New Brewer from Upstate NY

[wxduff]

Hi everyone,

I'm Evan, a new home brewer from upstate New York. I recently received a starting homebrew kit from my parents for Christmas, and I'm very excited to get started brewing. Sadly I must wait until I get to school in order to start brewing, but once I get there I cant wait to start brewing. I received two starter kits, a Killians clone and a Guinness Clone. I actually recently turned 21, and I'm still trying to discover what I like. I bought a book yesterday as well, although its a little advanced (Designing Great Beers, by Ray Daniels), and I'm preparing to start a batch of beer on Monday or Tuesday.

My neighbor also got a homebrew kit for christmas for her husband (she hid it in our basement). I hope we can discuss success and failure with each other, as well as send a bottle over when we finish a brew...

I'm excited to get started and looked up this place in order to have a community to discuss with. I find whenever I start a new venture joining a forum with experienced people is a great asset. Wish me luck. I will do a full documentation with photos to make sure I'm doing this right.


One of my first questions. Will a large canner work as well as a stock pot for making the wort? Stockpots are expensive, at least the ones large enough for my needs.

 

[ahave]

Welcome to your addiction. It is typically best to have a dedicated boil kettle, but anything that can safely boil 5 gallons should be plenty for your first brew.

 

[Marko73]

If you are doing partial boils, the 21.5 qt canning pot works great. I have been homebrewing for 3 years and I still use my original canning pot for my inside boils. Just check it for chips everyonce in a while so there is no rust.

I think it is a great alternative for a first pot. I intend to move to nice stainless steel with a valve soon, but the 19$ canning pot from Wal Mart has served me well.