cl00bie
Member
Hello from Upstate NY!
I was in a thrift shop last week browsing the books, and came across "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" for $0.50. I bought it, read it cover to cover and thought: "this looks like fun!".
I was thinking about the initial outlay of cash to get started and see if it was something I'd like to continue doing, then I remembered that my grandfather had been a wine maker since he emigrated from Italy in the early 20th century.
I went to my mom's house (she's living in the same house that my grandfather used to live in) and asked her if grandpa's wine making equipment was still there. She said that she thought it was, and I asked her where the key was to the padlock. She gave me about 75 keys! I hit on about the 30th key.
The room was still there set up for wine making. My mom had given my grandfather's press and homemade barrels to a man they knew who made wine. But there still was:
The room is in the basement and holds a year round temperature of 60 - 70 degrees. Perfect.
I went to the local homebrew store and bought a dark beer kit, two cases of 22 oz bottles, some new tubing, and a new pair of corks (the ones there look a little nasty).
My wife said: "Are you going to be doing that at your mom's?!?!?", and thinking about it it's a good idea. I get to see mom more often. She gets to help me cook my first batch (she has the perfect brew pot), and I need to stop in occasionally to check fermentation and bottle the finished product.
I currently have a glass carboy full of water spiked with 2 oz Chlorox, and I'm going to get the second one ready for a secondary fermenter.
This looks like fun. I'll probably have a lot of questions.
-- Tony
I was in a thrift shop last week browsing the books, and came across "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" for $0.50. I bought it, read it cover to cover and thought: "this looks like fun!".
I was thinking about the initial outlay of cash to get started and see if it was something I'd like to continue doing, then I remembered that my grandfather had been a wine maker since he emigrated from Italy in the early 20th century.
I went to my mom's house (she's living in the same house that my grandfather used to live in) and asked her if grandpa's wine making equipment was still there. She said that she thought it was, and I asked her where the key was to the padlock. She gave me about 75 keys! I hit on about the 30th key.
The room was still there set up for wine making. My mom had given my grandfather's press and homemade barrels to a man they knew who made wine. But there still was:
- Two 5 gal glass carboys with corks and fermentation locks.
- Two 4 gal plastic carboys.
- A medium sized covered garbage can containing a large plastic funnel and 2.5 gallon plastic bucket.
- A bottle capper.
- A single empty large brown beer bottle.
- Assorted tubings hand reinforced with coat hanger wire.
The room is in the basement and holds a year round temperature of 60 - 70 degrees. Perfect.
I went to the local homebrew store and bought a dark beer kit, two cases of 22 oz bottles, some new tubing, and a new pair of corks (the ones there look a little nasty).
My wife said: "Are you going to be doing that at your mom's?!?!?", and thinking about it it's a good idea. I get to see mom more often. She gets to help me cook my first batch (she has the perfect brew pot), and I need to stop in occasionally to check fermentation and bottle the finished product.
I currently have a glass carboy full of water spiked with 2 oz Chlorox, and I'm going to get the second one ready for a secondary fermenter.
This looks like fun. I'll probably have a lot of questions.
-- Tony
