New To This

I have a really good friend that started brewing around Christmas last year. I've been wanting to do this for about 12 years, but was always afraid I'd blow up the house or make a bunch of swill. After tasting and watching him brew a couple of weeks ago I got the bug.

I really wanted to take advantage of Austin Homebrew's 10% off this coming up weekend, BUT I hit eBay and Craigslist and think I did really well.

Iris Corker (For those Belgians that I LOVE!!!) = 21.92

Starter Home Brewing Equipment Kit = 52.87

20qt stainless steel brewpot w/lid = 33.64

Bayou Classic Turkey Frying Kit = 53.50

Red Baron corker, 2 cases of unused bottles, 300 caps, assorted hoses, bottling tool, rack clip, and a case of wine bottles = 10.00

Spent 171.93 total and that's including shipping to my door with insurance! I figure a stop at my LHBS to pick up a Better Plastic carboy and a couple of kits and I'm going to start brewing my own beer!

So, how'd I do?

 

Pretty good for the money spent, a 20qt Pot may be a little small for doing full boils though. You tend to boil overs even with a 7.5gal pot.

 

Sounds like a great deal. Don't worry about the 20qt brewpot. That will work just fine. If you're getting into all grain brewing, this can be used to heat the sparge water for the batch. I use my pot that came with the turkey fryer for the full boils. Just remember, if you are planning on doing full boils, your starting volume will actually be higher than the 5 gallons you're ending up with, so make sure to use the turkey fryer's pot, not the 20qt.

 

What do you have in mind to cool the wort down. That ruined my first brew day.

 

Ice bath the SS pot.

I've seen 3 old milk containers with frozen water chill wort down in the pot with great success in under a 1/2 hour.

My friend uses a hammer to bust the block up and then cuts the plastic away and the ice goes into the water.