Hi everybody! (Himalayan kid who wants to home brew)

[AnbyG]

Hi everybody!

This is my first post here, so let me introduce myself. I am a regular guy fro a sleepy Himalayan town currently living in Maryland . Traditionally, my tribe in the foothills of Himalayas has brewed rice beer during holidays and festivals. I have never brewed anything on my own and the last time I helped my family members was over two decades ago. So my knowledge is limited to watching a lot of Youtube videos. Recently I got my own condo and for the first time in years I have just a tiny bit of space to do some brewing.

My birthday is in a few days and keeping up with my tradition of gifting myself with something new every year, I am giving myself the Brew Share Enjoy™ Homebrew Starter Kit from Northern Brewer and a hydrometer. Saturday is going to be my first brew day. I know that I will be getting another fermentor to brew some witbier for my fiancee, who really dislikes the hoppy beers I crave for.

What do you think of the purchase, and do I need anything more ?

Hope you are having an awesome day!

Thanks,

Anby

 

[flars]

Congratulations on your birthday gift.

I would add Star San for a easy to use sanitizer. A bench capper makes bottling much quicker.

There's more but for starting brewers I immediately think about temperature control of the fermenting beer and yeast management. When you decide on your first brew come back with specific questions before you begin.

We are here to make your first brew a good one.

 

[Fedora]

Welcome aboard, Anby.

 

[jcav]

Welcome to the forum from Florida! Great birthday gift! You will learn a lot here so read up and ask when you have questions.

John

 

[normonster]

I have a special spiel that I save for posts just like these. I wish someone would have gave me a plan like this when I started. In my opinion it is the most logical way to progress at the lowest cost.

Cheers!!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Phase One:
BeerSmith (moble ap or PC version)
3 Gallon Kettle
BIAB bag to fit (if you scale up later, this is your hop bag)
Auto Syphon
Scale (tenth gram accuracy – hops now, water additions later)
Refractometer
FG Hydrometer
5L wine bottle or equivalent (Capable of fermenting 1.25 gallons with headspace for krausen)
Airlock
(2) 2L flip-top growlers/bottles
Corn Sugar for priming, grain for recipe (pre-milled), hops for recipe
Starsan
PBW
Whirlfloc

*With this setup you can mash and boil 2-2.5 gallons of wort on your stovetop (need at least 1.25 gallons of boiled wort), chill the boiled wort in your sink, transfer wort and ferment in the wine bottle, then transfer to the growlers and prime for carbonation. You end up with 4L of finished beer in two growlers. Not to mention you can do this in your kitchen.

Phase Two:
Mini fridge (tall enough to fit your fermentation vessel with airlock)
Inkbird temp controller (2 stage)
Reptile heat-mat (or propagation heat-mat or whatever source of heat you want to use)
Second 5L wine bottle
Second airlock
Two more flip-top growlers
Maybe a cheap Corona grain mill, but buying pre-milled at this rate of consumption is totally fine

**Now you are set to control the temperature of your fermentation and double you production capacity. With a 2 week fermentation window and a 1 week bottle refermentation you could add a third set of fermenter/airlock/growlers and set yourself up with 2 growlers per week with weekly brew days, and you can make a wide range of styles and not have to worry about what you’ll do with 5 gallons of Russian Imperial Death Water. Not to mention that if a recipe does go awry, you can dump and not lose much in the way of cost.

Phase Three:
Download Brew’n Water (and read all the notes)
pH meter
pH meter calibration/storage solutions
Pipette
Lactic Acid (go EASY on additions here…start with half what is specified in Brew’n, measure and adjust further)
All chemicals for water adjustment listed in Brew’n Water (Gypsum, Calcium Chloride, Baking Soda, etc.)


***Now you are not only controlling the temperature of your ferment, but you are also in control of your water profile. It can be tailored to support certain styles and their characteristics.

 

[AnbyG]

Congratulations on your birthday gift.

I would add Star San for a easy to use sanitizer. A bench capper makes bottling much quicker.

There's more but for starting brewers I immediately think about temperature control of the fermenting beer and yeast management. When you decide on your first brew come back with specific questions before you begin.

We are here to make your first brew a good one.

Thank you. For my first brew I am just going to use the recipe that comes with the kit. It does come with some sanitizer, but I will be purchasing Star San as well.

I had considered temperature control, the BrewJacket looked good to me. But it is a tad expensive for me right now. I was going to brew the first batch and leave the whole setup in one corner of my kitchen. Certainly something I would like to add in future.

 

[AnbyG]

I have a special spiel that I save for posts just like these. I wish someone would have gave me a plan like this when I started. In my opinion it is the most logical way to progress at the lowest cost.

Cheers!!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Phase One:
BeerSmith (moble ap or PC version)
3 Gallon Kettle
BIAB bag to fit (if you scale up later, this is your hop bag)
Auto Syphon
Scale (tenth gram accuracy – hops now, water additions later)
Refractometer
FG Hydrometer
5L wine bottle or equivalent (Capable of fermenting 1.25 gallons with headspace for krausen)
Airlock
(2) 2L flip-top growlers/bottles
Corn Sugar for priming, grain for recipe (pre-milled), hops for recipe
Starsan
PBW
Whirlfloc

*With this setup you can mash and boil 2-2.5 gallons of wort on your stovetop (need at least 1.25 gallons of boiled wort), chill the boiled wort in your sink, transfer wort and ferment in the wine bottle, then transfer to the growlers and prime for carbonation. You end up with 4L of finished beer in two growlers. Not to mention you can do this in your kitchen.

Phase Two:
Mini fridge (tall enough to fit your fermentation vessel with airlock)
Inkbird temp controller (2 stage)
Reptile heat-mat (or propagation heat-mat or whatever source of heat you want to use)
Second 5L wine bottle
Second airlock
Two more flip-top growlers
Maybe a cheap Corona grain mill, but buying pre-milled at this rate of consumption is totally fine

**Now you are set to control the temperature of your fermentation and double you production capacity. With a 2 week fermentation window and a 1 week bottle refermentation you could add a third set of fermenter/airlock/growlers and set yourself up with 2 growlers per week with weekly brew days, and you can make a wide range of styles and not have to worry about what you’ll do with 5 gallons of Russian Imperial Death Water. Not to mention that if a recipe does go awry, you can dump and not lose much in the way of cost.

Phase Three:
Download Brew’n Water (and read all the notes)
pH meter
pH meter calibration/storage solutions
Pipette
Lactic Acid (go EASY on additions here…start with half what is specified in Brew’n, measure and adjust further)
All chemicals for water adjustment listed in Brew’n Water (Gypsum, Calcium Chloride, Baking Soda, etc.)


***Now you are not only controlling the temperature of your ferment, but you are also in control of your water profile. It can be tailored to support certain styles and their characteristics.

Thank you for the post, this makes total sense. I would certainly like to have more than one beer going at the same time.

I like the term Russian Imperial Death Water.