Hello From Pittsburgh PA

[Tombrew]

I am a newbie at this and have not brewed a drop yet. I have done lot of research and getting ready to start. I need to go out buy my basic brewing equipment. I would appreciate any suggestion and advice. Buy a kit? Carboys or plastic buckets? I plan to brew kits first. What is a good one to start with? Thanks for any help or advice in advance and cheers!
Tom

 

[normonster]

Hey Tom...welcome.

My suggestion is to think about how you're going to control your fermentation temps before you buy anything to actually brew with.

It turns out that fermentation is the absolute most important part of this puzzle. An easy way to go, while not cheap, is to get a fridge, a temp controller and a couple carboys. With that you'll be able to keep it below 70 degrees (and you'll be able to cold-condition bottles or kegs later). Of couse, being from PA you might need to worry about it getting too cold, in which case a heat mat (like those used for plant propagation and reptile heat sources) can be added into the fridge and you can even use the same temp controller to turn it on and off.

Once you get your fermentation temp plan in your house ready to go, instead of buying a kit right off the bat you might think about scouring craigslist for people selling their stuff (including kits with cappers, etc) and maybe supplement a basic kit with a nice boil kettle and burner. With a boil kettle and burner and some way to chill the wort, coupled with the fementation setup you already have in place you'll be good to go and will be able to make great beer from ingredient kits, plus with a real kettle (or keggle) of 15 gallons you'll be all set to move to All-Grain if/when the time comes for that.

Ideally, if you could swing it, I'd say buy a blichmann burner and a nice heavyduty kettle from morebeer. That way when you want to buy the others (MLT and HLT) you'll have a nice matching set. That's basically what I did and it took me about a year to get it all together before I brewed a drop but now I have a pretty sick system and I brew some good stuff.

Just my $00.02 and not the cheapest way to go.

Remember, if you want to boil 5 gallons of wort you need a kettle of about 8 gallons to account for evaporation and to help avoid boil-overs, even if you're going to do the boiling in your kitchen (actually, avoiding boil-overs becomes paramount if you're brewing in the kitchen).

Cheers man! I hope you have fun.

 

[Cyclman]

Welcome to the hobby, and the group, from CO

Some things I did and am happy I did:
-Bought at a local brewshop, they let me upgrade certain items
-Bought a bench capper, much easier to bottle with one
-Added a bottle tree, vinator bottle washer, again easier bottling makes these worth every dime
-Upgraded to a good digital thermometer
-Upgraded to a refractometer
-Glass carboys
-Brewhaulers for carboys

I had a turkey fryer, put a spigot on it.

One thing I would do differently, moving to AG, I would do BIAB- buying a bag is way cheaper than a HLT, BK, and MT. I don't think if I had done this, I would have ever gone to 3-vessel brewing.

After the basics, oxygen / stirplate, and them temperature control is critical.

Best of luck!

 

[CadillacAndy]

Welcome! I'm also in the Pittsburgh area. I'd suggest checking out a homebrew club meeting. I'm in TRASH and our next meeting is Sept 20 if you are interested in meeting some other brewers.

What part of the area are you from?

 

[Tombrew]

Thank You for the great advice. As a newbie its taking me awhile to navigate around site so sorry for the slow reply. I live in the Mckeesport area and would be interested in joining a brewers group in the Pittsburgh area. Cheers!
Tom

 

[attyindaburgh]

Welcome tombrew. I am also starting out and piecing everything together. Live close to mckeesport to.

 

[Tombrew]

Thank You so much for the great advice. I am going to the local Brew Shop tomorrow and will keep your suggestions in mind.

 

[Tombrew]

BTW I have tried to join "TRASH" on the internet twice have yet to receive an email to confirm my subscription. Don't know what is up with that.

 

[madscientist451]

If your house has air conditioning or you have a cool basement you are good to go for brewing. Temp control is important, but you can brew all kinds of great beer at ambient basement and/or A/C temps. Get a plastic bucket with a spigot.
You don't need a carboy but it comes in handy for dry hop.
Yes Do BIAB to start , then upgrade to a cooler mash tun.

 

[dobes]

Hey tombrew another brewer from Pittsburgh sends out a welcome.

 

[paperairplane]

Find a local club - brewers are almost universally hoarders. And we almost constantly change / upgrade / tinker with beer stuff. And are willing to sell barter trade beer making gear.

What you really need is a pot big enough for full volume boils - a turkey fryer is a good start. Look for around a 9 gallon pot. This is perfect for extract or partial mash and will work for lower gravity boil in a bag all grain brewing.

Bottling is okay, but for me it became so much easier / funner when I built a kegerator.

 

[CadillacAndy]

BTW I have tried to join "TRASH" on the internet twice have yet to receive an email to confirm my subscription. Don't know what is up with that.

Hi Tom - I'm showing that you've joined the website, which means you can RSVP to events and post comments. I can forward you the email if you didn't get one. But regardless, welcome! I'll send you a personal email when I get back to a real computer tomorrow.