Brand New! How do I start?

[GPNewBrew]

Good morning all! I want to fulfill one of my promises I made to my friends and try my hand at Home Brew when I retired, which I just did earlier this month.

I have so many questions, so I'll just start here:

• Is making beer an "indoor" hobby, or is it best done outdoors? Why wife won't be happy with my newfound hobby if the I end up with the house smelling like a brew house cellar.
• If it turns out to be an outdoor hobby, are there product making temperature constraints? I live southeast of Houston and am wondering if I will be limited to fall and winter beer making because of the hot temperatures from late spring to early fall
• I guess the best place to start is to buy one of the many available beer making kits available on the market. Not sure if I can ask for recommendations on this site, but maybe someone can point me to a site where I can compare and make a decision? I'm assuming (assumptions are all I have at this point) that would start out with a one gallon kit (makes about 10 bottles?) and go from there if I get bit by the brewing bug, unless someone has a better idea. Someone told me to just avoid bottles and go straight to mini-kegs or something like that, but they know about as much as I do about brewing, and I'm thinking the bottle route would be a good start. Any opinions?
• Are there any other sites anyone can share that will provide me some more background on home brew, the science of it, etc. I would like to get as educated as possible before I go to far down this road.

Thanks all ahead of time for any opinions - I look forward to having a lot of fun with this new hobby and this (site) looks like a good place to start!

Gary

 

[jaymosbeershack]

Good morning all! I want to fulfill one of my promises I made to my friends and try my hand at Home Brew when I retired, which I just did earlier this month.

I have so many questions, so I'll just start here:

• Is making beer an "indoor" hobby, or is it best done outdoors? Why wife won't be happy with my newfound hobby if the I end up with the house smelling like a brew house cellar.
• If it turns out to be an outdoor hobby, are there product making temperature constraints? I live southeast of Houston and am wondering if I will be limited to fall and winter beer making because of the hot temperatures from late spring to early fall
• I guess the best place to start is to buy one of the many available beer making kits available on the market. Not sure if I can ask for recommendations on this site, but maybe someone can point me to a site where I can compare and make a decision? I'm assuming (assumptions are all I have at this point) that would start out with a one gallon kit (makes about 10 bottles?) and go from there if I get bit by the brewing bug, unless someone has a better idea. Someone told me to just avoid bottles and go straight to mini-kegs or something like that, but they know about as much as I do about brewing, and I'm thinking the bottle route would be a good start. Any opinions?
• Are there any other sites anyone can share that will provide me some more background on home brew, the science of it, etc. I would like to get as educated as possible before I go to far down this road.

Thanks all ahead of time for any opinions - I look forward to having a lot of fun with this new hobby and this (site) looks like a good place to start!

Gary

First and foremost, welcome to the addiction. Homebrewing can be done indoors or outdoors. I started out (as many do) with extract batches on my stove top. I later moved brew day outside on a propane burner, and have now moved back inside with a full electric system. The woman in my life hates the smell of brew day, but it disipates quickly.john palmers book "How to Brew" is available to read for free online. Your local homebrew shop is another great place to start. Good luck and have fun!

 

[kh54s10]

Good morning all! I want to fulfill one of my promises I made to my friends and try my hand at Home Brew when I retired, which I just did earlier this month.

I have so many questions, so I'll just start here:

• Is making beer an "indoor" hobby, or is it best done outdoors? Why wife won't be happy with my newfound hobby if the I end up with the house smelling like a brew house cellar.
• If it turns out to be an outdoor hobby, are there product making temperature constraints? I live southeast of Houston and am wondering if I will be limited to fall and winter beer making because of the hot temperatures from late spring to early fall
• I guess the best place to start is to buy one of the many available beer making kits available on the market. Not sure if I can ask for recommendations on this site, but maybe someone can point me to a site where I can compare and make a decision? I'm assuming (assumptions are all I have at this point) that would start out with a one gallon kit (makes about 10 bottles?) and go from there if I get bit by the brewing bug, unless someone has a better idea. Someone told me to just avoid bottles and go straight to mini-kegs or something like that, but they know about as much as I do about brewing, and I'm thinking the bottle route would be a good start. Any opinions?
• Are there any other sites anyone can share that will provide me some more background on home brew, the science of it, etc. I would like to get as educated as possible before I go to far down this road.

