. Anyway, that does require more capital, space and planning, hang in there with the bottles. You'll need them to share with your friends to show off your newly acquired skill, or unload a mediocre batch to make room for a new one.
No worries......
I don't have any place to put a kegerator (and I like to have more than one homebrew ready to serve at any given time, which seems to rule out your solution). So for me, that settles the question. Unless I decide to give up my other hobbies to make space available. But I enjoy those hobbies too.
Most kegerators will hold more than one keg; the Komos I recently bought holds four, so it can have four different beers ready to serve at any given time, and it takes about the same amount of floor space as a mini-fridge. You do still need a place to put it, of course, and that place needs to have power available, but the amount of space required isn't very much. Not something I'd really recommend when you're just starting out (it's a bit of an expense), but wanting the record to be clear. Though kegging is far more convenient than bottling.
Yeah, I know all that. I was responding only to what I specifically quoted - one keg on tap and two in line. I just so happens that I was in my local big box home improvement store this afternoon and they have a one tap kegerator on sale for $500 (CO2 tank, regulator and lines included). So find some used kegs and go for it right? But I still don't have a place for it, and even if I did I'm probably going to want to replace the tower with a two or three tap one almost immediately. So I think that if I do start kegging I'm much more likely to go with something that will fit into a fridge I already have and just stick picnic taps on them.
I'd actually argue against the wort chiller.+1. Home brewing can be very simple or rocket science complex, so it's OK to start with the basics and to use kits to become familiar with the process. Over time you can address different aspects of brewing to become more precise as you start to dial in specific characteristics.
I made a post the other day about Northern Brewer and their how to videos as an effective starting place.
I would agree that a wort chiller is a huge plus since it cuts down a lot of brew day time. If you want to save money, check out the DIY videos using copper refrigerator line, some hoses and coupling all available on the shelves of the big home and garden stores.
Kegging - we talk about cutting down brew day, but we keggers have learned to block out any memories of bottling day
I have a turkey fryer I was going to use for the boiling. Im assuming it is large enough for for 2-3 gallons on a 5 gallon batch. My wife also has the thermapen for temps I can use.
Sounds good. How many gallons does your kettle hold? Keep in mind here that you will need a kettle with a volume large enough for the initial volume of your wort; for example, for 3 gallons going into the fermenter you will want at least a 5g kettle, 7-8g is optimal. Sugar water (which is essentially what wort is) likes to boil over, and will make a mess that is very difficult to clean up. Watch it like a hawk; many people here will tell you that they turned away from the kettle for just a few seconds to grab something, and by the time they turned back the kettle had turned into Mt Vesuvius. A spray bottle with plain water is your friend here; once boil starts, spray it like it owes you money, until the foamy stuff settles down. This is the proteins settling into the boiling wort. Don't think you have to boil at the highest temperature your turkey fryer will go, either; a nice rolling boil is all you need.
I’m pretty sure it’s a 30 quart kettle which comes out to 7.5 gallons. I’ve seen the spray bottle in videos but didn’t know what it was. Good to know just water.
I’m in Springfield but I’ll keep that in mind if I’m up that way on a Wednesday. I travel all over for work so may be in the area on those dates
