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autobaun70

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Hi all, new to the forum, and looking into getting started in brewing. I'm not looking to get overly complicated on the front end, but would like to do things correctly.

What recommendations would you all make in terms of beginning equipment and recipes. My only consideration, I am not interested in bottling, I want to jump directly into kegging. I have a converted fridge kegerator, set up for dual taps.
 
Well if you have a setup to keg already thats great. Wont much make a difference in the brew phase. I would recomend starting out small try a kit with some directions or an extract. Work your way to partial mash all stuff you can do on a stove top with basic euipment. Make sure you like doing it first before you spend your savings. Unless you have to much savings then go to town.
 
the euipment I started with on my first batch was 3gal pot, a spoon, hop sacks, 5gal bucket with the lid for an airlock, and an air lock. I made a canadian beer from a kit at my LHBS. It wasnt the best beer I ever had but it was drinkable. I just had alot of fun doing it.
 
But seriously, start with a basic kit, i spent under 100 for my first kit including bottles. I havent looked back since. Been brewing about 18 months - 30 brews in and a couple grand spent.

If you like the hobby, you'll find yourself upgrading the pieces as youre ready for them (both experince and cash, wise). Good luck and spend a lot of time on this forum, there are some really bright and creative people on here. (i think im more addicted to this site, than i am actually brewing beer).

my recomendation: Have an understanding SWMBO
 
Just have fun the keg system will allow you to enjoy your beer quicker then bottling. I would say go to your local brew store just get the basics, All you need is a bucket to ferment and a pot to brew in. There are a lot of nice additions you will add if you join the obsession, but if you have something to brew in and something to ferment in plus the kit to make the brew you golden for your first batch.
I think the one mistake I made was wasting money on stuff in the beginning just to buy different stuff a month later start with like a 5 gallon pot and a fermentor and add on later
 
I started with a basic ale pale, turkey fryer and a canned extract kit. I'd say buying the auto-siphon for around $10 really lowered my stress level after a batch or two w/o it. You'll use it for cleaning beer lines and other stuff as well, so you might consider one.

Good luck!
 

I started with pretty much this kit, but I got the one with a glass carboy for like $89. It has everything youll need, except for a brew pot. I ended up buying a propane turkey fryer kit. Not sure where you were planning on brewing, but an electric stove is less than ideal, trust me.
 
welcome and congratulations on deciding to brew! honestly there is nothing more rewarding than drink your own beer. you wont know until you brew that first batch! just start with the basics. it will make good beer, i promise. just make sure you sanitize everything like your supposed to and relax.:mug:
 
Welcome! (and I'm very jealous of starting with a kegerator) As a newbie myself, I'd say my best resources have been this forum and John Palmer's How To Brew. I have a few other books, but I find his to be the easiest for me to understand the basics with. I also recommend both the basic equipment kits and extract recipe kits to get you started (I used Northern Brewer's, but there are other good options as well). They'll help you get the process down until you are ready to tweak things yourself. Enjoy! :mug:
 
welcome!

I would start with the kit/extract brewing - good results, little hassle and gets you going with major important processes - sanitation and controlling fermentation temps and beer does tastes good (way better than major store bought). also, it costs little and you can get the feel of the hobby without investing in major AG brewing equipment and most of the kit/extract gear is usable in all grain brewing anyway if you decide to upgrade later.

hope this helps and good luck!

as for kegging vs bottling - well, one likes mother, another - daughter - I like bottling process and it is really great feel after youre done with it:
wheatbeer.jpg
 
I started with pretty much this kit, but I got the one with a glass carboy for like $89. It has everything youll need, except for a brew pot. I ended up buying a propane turkey fryer kit. Not sure where you were planning on brewing, but an electric stove is less than ideal, trust me.

Agree 100% here. If you can spend a little extra up front, buy a burner & a big pot you can do full boils in. I'd also suggest picking up some good books, How to Brew & Designing Great Beers have been my bibles. There are a bunch out there though. Above all have fun:mug:
 
I'm reading the Joy of homebrewing and recommend it. it takes you batch by batch to teach you, if you decide to do his batches. I'm not, i've made 2 extract kits, kegged my first, but bottled my second. I still recommend getting some bottles and stuff just because if you have a keg of beer, you have to finish the beer or buy a new keg every time you want to make a new beer, with bottles you can have more of the same. Bottling didn't take too long and it was kinda fun sitting on the floor watching TV playing with my beer lol.

