Homebrewing equipment, to start.

[Seanana]

I am not new to this, but new at the same time. I have a fair amount of knowledge when it comes to brewing, but I still have a bunch of questions and concerns. I am trying to get together my equipment and need to know what I should be looking out for first. Currently I have two BB carboys, a kegging system which doubles as my fermenter, sanitizer, hydrometer, cleaning supplies, and a few other things. I have only been making hard ciders and that's about it so far, but I really want to get into actual beer brewing, and I'm not sure what I should start with. I was thinking a propane burner and a pot before i get anything else, to start with extracts and then move to a grain system slowly. I'm just confused how i should go from here.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Well if you have all that really all you need is a method to boil beer, aka a large enough kettle. Some things that will make your life easier though is some plastic buckets for primaries. At 6.5 gallons you can put your 5 gallon batches in there with plenty of space so you're less likely to need a blowoff and potentially lose beers as you are with a carboy or keg.

Also an autosiphon. I presume you're gonna keg.

What I'd personally do is primary ferment in plastic bucket, move to one of your carboys if needed for longer fermentation or adding flavors, then rack to your keg. I wouldn't personally ferment and pour from the same keg. Maybe I'm being too much of a worry wort, but I'd personally be fearful of have trub come through my keg.

 

[Sammy86]

If you ask 10 brewers you will get 10 different answers. There are many different ways you can go. You can definitely need a pot...most people on here would say 10 gallon pot for 5 gallon batches, 15 gallon pot for 10 gallon batches. A propane burner is great for those big bathes even for the 5 gallons but then there is the issue of where to brew it. When using the propane burner you need to do it outside or at least someplace that has ventilation because it become a sticky situation with the carbon floating around.

Now where to start all grain or extract. There is no right answer of course because well to each his own. Me personally, I started with BIAB. Excellent way to start all grain without the financial burden being too much. A paint strainer bag and a pot is all you need. Northern Brewer has a 3 gallon BIAB kit that I believe works well because you can do it on the kitchen stove.

Just my .02

Good luck and brew something you enjoy!

 

[tacks]

Well if you have all that really all you need is a method to boil beer, aka a large enough kettle. Some things that will make your life easier though is some plastic buckets for primaries. At 6.5 gallons you can put your 5 gallon batches in there with plenty of space so you're less likely to need a blowoff and potentially lose beers as you are with a carboy or keg.

Also an autosiphon. I presume you're gonna keg.

What I'd personally do is primary ferment in plastic bucket, move to one of your carboys if needed for longer fermentation or adding flavors, then rack to your keg. I wouldn't personally ferment and pour from the same keg. Maybe I'm being too much of a worry wort, but I'd personally be fearful of have trub come through my keg.

+1. Also, keep a lookout on black Friday for turkey burner deals at Bass Pro. You'll need a kettle bigger than the 5 gallon one that comes with it if you're doing full boils, but it comes in handy for heating sparge water while draining your grains the first time through. On that thought, you'll need a boil kettle if you weren't already boiling your cider (only cider I've ever done was already pasteurized). I got my aluminum one on amazon for $33, or if you have more money and want a nicer kettle you can always go with stainless. Good luck and have fun with it. There's a lot of great resources and people on this forum to help you out of you need it.

 

[unionrdr]

If you can & want the burner,get a 10 gallon SS kettle. Full boils & no worries about oxidation layers & such as with aluminum pots. I do partial boil,partial mash biab in the same 5 gallon SS kettle I started with. I just added a large nylon paint strainer bag & a cake cooling rack for the bottom of the kettle to keep the grain bag from burning. I can mash 5-6 pounds of grain in it easilly. 3.5-3.75 gallon boil without too much trouble.
Having said that,extract with steeping grains would be a bit easier & faster on brew day till you get your head back in the game.