Thanks all ahead of time for any opinions - I look forward to having a lot of fun with this new hobby and this (site) looks like a good place to start!

Gary

It is indoor or outdoor, depending. If you start with an extract kit, you would probably start on your stove indoors. Later you will probably move outdoors on a propane burner. Do not attempt to brew on a propane burner indoors.

After the brew you will want to ferment the beer indoors. Preferably with some form of temperature control. You will want to keep the fermenting wort under 70 degrees. Fermentation produces heat so putting the fermenter in a 70 degree room is not good enough.

Most complaints about the smell is not of a brew house cellar. It is from the boiling wort. That is a different odor. Some don't like it, I love it. It does go away fairly quickly when you are done.

There are many online brewing supply shops, most of them will have beginner equipment kits. If you have a LHBS (local homebrew supply store) near you give them a visit and some support. You can get almost everything less expensive online but it is hard to go to one the day you find out that you already used the pack of yeast you thought you had.

You will probably start with bottles. Start saving pry off bottles now. If you go to 5 gallons you will need at least 50 bottles. Kegging is quite expensive to start with. And mini kegs are more expensive than the 5 gallon sizes.

Get the book already noted. Or Joy of Homebrewing. There are others.

Frequent the beginner brewing forum on this site. You will quickly learn the common mistakes and how to avoid or correct for them.

Most of all, welcome and have fun.

 

[Gemadrken]

Some home-brew shops have 'Beginner Equipment Kits' for around $100-150. Also every home-brew shop I've ever seen carries recipe kits in little boxes for $25-45 depending on beer style. My suggestion would be to start with one of these beginner equipment kits, and one of these home-brew kits. That being said if you want to start with your own recipes that's awesome

When you start making your own recipes, this is one of many beer recipe creation tools: https://www.brewersfriend.com/
I feeld brewersfriend to be very easy to use, but you need an account to make more than 5 recipes on it. I'm cheap so now I use Brewgr.com which I do not like quite as much but still works great.

Some other things:
-Don't stress out too much about whether or not your beer will taste good because it probably will
-Brewing extract is a great way to start and you can make great beers, but the overall quality of my beers exploded when I started brewing all grain
-Look up what a 'Keezer' is. IMO one of the best things to have
-Kegging saves a world of time over bottling and can be cheaper in the long run. I strongly suggest getting into kegging as quickly as possible, but others may have different opinions on this. I started kegging a few brews before I started brewing all grain, they are the two best changes I made to my homebrewing regiment. That being said you probably still want to bottle the first few batches to make sure brewing is something you enjoy before investing in kegging and cooling equipment
-You can bottle most beers after 2-3 weeks, meaning beer can take 5 weeks or less to be ready in the bottle
-You can keg some beer styles as early as 7 days, and many as early as 12 days. This means you can have your beer ready for serving in as little as 8-15 days from brew day.

Much of what I said here is my opinion, so you may hear contradicting things from other people

Congratz on retirement!

 

[catdaddy66]

To answer the OP's thread title... Lol!

Seriously, the other posters are exactly right. John Palmer and Charlie Papazian have great books on brewing for the beginner ('How to and 'The Joy of Homebrewing', respectively) as well as others. Research helps a lot.

Good luck and welcome aboard!

 

[NGD]

Hello and welcome to HBT. I’d like to echo the recommendations for acquiring “How To Brew” and/or “The Joys of Home Brewing”. They contain a wealth of knowledge and step you through your first brew day. Congratulations on retirement and starting a fun new hobby. Your fortunate in where you live. There are quite a few good home brew supply shops in Texas.

A few questions you may want to ask yourself before jumping in

• How much (gallons) of one style of beer would you enjoy drinking?
• How much time would you like to spending brewing?
• Whats your budget?

Gemadrkin already mentioned the 5 gal starter kits. You can also get into 1 gallon brewing kits for ~$50. This will save you time and money in terms of being able to heat/cool faster, take up less space and allow you to brew indoors more easily. The downside is you only get 10-12 bottles. If its a beer you really enjoy..they go quick. Just remember to take notes, keep everything sanitary and have fun.

