Hello from Peoria, IL

[imprez25]

New here and somewhat new to brewing. I used to use the Mr. Beer kits a few years ago, with some success, about 10 batches brewed and about 4 of them were drinkable. Now I'm looking to get back into brewing using a full 5 gallons, with a hope to move into an all grain setup. Baby steps first though right? I bought the "Complete Joy of Homebrewing" last week and have read it front to back. Now, I'm looking to get my brew kit put together. Any suggestions would be great, otherwise, just saying hi.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Greetings. Allow me to buy you the first round...

The more you read the more you'll know what to get......(and it won't ever be enough...).

 

[popeiam]

Welcome to HBT from Washington State. I know, it’s not good old Illinois, but we have brewing in common. This is a great site to learn about what other people are doing while brewing ( and other ) and honing your skills. Hang out and I Promise you will learn more than necessary to brew great beer

 

[knappster]

Hello from a fellow Peorian. I got my first kit for Christmas, but I am sure Friar Tuck's has a lot of supplies. I'll be making a stop there before long to figure out what to brew next.

 

[DragonTail]

Welcome

 

[histo320]

Welcome, originally from from Champaign.

This site is a great resource and will soon be your most visited web site.

 

[Brewmando]

Welcome aboard. Friar Tucks does have some brew supplies and the prices on the Brewers Best kits are very good. You do have a good brew club there and if you join you get 10% off purchases at Somethings Brewn' in Galesburg. They are a dedicated brew/wine making supplier with proper storage conditions for hops, yeast, etc..... If you need help or advise on equipment or supplies Jim and Mary are very knowledgeable and nice folks.

 

[khiddy]

Greetings, Peoria!

I, too started out with Mr. Beer, but within a week of getting my first Mr. Beer batch in the keg, I realized that 2.13 gallons simply wasn't going to be enough, so I upgraded to a full setup. Now I've got a conical fermenter, three carboys, an ale pail, and a 2-keg setup. Toys galore!

 

[imprez25]

Thanks for the warm welcome. I will check out the kits at Friar Tucks, and I have wanted to get up to Galesburg to check out Somethings Brewin'.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I may be going there tomorrow or Saturday...with "samples"...

They're closed on Sun/Mon.

Jim and Mary are some nice folks...

 

[histo320]

I miss Friar Tucks but I tried some of their kits a few years ago and they were terrible, that was also in Champaign tho.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I went to Galesburg this afternoon...shared some brews with Mary...Amber Ale, Chocolate Coconut Stout, and Hard Cider. I also gave her a bottle of mead.

 

[imprez25]

So, I took the plunge. I purchased a Brewer's Best brewing kit (fermenter and bottling buckets plus the extras) and a BB Micro Pale Ale kit from Fryer Tucks last week. I brewed it up last night Everything was fine, except I didn't follow the directions for the amount of water to boil, I boiled more. 4 gallons instead of the 1.5 they suggested. This caused me to have to wait for almost 1.5 hous to get the wort down to 90 some degrees... at 1:30am. I pitched the yeast at 92 degrees and sealed it up. I'm sure this will cause off flavors in this batch, but next time I will have a chiller ready to go.

My OG was right where it needed to be per the kit's directions 1.050 (adjusted for the higher wort temp). As of this morning, nothing was happening... I know I'll give it more than 5 hours to start doing it's thing. I'm excited to get this patch in to the bottles so I can do another! I figure I'll get my mess ups out of the way on some extract brews before switching to a partial or all grain set up.

Anyways now it's back to worrying about all of the things I did to mess this batch up

 

[imprez25]

Bubbles! I was getting a little freaked out last night wondering if my yeast were going to do anything. This morning went down to look and we have visible activity. Now, we wait...

 

[imprez25]

bubbles have stopped... I will take a gravity reading in the next couple of days, and plan to bottle next Saturday, May 23rd. In the mean time I am going to brew up a Hefe kit that I got for free from someone on Craigslist plus 9 cases of reusable bottles. The kit was missing the Yeast, but a quick trip to Midwestsupplies.com and I was able to order the Bavarian Wheat Activator Wyeast the kit should have contained. My dad gave me a 5 gallon carboy that he had sitting around, so I will use that for the hefe kit. And then plan on getting another batch going once the pale ale is in the bottles.... three batches should get me through the summer.

This is getting addicting! (The brewing... not the drinking! )