I have the bayou classic KAB4. Is a beast at 210kbtu ad can support up to a 30gal 22" diameter kettle. It was a little pricey around $70 I think. No regrets on this purchase. Deep frying or cauldrons of soup as well as brewing, it gets used.
First beer in the planning stages
- Thread starter jimmyjusa
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VirginiaHops1
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I hear you man, good luck on whatever brew you decide to go with first. It's fun, and as a bonus I think it's saving me a little money. Now that I'm working through my first batch I haven't had to buy much beer for a couple weeks, and I used to buy the expensive stuff
Strategically applied ducktape takes care of the 15-minute timer problem.
Manufacturedevolution
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I also use a kab4. It's a world of difference from the 55,000 btu turkey burner. But I got by with it for years. Just had to remember to turn the timer up often. At least it dinged when time was up so I could run over and light it up again.
Pretty accurate. I'm on my 4th brew now, have an SS Brewtech 7 gallon fermenter coming my way. I was looking at a 15 gallon pot, but the 20 gallon is only 50 bucks more so I'm probably going to buy that. Then I'll need a pump because that much liquid is too hard to lift, etc. etc.
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Redtab78
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Nice choice! I have never done the biab method, while many others like it, i am a very big fan of the whole process and im also a gadget head, so i like having lots of toys lol
I love getting involved into my hobbies and stuff so I know what you mean. I should be able to do all grain to, my dad has an old drink cooler I can use as a mash tun if I want as well. It mostly will depend on free time once the second kiddo comes in September
Redtab78
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See.....didnt i call this just a few post back? 
I do small batches, so my gear is different, but if I was going to brew bigger batches outside, I would do mash in a bag rather than single vessel unless I was planning to go electric.
theheadonthedoor
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Brew a beer that is dark, a clone, and easily accessible for comparison. Something you can easily get once it's complete to observe side-by-side. I would say like Founder's Robust Porter or Deschutes Obsidian Stout. There's tons of great recipes on here and elsewhere online of them.
First beer is going to be an extract american wheat ale. I ended up ordering a ss 10 gallon pot then the fryer set at Lowe's dropped down to $15 so I got that too mainly for the burner.
Question on the hops in the recipe, its 1oz Willamette at 60 minutes and 1oz cascade at 10. I have a partial ounce of citra whole leaf that I've used to flavor kombucha in the past. I'm thinking about adding to the recipe as a dry hop to get the citrus aromas and flavors, but the aa on the citra is double the amount of the other two and I'm concerned it will make it too hoppy and bitter tasting. Should I just do the recipe as is?
Other question, recipe stated 2 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, 2 weeks in bottle. If not doing a secondary the recipe says I could drop a week, do I really need to wait 3 weeks before bottling or can I bottle at 2 weeks (assuming fg is showing as finished and not changing) then bottle condition for 2 weeks?
Question on the hops in the recipe, its 1oz Willamette at 60 minutes and 1oz cascade at 10. I have a partial ounce of citra whole leaf that I've used to flavor kombucha in the past. I'm thinking about adding to the recipe as a dry hop to get the citrus aromas and flavors, but the aa on the citra is double the amount of the other two and I'm concerned it will make it too hoppy and bitter tasting. Should I just do the recipe as is?
Other question, recipe stated 2 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, 2 weeks in bottle. If not doing a secondary the recipe says I could drop a week, do I really need to wait 3 weeks before bottling or can I bottle at 2 weeks (assuming fg is showing as finished and not changing) then bottle condition for 2 weeks?
I think you can drop the fourth week. You may want to add your citra in the middle of that week. Dry hops don’t impart much bitterness, so little that you can probably discount it. The AAs isomerize during the boil to impart bitterness to balance the sweetness of the malt. Late addition hops will impart some bitterness but its a fraction of that sixty minute addition. The citra dry hop is also not much for a dry hop on a five gallon batch. You will probably be able to notice it, but it won’t be out front like a big two ounce dry hop would. Maybe that’s what you are going for.
Thank you, that's the information I needed. Not wanting to have it hop forward but hoping to add to the aroma and maybe a little complexity.
I was told to do a darker beer so I just jumped in, bought a boxed 3 gallon pale ale kit with the extract malt and specialty grains, yeast, bag, hops and cooked it up on the electric stove. Pick a style and just go for it, it will be the best beer you ever drank.
This. It occurred to me that, if the OP had just bought a kit and jumped in on the day he started this thread, he'd be bottling his first batch about now instead of still weighing options.
I know, I know-for a lot of folks, weighing options is half the fun. Me, I tend to drink first, ask questions later.
EXCELLENT! I had my brew cooked up and in the fermenter and then had to get bottles, caps and capper. I did not wait for equipment which is not the best way.
so how did your brew day go? Did you run into any surprises?
Brew day went pretty smooth in my opinion. I had everything laid out to dump when needed, I did forget to prewarm the lme but just filled it back up with water a few times and that seemed to work fine. There is a nice krausen ring in the bucket so it looks like it's fermenting well and airlock smells like beer.
Congrats. Now get the next one going soon. You will be surprised at how fast the first batch will disappear.
7 years ago my equipment arrived on June 30. I brewed my first batch on July 1. I brewed the second one about 2 weeks after.
7 years ago my equipment arrived on June 30. I brewed my first batch on July 1. I brewed the second one about 2 weeks after.
I'll have to get more bottles first, but there are some on craigslist I could grab. I'd like to end up with a 3 batch rotation, one ready to drink, 1 bottle conditioning, 1 fermenting. That's the next step though.
Ask your friends to save bottles for you and save commercial ones yourself. I did and within a couple of months I had over 400 bottles, all but the ones that I bought for the first 2 batches were free! If I planned ahead I wouldn't have had to buy any.
I got lucky, I had a coworker whose husband and their friends went thought a couple of cases of Sam Adam a week. I didn't like having the Sam Adams logo embossed into the glass so I have slowly replaced all those with smooth bottles. Too bad you didn't live near me last October before I moved. I tried to give away and ended up recycling 12 cases of the Sam Adams bottles.
I used Sam Adams bottles for a while and the inner edge of the mouth would chip off from washing them with a bottle brush. I use Kona which have stuff embossed in the glass and Redhook which are ideal because they look different, the glass is clean, and I haven’t had any problems with them. As far as how to get them in time, be disciplined about drinking those two cases of beer, buckle down, you can do it.
Interesting. I used my Sam Adams bottles for 6 years and never noticed this happening. Now I will never know if it did since I got rid of them all.
Whatever ingredient kit you decide on, follow the directions (especially for temperature and sanitation), use good water, be patient while the beer ferments and bottle conditions, and most importantly... DONT GET WASTED during your first brew day.
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