Read through the forums and you’ll find many of your questions have been answered as we all make mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes make for the best beer.

Cheers!

 

[Jtk78]

Welcome! This is a great forum and source of information.

Aside from the great information above, if there are any local homebrew shops around you, they may put on a beginner brewing class. There are at least two near me that do.

 

[Tribe Fan]

Keep it simple.

Search here or google StarSan. It is your friend. Once you have cooled your wort, nothing touches it that hasn't touch Starsan first.

 

[davidabcd]

Congratulations! I'm new to the forum but not to extract brewing. I'll try not to repeat the good advice above.
It may be helpful to do a dry-run before you start the actual batch to ensure you have everything to hand, from proper-sized pots to sanitizing solution. It's a big list but much can be found in the home.
A kit (Brewer's Best were very good to me) is a great starting point. Read and reread the instruction sheet for the kit from beginning to end. That way, you can ask questions where needed and there will be no surprises. The kits I used were rated so you might want to go with the "easy" kit like one that only requires a bit of steeping grain and adding ingredients at the required time.
As far as bottling goes, that's what I do. I use the Grolsch bottles (flip-tops). I inherited over 200 of them. Once they are clean--and kept clean by thoroughly rinsing immediately after use--it's not bad. Just being careful: this is only bottle maintenance, not everything that needs to occur before you fill one with beer. Anyway, I get about 37 bottles per 5 gallon batch. Then you can fit 14 nicely in a milk crate (that's what I call a case of beer!). I like that they are 16oz or so which means fewer to fill on bottling day and no capping. I'm not saying capping is awful but I can fill and then one-hand close a bottle. Personally, where bottles are concerned, I like to see a few shelves full of beer.
Speaking of shelves, getting a super-sturdy, wire rack shelf helps immensely. I'm speaking of the one you put together that comes with four poles and about five adjustable shelves. You can put all of your equipment on it (if you're an extract brewer), plus you can adjust the upper shelves exactly to beer bottle height. Put it in the corner and it takes up a modest amount of space.
I hope this helps!

 

[Saunassa]

I started brewing in the past few months. Before I did I watched many episodes of Basic Brewing on YouTube. That's what showed me it was not difficult to brew a good beer and that starting with an extract recipe kit was ok. I started with 3 gallon Pale ale on stove, smelled like I was cooking malt -o-meal cereal. Best Pale Ale I have ever tasted.
Since then I learned of this forum and have learned a lot from reading and asking questions. My recommendation is to buy a good starter 5 gallon equipment kit and a 3-5 gallon recipe kit. Oh and Starsan!

 

[Jayjay1976]

Welcome! Brew a few kits and learn what styles you like to brew, then build your brewery to suit. I brew 100% indoors, ferment ales at room temp and have a chamber that holds one fermenter for lagers. This setup with 4 fermenters is all that I need to maintain a steady pipeline. Next up for me will be building a kegging setup, freeing up my bottles for bigger beers that benefit from aging.

Edit: Brewing indoors smells like a big batch of malt-o-meal, my wife doesn't mind it at all and afterwards it generally dissipates in about 30 minutes.

 

[S-Met]

Theres probably someone near you that brews. If you're willing to hang out with a stranger, seeing it for the first time as a hands on experience is priceless. Bonus, if it's not your thing, you are only out time and ingredients.The downside of brewing with a buddy is you tend to learn their bad habits.

As others have already mentioned, extract batches are easy, reliably good and very forgiving. Great way to get started. Some will insist all grain is the way to go, while others have been happy with extract for decades. I'm neutral on that topic. My advice is that if you aren't having fun, you are either doing it wrong or its not for you.

 

[TxBigHops]

You have many options as others have stated. I would put off buying any of the smaller kits. Stay away from Mr beer and they type of kit. They are mostly junk and you will very soon outgrow them. A lot of us started with 5 gallon extract and quickly graduated to all grain.

