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handwrought

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Hi everyone! What a great site!!!
I'm new to home brewing and have a few questions. Imagine that! I've been looking at home brew equipment kits and I am interested in the Midwest Home brew kit that has been reviewed on this site and the Northwest kit. Both are about $200.00 when one factors in a batch kit. I like the glass Carboys but am being swayed by the Better Bottle carboy reviews. As a rule, I try not to use plastics for food storage. It seems the Midwest kit is more of a complete kit in that it has more equipment for measuring outcomes while the brewing process is happening. Do I need those capabilities? My tastes in beer run on the bold and complex range of Barley Wine and Stouts. So I imagine I will be brewing these styles of beer most times. This leads me to my next question, Is a Barley wine a good first beer to brew? I will be using a kit.

TIA for any suggestions and guidance!
Peter
 
I'd avoid doing a barleywine first. They need aging to hit their best flavor. As a first time brewer, you should start with something easy that turns around quickly so you have something to taste and to learn from. You wil likely make mistakes in your first batch (we all do) and you want to learn from them. A porter or a stout would be a better first brew as they will be ready sooner.

On the kits, tough call. I am not really sure what "measuring equipment" is included, but the key element you need is something to measure specific gravity. A hydrometer is easy and the most common item included in kits. If they offer a refractometer, that is nice too and also works. Don't bother with a lot of other test equipment like PH testing and such until you are sure you are into the hobby. You can get by in a number of ways without that.

On the fermenters, Glass carboys are great but they are fragile and can break. There is a post of horror stories from this happening. This should be considered. Better bottles have many of the advantages of glass carboys but are lighter and won't hurt you if they break. They are plastic though, and therefore more oxygen permeable. They are better than plastic buckets for aging though. Buckets are great fermenters because they are cheap and easy to clean. Many of us use them and they work great. they are not for long term storage and aging though. Reality is, you can do long term aging in the bottle.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the reply Foosier! I was concerned that the barely wine wouldn't be a good first choice...
Here is a list of what is included in the kit I'm leaning towards-


6 Gallon Plastic PET Carboy

Medium Universal Carboy Bung for Plastic PET – Drilled

Airlock 3 Piece Type

8” Funnel

Regular 5/16” Auto-Siphon

8’ Of 5/16” Siphon Tubing

Hydrometer (Triple Scale)

Hydrometer Test Jar 12” Plastic

Star San – 8oz

1 LB PBW

Bottling Bucket with Spigot

Femtech Plastic Bottle Filler

Red Barron Bottle Capper

Gold Caps – 60 count

Chemical Resistant Spray Sanitizer Bottle – 16oz

Dual Scale Liquid Thermometer

Digital Thermometer w/Probe

Nylon Boiling Bag (8x9in)

Muslin Boiling Bag – Long 5” x 28”

The other kits contains these items-
6 Gallon Primary Fermentor, Fermometer, Bung, Airlock, Blowoff Assembly
5 Gallon Secondary Fermentor, Fermometer, Bung, Airlock
6.5 Gallon Bottling Bucket, Bottling Spigot, Bottle Filler, Bottling Tubing
Auto-Siphon, Siphon Tubing
Beer Bottle Brush
Bottle Capper, 60 Caps
Instructional Getting Started in Homebrewing DVD
Cleaner/Sanitizer
Carboy Brush

It seems the midwest kit will give me more brewing options than the northwest kit.
Thought?
 
I'm assuming extract batches to start with. If not, then more equipment may be needed.

You will need a brew pot large enough to hold most/majority/all of your wort (preboil volumes); for example, a 5 gallon batch may actually start out as 6.5+gallons in the brewpot plus you'll need a little headspace for the hot break and boiling action.

Bottles will be needed for bottling.
 
I started out with glass carboys and I like them a lot, but if I were starting over right now I think I'd invest in the plastic Big Mouth Bubblers that Northern Brewer sells. Cleaning carboys / Better Bottles is a chore and the big opening on those Big Mouths really would help a lot.

No, a barleywine is definitely not a good first choice. They take too long to condition well and you are going to be in a big hurry to drink your first beers. I'd go with a stout of some kind. They're very forgiving as far as screwups go and they don't take too long to be ready.
 
I'd like to offer another approach...

Rather than buy a kit, piece one together yourself instead. Those kits come with whatever the seller thinks you need and will likely include items that you either don't need or would be better off upgrading. When I first started brewing and was looking at kits, I priced all the items separately vs the kit and found the cost to be comparable if I went same-same, so I ended up making my own kit and leaving out what I didn't think I would use and in some cases, subbing better items (e.g. bench capper instead of wing capper and digital thermometer instead of glass).

Also, seriously consider skipping the carboy/Better Bottle/Big Mouth Bubbler and go with the 7.8 gal bucket, which will make blowoffs a non-issue. I started with glass carboys and eventually switched to buckets because they were so much easier to deal with and will never go back. I could detect no difference in the finished product. Maybe get a 5 gal glass carboy for long-term aging, unless you think you may decide to go with kegging in the near term, in which case you can just use a keg for aging and skip the glass completely. My $0.02 FWIW.
 
