Its been awhile

[jlillie]

Its been more than 20 years since a brewed. Couple weeks ago went to a friends graduation party for their kid. Just by pure chance sat next to the keg. It got me thinking how i used to love to brew my own but hated bottling. I think thats what killed it for me(the bottling that is). This time i'm kegging. been reading about corny kegs and such and looking at some of the keg brew setups here. I also started collecting some stuff already, mostly for a kegerator. If its not to much trouble, can somone point out some good articles on this site that would relate getting started with brewing and then kegging?
Much appreciated,
~john

 

[Reelale]

Welcome back. Yep, kegging is so much easier than bottling. Continuously cleaning bottles was a major reason I took a hiatus from brewing. I still bottle-condition some brews, but for the most part I keg. I bottle from the keg more than bottle-condition.

As for pointers, I would recommend the Search function on the top banner. Don't use the text box that is showing, it's crap. There is a little gray arrow next to "Search". That brings up a google custom search which will yield much more specific results.

This site is chock-full of very good information on all aspects of brewing. You'll find what you need in pretty short order. Good brewing.

 

[RuffRider]

Welcome back to brewing. There are a number of tools around here to help you. You could use the search function to search threads on this site but I would first check out the "sticky" threads at the top of the Beginners Beer Brewing Forum and at the top of the Bottling/Kegging forum. That's where I started for both.

www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/
www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/

Cheers!

 

[jlillie]

I appreciate the replies. I did check a lot of threads and gained a lot more information. I also picked up John Palmer's book which removed a lot of mystery.
So far, i've aquired 4 cornies from Craig's List which i need to get seal kits for. My next task is to build a lauter tun - yes, i've decided to direct to all-grain brewing. One mystery for me is storing grain. Can you store larger quantities of crushed grain by freezing or...? or would you buy uncrushed and store that way which would require a grain mill? John P. says that crushed grain stays fresh for about 2 weeks but he doesn't say much more about it (that i've found).

 

[DeafSmith]

Here's what I do with my grains. When I buy a sack, I put it in an airtight pet food container like this:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2811537

then fill it with CO2 from my tank and quickly close the lid (hoping to kill any grain weevils that might hatch out).

For small amounts of specialty grains, I vacuum pack them in a Food Saver bag and put them in the freezer for a few days to kill any weevils and weevil eggs, then take them out - vacuum packing them first prevents moisture condensation on the grain when I remove them from the freezer.

I only crush them just before brewing.

Hops are vacuum bagged and kept in the freezer.

 

[tuckferrorists]

Welcome back!