darm0v
Member
Hello everyone. I have spent many hours reading threads on this forum and have found a lot of excellent advice. My only regret is that I didn't do the reading before some of the purchasing although that hasn't ended out too badly.
I bought the intermediate level beginner's kit from Midwest in January. My first brew was a honey nut brown kit from Midwest. I did a lot of things wrong on that one. I splashed transferring from the primary to secondary fermenter. I didn't know how to use the autosiphon properly and probably introduced a lot of extra oxygen.
I bought an aluminum brew pot instead of a SS one although I think I'm okay on that one after reading a lengthy thread about the merits of each material. I did use One Step sanitizer in my brew kettle last week when racking my third brew to my secondary. I don't think it's exactly clear what the purported dangers are in the thread Stainless vs. Aluminum. My take from that is that you lose a protective layer formed by boiling water in the pot. That coating prevents aluminum from leeching into your wort. The dangers of aluminum appears to be the possibility of a metallic off-flavor and then there is a disputed danger of an increased risk of Alzheimer's Disease.
I bottled that first batch and it turned out horribly. It either tasted a little like cough syrup, a bit like wine, and definitely burned your throat. I dumped out 53 bottles of that brew.
My second brew was another Midwest kit - their cream stout. I improved my processes quite a bit and it turned out really well. I bought a keg kit from my LHBS that was probably overpriced by about 30%. I would have known better had I been reading HomeBrewTalk at that point. Instead I was reading Dave Miller's book on brewing and John Palmer's book How To Brew.
I have my third kit from Midwest and probably my final kit from them in my secondary fermenter. I took advantage of this forum to assemble a second 5 gallon ball lock keg at a really reasonable price. I am in the process of creating the Danby kegerator. It was great to find all the detailed threads on here that improved upon the original blogpost. I plan on incorporating several of the improvements after I buy a Perlick draft tower.
Thanks to everyone for all their research and the effort you all take to share your knowledge. You've been a fantastic resource and I hope to contribute myself when I've got more experience under my belt.
I bought the intermediate level beginner's kit from Midwest in January. My first brew was a honey nut brown kit from Midwest. I did a lot of things wrong on that one. I splashed transferring from the primary to secondary fermenter. I didn't know how to use the autosiphon properly and probably introduced a lot of extra oxygen.
I bought an aluminum brew pot instead of a SS one although I think I'm okay on that one after reading a lengthy thread about the merits of each material. I did use One Step sanitizer in my brew kettle last week when racking my third brew to my secondary. I don't think it's exactly clear what the purported dangers are in the thread Stainless vs. Aluminum. My take from that is that you lose a protective layer formed by boiling water in the pot. That coating prevents aluminum from leeching into your wort. The dangers of aluminum appears to be the possibility of a metallic off-flavor and then there is a disputed danger of an increased risk of Alzheimer's Disease.
I bottled that first batch and it turned out horribly. It either tasted a little like cough syrup, a bit like wine, and definitely burned your throat. I dumped out 53 bottles of that brew.
My second brew was another Midwest kit - their cream stout. I improved my processes quite a bit and it turned out really well. I bought a keg kit from my LHBS that was probably overpriced by about 30%. I would have known better had I been reading HomeBrewTalk at that point. Instead I was reading Dave Miller's book on brewing and John Palmer's book How To Brew.
I have my third kit from Midwest and probably my final kit from them in my secondary fermenter. I took advantage of this forum to assemble a second 5 gallon ball lock keg at a really reasonable price. I am in the process of creating the Danby kegerator. It was great to find all the detailed threads on here that improved upon the original blogpost. I plan on incorporating several of the improvements after I buy a Perlick draft tower.
Thanks to everyone for all their research and the effort you all take to share your knowledge. You've been a fantastic resource and I hope to contribute myself when I've got more experience under my belt.