Another option is to find a brew partner to split 5 gallon batches with if that's too much beer for just you. Best place to start is a local brew club. I don't recall the name, but there is one in Clear Lake if thats the direction where you live. If your closer in, go to Defalcos, an awesome brew store near Reliant stadium. There's a club based there as well. In a club you can probably find someone to show you the process and you can brew together on their equipment and just share the cost of the ingredients. I'm doing exactly that right now with a new brewer.

Good luck and let me know if you have any other Houston specific questions. I wish I were closer, but I'm up north in Humble.

 

[rmyurick]

I think I started by reading 'the complete joy of homebrewing', but if you don't like reading, it's easy enough to just walk into a local hb supply shop & tell them you're a beginner. Tell them what you like to drink--most of the beginner styles are ales, like pale ale, Porter, Stout--but some are having success with "warm-ferment" lagers.

 

[Griffin495]

Welcome aboard. I know exactly what you are talking about heat wise as I also live in Texas. In the heat of summer, I move my brewing indoors on the stove (opposite of those people in the North who move theirs outdoors) as its just too damn hot. My summer brewing consists of smaller batches, generally in the 1 -2gallon range. When the temperature is nice, I generally do 2.5 gallon batches on a propane burner outside.

I'm not going to repeat what others have said. What I would do is have you ask yourself "how much do I drink?" And be honest. 5 gallon batches will net you around two cases of beer. Are you going to go through that pretty fast? Maybe you socialize with a lot of people and you'll be handing out a lot of home brew? For me, I brew mostly for myself. The wife drinks wine, she won't drink beer unless I do a hefeweizen or a blue moon clone. I'll share what I have when people come over, but that's not often. It would take me quite awhile to go through two cases and honestly I'd be bored with the beer by then. So I scaled down my batch sizes. 2.5 gallon batches for beers I really like or an event like a party of a bbq. That's one case. A gallon for experimental beers. Stuff I've never tried before and not sure if I will like. A gallon will get you more like 8 or 9, not 10 or 12. And sometimes 1.5 or 2 gallon beers just to use up leftover hops or other reasons.

Yes, brewing small batches gets you less beer, but it also allows you to brew more often and hone your skill and improve your brewing. If I brewed 5 gallon batches exclusively, I'd probably only brew every month and half. And I like to brew, maybe more than I like to drink. I just love everything about brew day. So far this year, I've knocked out 15 batches of beer. No way would I have made that many if I did 5 gallon batches.

So ask yourself "How much do I drink?" And decide what scale you want to do. If you want to do one gallon, you could get into it for as little as $40 if you get one of the Brooklyn Brew Shops starter kits. After your first one, just scale down a normal recipe to 1 gallon (usually just divide by 5) and pick up the ingredients at your LHBS. Use dry yeast, about 3 grams per batch and you can get 3 brews out of one packet of yeast.

And check out the 1-Gallon Brewers Unite thread.

 

[Blazinlow86]

Start with simple recipes and don't give up as your first few brews *may* not be very great. Mine were terrible lol

 

[TGFV]

To add to what everyone else is saying, also look for used equipment (carboys etc) from people leaving the hobby, u-brew shops closing/updating/renovating, as well as sushi restaurants for bottles (an amazing source of them surprisingly)

I got my initial set up for 90%off what it would have cost online, and my next 6 6gal better bottles cost me 25$ with tax total.

Who knows, you could end up like I did and have 3-4 fermenters for beer, a secondary for fruit beer, 2 fermenters for cider and last one for random ideas (pumpkin wine, Skeeter, country wines etc).

 

[kh54s10]

I have all that plus a 3 gallon fermenter and several buckets that I can use. I have had as many as 7 wines and beers fermenting at one time.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Welcome to the forum, Gary. I think a gallon kit is a pretty good way to start, unless you know someone who brews that you could spend a brew day with... Be sure you'll stick with it before investing much in equiptment. I've been brewing 3+ years still learning and brewing mostly smaller batches 2.5-3 gallons in my kitchen, (because that is a good amount for my household) and I still mostly bottle. I'll brew 5 gallon batches and keg them for parties, since I don't want to explain how to properly pour bottle conditioned beer. My spouse is not fond of the aroma, but as others have said. it doesn't linger.

