Knowing what you know now, what would you buy starting out?

[madman960]

Knowing what you know now, what would you buy starting out?

How many buckets, carboys, etc? I plan to start with 1 extract and 1 all grain. Which ingredient kits would you suggest for my first time? 2 more questions,

What equipment is necessary and what is recommended?

Bill

 

[Inverted_Giraffe]

Personally, I wouldn't go extract and all-grain 1:1; I'd start with extract, or at the most partial-mash, to dial in your process and get familiar. With all-grain, you will not have the benefit of making mistakes and allowing the extract to make up for it, as well as not needing to worry about the in's and out's of your water source.

I'd start with a 6 gallon glass carboy with airlock, a bottling bucket and go from there.

All my starting equipment if I started from the beginning:

• 6 gal glass carboy
• bottling bucket with spigot
• grain bag
• hop bag
• metal spoon
• 8 gal brew pot (can be used to mash in)
• 5 gal pot to sparge
• easy siphon
• propane burner
• digital thermometer
• stopper and airlock
• bottling wand
• the thief
• hydrometer
• iodophor (I use bottling bucket to fill with iodophor to sanitize equipment)
• funnel

 

[Polboy]

Hym I would like to start with 4 or 6 buckets and 2-3 carboys. In this setup u can make lots of beer, age some of them, have a lot of fermenters to play around, try different recipes, yeasts ect.

 

[CrystallineEntity]

Who's Hym?

 

[Inverted_Giraffe]

Who's Hym?

I would fathom Hym is Hmm with his mouth open?

 

[Golddiggie]

If I was starting out again, knowing what I know know...

10 gallon BoilerMaker kettle (for ~5 gallon batch boils)
keggle mash tun
At least a 40 plate chiller (which I have now)
All 3 piece stainless ball valves
Monster Mill (2" hardened rollers) with hopper extension.
Two Blichmann burners (I picked up a KAB4 burner to start with).
Pony kegs to ferment ~5-6.5 gallon batches in.
Kegging gear
Oxygen infusion system (stone, wand, O2 tank and regulator with a flow meter)

Basically pretty much what I have now. I went cheaper on some things initially, only to get the better items over time. I would rather have spent a little more to get those items from the start since it would have cost me less in the long run.

Next up is getting a larger place where I can brew without worrying about the LL getting a hair across his bunghole over it.

 

[BonnieJ]

Fermometers on all carboys/buckets!

I would have gotten a normal hydrometer container to do measurements in, in addition to having a wine thief to get it out of the bucket. I still have to get one, actually. I hate having to balance it perfectly in the wine thief because it's so dang hard and it bumps around constantly!

 

[RM-MN]

I have a suggestion. Think about stacking glass carboys. Think about stacking plastic buckets. See how many you can stack in a 2 foot square.

Price out the carboys. I'd personally want to be able to have at least 3 batches fermenting at the same time so I'd need at least 3. Price out the plastic buckets. Hmmm... It looks like there is a price difference. Enough difference to buy another extract kit and make another 5 gallons of beer.

Grab a bucket by the handle and then drop it a couple inches to the floor. It should just bounce. Want to try that with a carboy?

Now for the original question. I bought a very basic kit that contained 2 buckets, a lid, airlock and grommet. It had a capper and a hydrometer and some tubing. I already had a 20 qt stock pot. That's enough to start and see what brewing is all about. If you decide that brewing isn't for you it isn't a lot of money wasted. If you find you like the process and the results you will have a pretty good idea of what to add by the time you have the second batch.

 

[runningweird]

I would buy/find:

15.5 gallon keggle
a malt mill( I have a schmidling)
KEGS AND CO2!!!!
refractometer
big thing of Star San
immersion chiller
sight glass - still need one
8 large better bottles - I have to keep up with 6 taps
Orange cooler mash tun with round false bottom
Temperature controller for fermentations
fermentation fridge/freezer. I have a 26 cubic foot monster and as you can see I might need more space!