I'm 21, had to link to something for kids
 
Since you're not bottling at a minimum you need a bucket fermenter (you should get one that is at least 6 gallons), an air lock, a racking cane and tubing (to siphon into your kegs), a thermometer and a large pot.

The pot size will depend on how much you're willing to sink right away. If you do partial boil kits you could get away with something as small as three gallons but if you think you have even the slightest chance you will want to get more involved in homebrewing and you can afford it you should look into getting something 6-7 gallons in size. Pots can get expensive and you can't upgrade them so you really have to think about your potential future needs when you buy one. You can get a turkey fryer fairly cheap which will get you going down the propane route or you can go to a department store and find an aluminum or stainless steel pot for very reasonable prices. You can also buy more pricey pots at homebrew shops.

Although it isn't absolutely necessary you should probably get a hydrometer. It's cheap, necessary to diagnose problems and check when fermentation completes. Worth the cash but you can definitely make beer without it.
 
i myself start just a month ago..

i bought the coopers kit and i also bought another starter kit of midwest as well. and i like coopers equipment much better. the midwest was a brewers best kit w/ two buckets.. the spout leaks and the cover is a pain in the ass to deal with.
 
Ok, looks like a basic kit is going to be the trick, most of them come with bottling accessories, so that will be a non issue. Getting up a good stock of bottles seems like a simple task of drinking a case or so of Sam Adams or the like. I've got a propane burner already, as well as an empty 15.5 Gallon keg that I can cut the lid on to make a pot. Will that be too big of a pot for a 5 gallon batch?

My thoughts on the fermentation process are as follows:

Ferment in a 6 gallon or so bucket, then move it to the fridge/cooler of ice to cold crash. I am thinking going with a bucket with a spigot would make things easier as far as transferring to the keg rather than messing with a siphon. Most of the bucket's I have seen appear to leave just enough behind to keep from getting much yeast into the keg when you drain via spigot.

I have room in the kegerator for a full size keg which currently resides there, plus by my calculations 2 corny kegs. I can pick up a dual regulator from the local home brew shop pretty reasonably. My though here is to feed the current commercial keg off of one of the regulators, and then feed a corny off of the other. One question here, with that setup would it be ok to just split the CO2 line feeding the corny so that I could drink from one, and at the same time carbonate a second corny at the same pressure (assuming they were similar beers in both).
 
One question here, with that setup would it be ok to just split the CO2 line feeding the corny so that I could drink from one, and at the same time carbonate a second corny at the same pressure (assuming they were similar beers in both).


yes...add a splitter at one regulator outlet and run two lines from it...you can even get away with a three-way from one regulator - if you want to add another corney.

Get yourself some soapy water in a spray bottle...identifies leaks rather quickly (if your lines leak like mine did).

Welcome to the madness.:rockin:
 
I just bought my first kit yesterday. I'm not going to be kegging, but I went for an 8Gal pot and an immersion chiller along with the usual stuff. I think from everything I've read that it's probably the best way to go. Won't need to upgrade later. Also, if you have a local HB shop, you'll get great service and they'll certainly help you when you have questions down the road.
 
One last question: being that I will be kegging and presumably force carbing, and starting out with a commercially available extract kit, which comes with priming sugar, do I just leave it out, or do I need to add it to keep the flavor of the kit correct? I assume that I could just add the priming sugar to the keg and let the secondary fermentation take care of carbonation as well, but the idea of throwing it in the fridge and hooking up the gas seems awfully easy.
 
No need for priming sugar if you are force carbing! (the sugars do the carbing naturally)
I have read that some brewers will prime in the keg then use the gas for distributing but it seems like redundancy unless you want to get multiple kegs carbed at the same time!
 
i feel like you may get more sediment too if you prime the keg. (i don't know never did it. force carbing is just easier for me.) thoughts?
 
Used kegs are all over ebay in lots of 4 or 5 units, should I trim the dip tube on one of them to clarify the beer in, and then transfer it to another unmodified keg for storage/serving?
 
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