obsessing.
So... what am I missing? Any words of wisdom? Advice?
Minor other things I will make sure of... a well thought out "to-do" list... well laid out ingredients (hops for example), music? Other tasks to keep the hubby from being underfoot... except for when I need lifting... HB for after to cooling stage...