First brew. Got everything?

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Firechicken

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Joined
Oct 7, 2012
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Location
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Hey everyone! After much research (and lots of craft beers) on this site and reading John Palmers How to Brew, I feel pretty confident Im ready for my first homebrew. I have a few questions but will keep it simple for my first post :) I think I have almost everything needed to do my first extract brew with specialty grains. Below is the list of supplies I have (except ingredients of course). Anything I'm missing? Any suggestions etc would be great! Thought I read a thread which had a similar questions but cant seem to locate it.

I plan on doing mostly 2.5 gal brews but should have enough space between two 3 gal carboys and my mini fridge for 5 gal in the future if I decide to.

Supplies:
- 5 gal Stainless kettle
- Auto siphon and 10' of tubing
- 6.5 gal food grade bucket with lid
- (2) 3 gal Better Bottles for fermenting, secondary etc
- Bungs and 3 piece airlocks
- Test jar and hydrometer
- Digital scale
- Digital thermometer
- Star San
- Bottles, Bottle brush, bottle filler, caps and capper
- Temps move around a lot in my house so I have a mini fridge that fits two 3 gal better bottle carboys side by side. Digital two stage temp control setup for heating or cooling to keep within 1 degree of set temp.
- Basic kitchen utensils, measuring cups blah blah blah
- Beer in fridge
- Patience


PS: This site is great. You all give great information and I have been learning a ton. Thank you! :mug:
 
You're much better setup than I am and I just finished my first brew the other day.
 
I keep a jar of irish moss around, 1 teaspoon at 15 minutes, helps make the beer clearer by causing proteins to clump together and drop to the bottom of the pot,
Some people use whirlfloc instead which is a concentrated version.
wine thief or turkey baster to collect samples from your carboys for testing. I have heard that the outer tube from the auto siphon works also but haven't tried it.
 
Looks like you're good to go. A turkey baster or something else to pull samples, as the poster above mentioned, is a really good idea. Whirlfloc is a great product, I use it all the time, but if you're not concerned with super clear beer (which you may very well get w/o whirl floc), you can skip it.
Congrats and welcome to HBT! Let us know how #1 turns out. :mug:
 
bottling bucket? more buckets never hurt, i never seem to have enough lol
this can be purchased after brew day anyway, so no rush
 
If you plan to steep grains or your hops - get some steeping nylon bags. If not - you might beneifit from a strainer.
If you plan to primary in the bottles, you'll want a food grade funnel.
This stuff may have been included in 'basic kitchen utensils' but don't forget a good (and long) stir spoon for the kettle.
Cheers and have fun!
 
All great stuff, thanks! Totally forgot about the turkey baster. I'll have to look into the Whirlfloc/ Irish moss as I know little about it.
 
Welcome! Dude, outside of the few items listed already you have definitely done a ton of homework and are ready to roll!

I'm really impressed that you already have thought out the whole fermentation temperature control! That is usually the one thing that's overlooked and the cause of so many...."why......" Questions!
 
Nice job looking ahead!
I suggest the S shaped airlock over the three-piece... the S shaped does not suck sanitizer into the carboy should the pressure reverse (unlike the three-piece).
Welcome to the forums!
 
Welcome! Dude, outside of the few items listed already you have definitely done a ton of homework and are ready to roll!

I'm really impressed that you already have thought out the whole fermentation temperature control! That is usually the one thing that's overlooked and the cause of so many...."why......" Questions!

Thanks! The cause of so many "why" questions I came across sealed the deal that I should get something setup. Figured I can record everything I do but if my ferment temps are all over the place it would be so much harder to solve/ improve on. Plus I like building stuff :)

Nice job looking ahead!
I suggest the S shaped airlock over the three-piece... the S shaped does not suck sanitizer into the carboy should the pressure reverse (unlike the three-piece).
Welcome to the forums!

A pressure reverse would be caused by the fermenting liquid somehow becoming colder than the ambient temp outside the carboy correct? If so I guess I could see where this has a slight chance of happening in my chiller/heater. The reason I went with a 3 piece was I thought it would be easier to clean. Maybe a s shape is the way to go.
 
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