BTW, if you do enjoy brewing and move on to a larger set up the 1 gallon things are still useful for testing a recipe, or making small batches of mead or gallon wine kits. Again, welcome.

 

[BEER-N-BBQ_BY_LARRY]

Good morning all! I want to fulfill one of my promises I made to my friends and try my hand at Home Brew when I retired, which I just did earlier this month.

I have so many questions, so I'll just start here:

• Is making beer an "indoor" hobby, or is it best done outdoors? Why wife won't be happy with my newfound hobby if the I end up with the house smelling like a brew house cellar.
• If it turns out to be an outdoor hobby, are there product making temperature constraints? I live southeast of Houston and am wondering if I will be limited to fall and winter beer making because of the hot temperatures from late spring to early fall
• I guess the best place to start is to buy one of the many available beer making kits available on the market. Not sure if I can ask for recommendations on this site, but maybe someone can point me to a site where I can compare and make a decision? I'm assuming (assumptions are all I have at this point) that would start out with a one gallon kit (makes about 10 bottles?) and go from there if I get bit by the brewing bug, unless someone has a better idea. Someone told me to just avoid bottles and go straight to mini-kegs or something like that, but they know about as much as I do about brewing, and I'm thinking the bottle route would be a good start. Any opinions?
• Are there any other sites anyone can share that will provide me some more background on home brew, the science of it, etc. I would like to get as educated as possible before I go to far down this road.

Thanks all ahead of time for any opinions - I look forward to having a lot of fun with this new hobby and this (site) looks like a good place to start!

Gary

I have a number of videos on the topic including a six part homebrewing basics series playlist.
https://www.youtube.com/c/BEERNBBQBYLARRY

 

[Gemadrken]

I have a number of videos on the topic including a six part homebrewing basics series playlist.
https://www.youtube.com/c/BEERNBBQBYLARRY

Larry has an awesome channel, I strongly recommend his content

 

[GPNewBrew]

Thanks everybody for your welcomes, inputs and recommendations. They have been very helpful. I have one two more questions. First, it looks like I'm going to buy a 5 gallon starter kit - that seems to be everyone's (including the brew supplier houses). I don't see much in the 2.5 gallon size for starter kits, which is what I want to start with. I would much rather make 10-20 bottle batches than make 2 cases of something that might not be my best. Also, I just don't drink that much and would rather exercise my palate and techniques on smaller batches. First question is - Can I go ahead and buy a 5 gallon starter kit, with a 5 gallon brew kettle, 5-7 gallon fermentor and bottling buckets, and make smaller batches? Or do I need to buy smaller fermentors or brew kettles for the smaller batches. If I use Palmer's partial boil method, I'll be creating potentially 1 gallon of wort in a 5 gal kettle. Does that sound right?
Second question - Looking for opinions - should I go directly to glass carboys or "big mouth" jugs, or start with the plastic buckets for ferm and bottling? I'm leaning towards buckets, but again I wonder if I should try and find 3 of 4 gallon carboys for ferm?

Thanks, Gary

 

[TGFV]

5gal kettle works for extract or pm, but for biab it's only really good for 3gal I find unless you are going for s lower OG ale.

Which in your case (wanting to do smaller batches) works perfectly.

As for fermenters, you can pick up smaller buckets at hardware stores (look for the white foodsafe ones) or for a smaller scale fermenter from a lhbs (usually costs more). Heck I think it is Lowe's or HD that has 10 of them for 20$ in the states.

 

[Tribe Fan]

Speaking only for myself, I don't use glass carboys for beer, only as a secondary vessel for wines.

They are heavy and dangerous and plastic is a much better choice. Wide mouth is better, but I have batches fermenting in better bottles right now that I use all the time. As above, any food safe plastic bucket will do. I've done a lot of beer in plastic buckets, and wines I do right in the bucket that the juice comes in.

PS - Do yourself a favor and get an 8 gallon kettle. You'll need the extra space when you go to all grain BIAB.

 

[ncbrewer]

Speaking only for myself, I don't use glass carboys for beer, only as a secondary vessel for wines.