 

[osagedr]

Aside from the obvious (fermenter, carboys, etc.): fermentation is everything. So, temperature control and oxygen are two things you can do to greatly improve your beer. Many ales are great when fermented in the low 60s but very marginal fermented at room temperature; then there are lagers. So a temperature controller and chest freezer are great investments. O2 kits are very reasonably priced, and you will see more vigorous fermentation and improvement in your finished beer right away IMO.

 

[Rev2010]

Outside of the usual things, since I gather the post intention was for upgrades we eventually went to, I would say:

10 gallon Blichmann kettle
Blichmann floor burner with leg extentions
Immersion chiller - important here, no more ice baths and I went from boiling to 68 degree pitching temp yesterday in about 22 minutes! I move the IC around though to speed it up
Bench capper - or most would say kegging system I gather, haven't went there yet
Extra fermenters to have a few going at a time
Mash tun - basically going AG


Rev.

 

[stellaontap]

A good thermometer....I keep missing my mash temps by a couple of degrees.

Eric

 

[madman960]

Wow. Thanks for all the replies. Rev, I am trying to find out what you would purchase to start out knowing what you know now. I do not want to buy stuff I do not need or will never use.

Just got the go ahead from the wife to build a brew shed in the backyard. The less I spend on stuff I do not need, the more elaborate my shed can be.

Bill

 

[Dogphish]

i used to use carboys for primary and secondary. now i use a 7.5 gallon bucket for primary and a 5 gallon bucket for secondary.

getting a quarter pound of hops into and out of a carboy hole is a PAIN! buckets are much easier to work with. i am able to get 5 gallon buckets with a gasket lid for free from the local bagel shop. the shop buys malt extract in these buckets, uses the extract syrup, then throws away the buckets. they throw away a few of these buckets every weeks. they even have 2.5 gallon buckets.

 

[AnOldUR]

I’ll be the voice of opposition. Started with Mr Beer and took about a year to go AG. After over 150 batches I'm still having fun upgrading and learning. If I had it to do again wouldn’t want anything different. It’s a hobby and all about the journey. Start at the finish and you miss the scenery.

 

[madman960]

I am not trying to skip the journey. I just dont want to buy things I will not need or use.

I already have enough stuff I do not need or use.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I would have bought pretty much everything in the order I did, except I probably would have bought a better quality kettle for the stove. Now that I've been banished to the outdoors it's probably less of an issue.

 

[stratslinger]

I went the basically-standard route; starter kit from Midwest supplies (with a few minor exceptions, they're all the same), and a turkey fryer with a 7.5 gallon aluminum pot. I also jumped into kegging right away (my wallet may have regretted that move, but none of the rest of me did!).

The only things that I either don't use or use only rarely are my bottling wand (I still plan to bottle the occasional batch, so this doesn't seem a waste to have hanging around) and I bought 1 5 gallon better bottle and inherited 1 5 gallon glass carboy. Since I only rarely secondary now, these are pretty redundant - a couple primaries and a single secondary would've done me just fine.

 

[madman960]

I have a question about a secondary/bottling bucket.

Could I use a 5 or 10 gallon water cooler as a secondary? Only because it has a spigot and that can fill bottles with it. I would attach a hose to the spigot.

Actually, I think I will just use them as the primary. This way it will make transfers a breeze.

 

[lowtones84]

I don't think you want to use the plastic water jugs for fermentation. I don't believe they're made to keep all oxygen out like the food grade buckets or glass carboys we use. If everything was well sanitized I suppose you could use them as part of your bottling process. Good luck!

 

[runningweird]

Another thing I would have done, is look into going electric earlier. I still use propane but am planning an electric herms build this winter.

The cost, over around 40 batches - some 10 gallon, of beer for refilling propane tanks would have easily been offset by setting up a simple electric rig.

plus, electric elements don't drop in pressure when I am brewing with them on a 5 degree F day.