I like the 7.9 gallon shorty buckets Midwest sells myself. I got the red & white Italian spigot to put in it with my Dremel & grommeted lid. It's a hair shorter than my Cooper's Micro Brew fermenter in height. Would fit small fridges easier. And I like the super agata bench capper a lot better than the wing cappers. Bottle height then becomes a non-issue. Some 3/8" tubing & the Fermtech bottling wand for bottling beers. Hydrometer in a round tube & this blue base ring from Northern Brewer; http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-equipment/testing-measuring/foam-hydrometer-stand-ring-blue.html goes on the hydrometer tube's base to help it stand up. The hydrometer storage tube also uses up only about 4ozs of beer for testing! And 144 count bag of crown caps is like 3-4 bucks. Auto siphon, bucket lid prying tool, rubber mallet for tapping the lids on are a few of my suggestions. A 5 gallon (20qt) stainless steel stock pot will serve well with the typical partial boil kit instructions.
 
Not advisable on the average stovetop. 3-4 gallons in a 5 gallon kettle is plenty for my electric stove. but I have aftermarket burners (canning I think?) that go from mash temp to boiling in 20 minutes or so. Stock burners will take a bit longer. Big kettles with 6 or 7 gallons isn't going to work. Partial boils work just fine imo, & I do pb/pm biab.
 
Not advisable on the average stovetop. 3-4 gallons in a 5 gallon kettle is plenty for my electric stove. but I have aftermarket burners (canning I think?) that go from mash temp to boiling in 20 minutes or so. Stock burners will take a bit longer. Big kettles with 6 or 7 gallons isn't going to work. Partial boils work just fine imo, & I do pb/pm biab.

^^I think this is true in many cases, but not all. It's definitely worth knowing what your heat source will be, and it's capabilities, before committing yourself to one method only later to find out it won't work.

I actually do full boil volumes (6.5-8 gallon preboil volumes) in an 11 gallon turkey fryer (no lid) on my solid surface electric stovetop. It takes almost 30 minutes to bring the pot to boil from lauter temperatures (140-150F), but once at a boil I usually dial back my range knob from 10 to 9-8.5 to keep a nice rolling boil.
 
Yeah, I crank it too "high" for a good hot break then down to "8.8" or so for a gently rolling boil. In most cases 4 gallons or so is about max.
 
Wow! You guys are a great help! I can't thank you enough!!!! Lots of great advice! Need some time to ponder the suggestions and read up on the conical fermentors....

I live on a farm so heat and space are non issues. I'm also a Blacksmith so making high heat burners would be fun!

If home brewing takes with me I'm figuring on going with kegs for the long term. So it might be a good idea to start with equipment that takes me in that direction...
 
I bet you will get addicted just like all of us did in homebrew! Might as well do it right for the long haul. Sounds like you'll be able to make a nice set-up for yourself. Good luck and welcome to the club:mug:
 
Hand wrought. I got the Midwest deluxe kit for Christmas. I looked at both sets and moved on the Midwest as it saved me a few pennies. I have added a few things since then and currently have two batches fermenting. The first beer I did was an Amber Ale which is in the secondary as I needed the primary for my IPA. I am very happy with the Midwest Kit but the one thing I would upgrade is to a spring loaded bottler instead of the kits gravity bottler. Other than that all is good. I have another kit in the waiting but need bottles before I go to a third batch.
 
+1 on the 7.8 gallon fermenters. There will come a moment when you think.. ohh yea i can brew some hopslam clone and put it in my 6 gallon fermenter. Two days later you'll find the air lock stuck in the drop ceiling and a moldy mess on the outside of the pail. At which point you'll remember this thread and swear a blue streak all the way to the LHBS to purchase 7.8 gallon fermenters. The six gallon ones make a great car cleaning bucket.
 
What do you guys think about the fast ferment conical fermentor? Is Oxidation an issue with these? Is the plastic safe, meaning no plasticizers leached into the ferment... I like how small they are and being wall or stand mounted. Not to mention no transfer need for secondary fermenting.
 
What do you guys think about the fast ferment conical fermentor? Is Oxidation an issue with these? Is the plastic safe, meaning no plasticizers leached into the ferment... I like how small they are and being wall or stand mounted. Not to mention no transfer need for secondary fermenting.

I think they're too expensive.

The whole premise of them is that you can easily begin to secondary in them instead of transferring a beer to secondary. Most people on here believe that racking a beer to secondary is not necessary, unless you're transferring onto fruit or vanilla beans or what have you.

No, oxidation probably wouldn't be an issue with these.

Yes, the plastic is fine.
 
To make good beer you want to control your fermentation temps. A spare fridge on an STC-1000 controller, or a cooler or tote filled with cold water and a few bottles of frozen water each day to keep it at perfect temps. Although the Fast Fermentors look cool they cannot be kept cool, easily. Plastic Brew Buckets are simple, straight forward and relatively cheap. They also come with a handle.

The large semi clear buckets are probably the best to get as you can sort of see what's going on inside. A little trickier with the almost opaque white ones. I use the latter.
 
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