Thoughts/input for a newbie getting into the hobby

[AlbertaBeer]

Yea definitely makes sense. That’s why I think what I’m looking at will work out good. I can make small 2-3Gal batches regularly to get things figured out (let’s be honest even if it’s just me drinking it, that won’t last long lol). Then when I’ve got the hang of it I can start doing 5gal batches and can even double batch in the fermenter if we get real thirsty

 

[RM-MN]

Last I knew, they were still sourcing our water from the river so I’m sure it fluctuates

Where you are in Alberta may make quite a difference in whether the mineral content of the river water fluctuates or not. The water department can tell you that if you ask.

I started with making 5 gallon batches but since I am the only beer drinker here and I don't drink a lot, a 5 gallon batch would last a long time. I like to have a variety of types of beers so I went to making 2 1/2 gallon batches and since I only brew in the fall and winter, I bought more fermenters and lots of bottles. If my schedule allows I may brew a couple days, then not for a week or more but sometimes can have 5 different batches in fermenters at once. I currently have 7 varieties bottled and have had as many as 15. That gave me a chance to find out what varieties are favored.

 

[AlbertaBeer]

Still waiting for the new toys to arrive. They’re supposed to be here this week, but it looks like weather is going to delay this project as we will start seeding in the next couple days.

Probably be a couple weeks before I get to play with it now

Edit:

It’s official now. Beer from the store for the next couple weeks lol

 

[AlbertaBeer]

We got rained out yesterday afternoon so I figured I would have a quick go at playing with this thing

Overall I think everything went ok, when I bought the gear I also got a couple extract kits to play with for the first few batches. All went good, no major issues other than the foundry leaves a lot to be desired when running on 110v (didn’t swap plug out for a 220v yet). It barely boiled 24L, and so much as sticking the paddle in there was enough to stop the boil for a minute! Definitely can’t say anything good about using it on 110v for that much volume lol

That being said, I didn’t end up boiling off as much water as the kit expected but my gravity ended up 1.050 vs the 1.045 expected even with the extra volume of wart so I guess that’s ok

I was going to stuff it into the fermzilla but I figured I’d give the g4 a trial run, it’ll be a while before I’m ready to actually try using it to it’s full potential anyways. Everything seemed to go ok there, got the wart pumped in, yeast pitched and within a couple hours it was starting to push the starsan up in the bubbler, by morning it was bubbling away.

Guess time will tell how things actually went!

 

[AlbertaBeer]

First batch pulled out of the g4 and stuffed into a keg the other day

Still got to get things set up properly but this test run was a success all in all. I wasn’t set up with cooling on the g4 yet and like a dummy I did this batch in the house where it inevitably got ignorantly hot outside and inside a day or so after I got it in the fermenter. Can definitely tell that didn’t help the beer, but still not terrible, it’s drinkable.

Haven’t found a fridge or freezer to hack up yet for a kegerator/keezer so just doing bachelor stuff right now. Into the fridge he goes