 

[bottlebomber]

Wow. Thanks for all the replies. Rev, I am trying to find out what you would purchase to start out knowing what you know now. I do not want to buy stuff I do not need or will never use.

Just got the go ahead from the wife to build a brew shed in the backyard. The less I spend on stuff I do not need, the more elaborate my shed can be.

Bill

So you're telling me you've never even brewed, and are already planning a shed? You're an animal...

 

[madman960]

Lowtones, I am talking about the 5 or 10 gallon gatorade water coolers. Not water bottles. The coolers are food grade. I am thinking about using those because of the spigot. Having a spigot means I will not need siphoning gear.

 

[madman960]

Bottlebomber,

That is correct. I am certain I will be hooked. A good friend of mine brews. I have tried a few of his and they are great. He lives in CA and I now live in SC, so I will have to brew my own. I will just have to borrow his recipies until I establish my own. LOL

 

[Dogphish]

i can see a few issues with using gatorade coolers:

1. they may be more expensive than buckets.
2. racking out of primary and leaving the yest behind might be impossible
3. they are not designed to be air tight. this would be a problem if using them for secondary. you would also have to be able to attach an airlock to release the pressure.

 

[ABrewingApe]

I would have bought a different kind of large fermenter: one or two of these nice things, with their handles and heat tolerance. Plus one or two 1-gallon minis for test batches.

I would have gone no-chill right off the bat and saved the money and water I used for my immersion chiller. It always bugged me to fuss about sterilizing the chiller and then letting gallons of water go to waste--especially when all you need is a heat-safe fermenter with a cap and a cool place out of the way.

 

[bottlebomber]

these nice things

How are those different/better than a standard fermenting bucket for half the price?

 

[BrewStooge]

Bottlebomber,

That is correct. I am certain I will be hooked. A good friend of mine brews. I have tried a few of his and they are great. He lives in CA and I now live in SC, so I will have to brew my own. I will just have to borrow his recipies until I establish my own. LOL

I wouldn't change my purchases to any great extent, as was said before the journey and finding your technique is half the fun. One thing to start with is a good brewing book, Palmer puts his online at http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html , other than that something like beersmith is a good tool as well, saves on all the manual calculations and lets you focus on the real details.

That said, to go from zero to full brewshed is truly awesome and applauded. I know I went from a Mr. Beer to a few $K in my basement of equipment in less than a year. If you like real beer it's near impossible not to fall headlong into brewing once it's tried.

 

[Mermaid]

1 5 ga. kettle (for heating water)
1 7.5 or larger kettle
patio burner
a couple of flasks (for making starters)
a good hydrometer
a good hang-on thermometer with a big dial
several 6 gallon plastic carboys
at least 3 airlock/stoppers
big bottle of starsan
copper chiller w/garden hose fittings
and equipment to build my own MLT

wine thief
auto siphon
bottle filler
plastic tubing in varying sizes (to make all the stuff work)

the airation setup I have is nice, and didn't cost a lot of money so I'll include that as well. (aquarium pump + metal airation stone)

I experimented with extract, partial mash, and BIAB and nothing has given me the satisfaction that brewing AG has. When I move next Spring, I am going to try my best to find a place that will let me set up my burner outside - and if not I'm going to schlep the setup to my sister's place and camp out on HER patio on brew days (I'll do this in exchange for babysitting or something)

 

[BBL_Brewer]

If I knew then what I know now, I would have done the following.

- get a boil pot big enough to do full volume boils
- get a jet burner or something similar (stove brews seriously suck)
- get a stir plate and make starters from the first batch on
- use oxygen to enrich wort prior to pitching yeast
- control fermentation temperature
- leave my beer in the primary instead of racking to a secondary (occasionally I'll rack to a secondary so a couple carboys do come in handy)
- start with fresh kits from a LHBS and use good, healthy yeast.