They are heavy and dangerous and plastic is a much better choice. Wide mouth is better, but I have batches fermenting in better bottles right now that I use all the time. As above, any food safe plastic bucket will do.

I agree with glass carboys being dangerous. If you use a bucket, a 5 gallon bucket that seals well would be good IMO - it will have a good amount of head space. That way, in my experience, you won't have blow-off problems with average gravity beers. I use a 7.9 gallon ale pail for 5 gallon batches and just use an airlock - no blow-off tube.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I started with an equipment kit from my LHBS and it came with a bucket to ferment in. Which was fine for starters.

I think I also used an extract kit from them (but can get anywhere), which i'd recommend for a beginner. No need for a mash tun or bag or anything else.

You have your whole life to buy more brewing equipment. Pace yourself

 

[VirginiaHops1]

First question is - Can I go ahead and buy a 5 gallon starter kit, with a 5 gallon brew kettle, 5-7 gallon fermentor and bottling buckets, and make smaller batches? Or do I need to buy smaller fermentors or brew kettles for the smaller batches. If I use Palmer's partial boil method, I'll be creating potentially 1 gallon of wort in a 5 gal kettle. Does that sound right?

I did exactly this. I bought a 5 gallon starter kit and did some extract batches(partial boil) but then decided I wanted to do smaller batches(2.5 gal). I am using all my original equipment, except I picked up two 3 gallon Better Bottles. I think technically you still can ferment small batches in your big buckets though, so I probably could've done that but I wanted to be able to ferment multiple batches at once. I'll probably scale back up at some point, once I get better and find some really good recipes I don't mind drinking 50 bottles of. But for now I love the small batches. I get to brew more often and tinker with BIAB recipes.

 

[jmcquesten]

PS - Do yourself a favor and get an 8 gallon kettle. You'll need the extra space when you go to all grain BIAB.

Agreed. I'd strongly consider a 10 gallon kettle, but get at least 8.

 

[Jtk78]

Agreed. I'd strongly consider a 10 gallon kettle, get at least 10.

I fixed that quote because I heard what you meant, not what you typed.

This is truly an area of "buy once, cry once". If you're going to spend the money on a decent brew pot. Go at least 10g for 5 gallon brewers.

I bought one 8 gallon with valve and thermometer new and bought another one used in a package deal. My pre-boil volume is right at 7 gallons. I do it, but I have to watch them like a hawk when the boil is starting. They would also be on the small side for biab. I know there's a day when I will be upgrading kettles (probably to 15g by that point) but my hardware money is going to other things for the foreseeable future.

 

[GPNewBrew]

Hi all! First of all, thanks again for all the opinions and advice. It takes time to respond and provide advice, and I appreciate it. Well.... I finally took the plunge. I bought a 1 gal American Wheat starter kit (1 gal Glass Carboy) from Northern Brewer, and also bought a one gallon recipe kit of Irish Ale. I will use those two kits to get my "brewing" feet wet. I also bought a Little Big Mouth Bubbler (1 gal size), which I'll use as a second fermenter or as a bottling "bucket", and some miscellaneous accessories (thermometer, hygrometer, brushes, star-san, etc.

The plan is to make a couple 1 gallon batches to start with, then either stay with 1 gallon for awhile, or perhaps scale-up to 2 or 2.5 gallon batches, requiring me to buy a 3.5 gallon fermenter and probably a 4 gal brew kettle. Don't think I ever want to make more than 1 case of brew at a time, but that could change as well.

I'll be traveling for a few weeks and won't be able to brew right away, but when I do I'll provide the "blow by blow"!

Gary

 

[Metalchef1]

I've been all grain brewing for almost 20 years..... I've just started getting into 1 gallon batches....
So quick, great fun and if it doesn't come out the way you want it..... 1 gallon is better than 5..

Im not sure if it was already mentioned but get "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing"... No better place to start...and Charlie still brews with a few pots and a ladle... No fancy expensive equipment.

And check out the "basic brewing radio" podcast if you are a podcast person... It's been going since '06 and there is more info than you could ever possibly need..

 

[Blazinlow86]

Good idea starting small. Good luck and don't get discouraged if your first tries aren't great. It gets better each time. Cheers