about to buy first brew equipment...am i buying the right stuff? no extract

[acousticpharm]

Ive put in probably 20 hours of research and am buying my equipment in the next few days. Am I buying the right stuff? I want to brew pro quality beer in small batches. :rockin:


Ive decided to use the brew in a bag method of all grain brewing and skip extract. I might do 1 or 2 extract kits too but intend to BIAB.

I have a small studio apartment, electric stove top, and only drink about 5 beers per week. I have therefore decided I want to brew (final volume before fermentation) 1.7-2 gallons of beer and split them into 2 one gallon glass carboys and will use different yeasts in each to experiment from one brew session. I want to get into making fruit wheat beers so I will probably end up doing some secondary fermentation after my first few batches? Therefore I will need 3 or 4 1 gallon glass carboys?

I intend to buy this http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...ter-kit/1-gallon-small-batch-starter-kit.html as well as an extra 2 or 3 glass carboys/airlock/blow off tube from the same site as well as an extra fermometer for each carboy http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/fermometer.html

If I want to end up with about 2 gallons of beer what sized kettle do I need? Would a 3 gallon (12 quart) pot do the trick? I have read using a 5 gallon kettle on electric is hard to get boiling although I suppose if you used the same amount of water in a 5 gallon it might be ok?

I intend to buy premilled grains locally or from northern brewer type places. That way I avoid the cost of the miller for now? The corona type mills look like they need modifications to work and I am not that good at modifying

I intend to use an ice bath to cool the wort down until i can afford cooling equipment.

I live in the most inland part of Ventura california (around 10 minutes from beach) where the january low is 41 high 69 august low 56 high 83. Today low 52 high 70. Can I brew in a closet under these conditions indoors? Will i probably have to use ice and wet t shirt trick etc? Will it get too cold at night? Eventually I might get a wine cooler or small fridge type thing but don't want to spend the money on it now.

Any recommendations? Are my plans doable? thank you!

 

[BryceL]

I think you are going to need the 5 gallon pot. You need room for the full volume of water as well as all your grain...I don't think a 3 gallon pot will be enough space. You are also going to need your grain bad.

Regarding fermentation temperatures, I would suggest putting your carboy in a rubbermaid bid full of water to help regulate temperature swings. You can swap out frozen water bottles if it gets too warm. You can get cheap sticky thermometers (3 or 4 bucks) to stick to the side of the carboy to read your fermentation temperature. Active fermentation will cause your beer to be quite a bit warmer than ambient temperatures (4 to 6 degrees or so).

 

[masscarriers]

^ This, and I also believe you need at least a 4 gallons pot. Don't worry about getting a full boil in a larger vessel especially if it only contains ~3 gallons of wort, you're only buying headspace for boiloff, peace of mind and an opportunity to brew larger batches if you change your mind some day. I regularly get a good boil rolling in a 10 gallons pot with for >5 gallons batches on an electric stove as well.

 

[KepowOb]

edit: double post

 

[KepowOb]

Yup, get a bigger pot. I do full-boil, 5 gallon extract batches, and that means I'm brining 6.5 gallons to a boil, and I have an 8 gallon kettle, and wish I'd gone for 9-10 gallons, but it's not that big of a problem.

If you're going for 2 gallons final volume, you'll probably be starting with 3 gallons, plus then you'll have your grain in there... you might even need something bigger than 5 gallons??

As for the temperatures, I'm guessing those are the outdoor temps (hope so if it's hitting 41 at night). What temp is the space you will be fermenting? Generally you want somewhere with a constant temperature... and if it's anything above 64, you'll probably want to look into making a swamp cooler, or water bath type thing. Both will help keep the temps more constant, and lower during primary fermentation.