New to forum, new to brewing, tuns of questions

[coloryder]

I'm new, but I am really interested in starting to brew. I have not bought any of my kit yet because I have questions before I start, I tried the search function but there is simply too much information to sift through so I figured that I would ask it here and get some straight answers from you all. Sorry if some of this has been covered before, here goes:

My (mental) kit 6.5g Fermenter, airlocks, 6g glass carboy, 5g stainless cookpot, sanitizer, brushes, plastic stir spoon, various hoses for kegging, 2 5g kegs, 5lb CO2 tank with all the appropriate connections. Am I missing anything?

I need a suggestion on what thermometer to use and what hydrometer to use, combo/no combo/digital what?

I want to make black and tans, I anticipate that should not be too difficult but I have no idea what I am talking about. I am an smart guy that can read and follow directions but I don't want to fail my first attempt (that'll piss the wife off) and I don't want to spend 12 hours brewing my first batch. Tell me what you think, and offer some suggestions for what kit to use to get close to a Guinness and Bass styled home brew.

I am going straight to Kegging, mostly because I found a "Double Dual" Kegging system for $200, that's tought to beat even with bottling. Is it recommended to keg right out the gate or should I start by bottling.

I have no capacity to consume 10g of beer very quickly, is it possible to store unconsumed untapped beer in a keg? for how long? do I need to watch temperature closely or will room temerature suffice (55-80 deg)?

I notice that there are a lot of you using High end wort coolers to cool the wort faster, why not pour the mash over ice before adding the yeast to cool it quickly, am I missing something?

My understanding of the fermenting process is as follows: once you get your wort and get it to 70 deg and put it in the fermenter and store it at 65 deg you will leave it be for 1 week to 10 days, then move it without disturbing it too much to a secondary fermenter and leave it be for 2-3 weeks. Then move it to keg to condition and mellow for another 3 weeks to a month, does this sound right?

What is the purpose of the second fermentation if you are kegging? Do I need priming sugar?

Once your keg is empty or close to empty what cleanup can I expect, will it look like a Carboy with all the dead yeast at the bottom or will it be relatively clear and need simple cleanup?

Thanks for all your help and info

 

[Netflyer]

Your mental kit had a 6.5 Gallon fermenter, so no need to worry about 10 gallons of beer to drink, your target will be 5-5.5 gallons.

I would recommend an extract kit to start with...

Many people around here including myself don't secondary unless the beer has something needed in a secondary (like you're pouring it onto fruit (dread) or perhaps dry hopping or something). Instead we leave it in the primary for 21 days then just siphon to keg or bottle it.

I don't keg so I can't answer your keg questions.

As far as cooling the wort you can submerge the kettle in an ice bath (sink filled with water and a ton of ice) and constantly refresh the ice over about 45 min to an hour or you can get one of two kinds of wort chillers, emersion and counter-flow. I use an emersion chiller, that is just basically about 25 feet or so of coiled copper tube that cold water flows through. It cools your wort from the inside out in about 20-30 min depending upon your 'pitching' temperature (the temp you want to put your yeast in at - I go for 68F). You would never want to pour the actual mash over ice because it would dilute it We want it as predictably potent as possible...

In the mean time try Palmers Book Online for tons of great brewing info... http://www.howtobrew.com/

 

[BigBear810]

The first question I would ask is do you plan on brewing in the kitchen or outside? Inside I would assume that you are going to do partial boils and add to cool H2O to achieve 5 gallons, if so a 5 gal pot for boil is ok. I would recommend a larger boil pot if you plan on a full boil since you need to start with more than 5 gal as some will be lost during the 1 hour boil time. Also if you are planning on outside you will definitely need a burner + gas of some type. I would suggest separate Hydro and Therms, just a personal thing, any thermometer should do but the ability to calibrate is helpful.
Kegging right out of the gate is fine since it is easier to clean one container than ~54 bottles. Beer in a corny with CO2 on it will keep for a long time, but in your case you will only have two available beers and will need to empty one before brewing again. With a corny keg you can force carbonate fight out of the secondary fementor. You can also treat it as one big bottle and prime with sugar, but you will need to pressurize with CO2 to make sure that you have a good seal on the top of the corny. Clean up is not that different than any other clean up. I use heated PSB for the rough cleaning as there normally is some "brown" (called beer stone) build up on the bottom. I then use by carboy brush and scrub around as best as I can, then empty the PSB and rinse with boiling water. Then before filling you can use any of the sanitizing solutions available as this normally is a personal thing.
The secondary fementer is basically for conditioning and giving the yeast time to settle out of the beer. I assume that you do not plan on pouring you wort directly over ice cubes, as this would dilute the wort causing the sugar content to go down and add the possibility of contaminating the wort.
I feel like I'm starting to ramble so I will stop. Hope this helps.

 

[msa8967]

Have you thought about buying an auto-siphon to transfer your beer instead of a standard racking cane? Must auto siphons are less than $15 and well worth the time to use.

As far as bottling, you might want to think about bottling a few beers from each batch to see how they age condition over the next six months. I also use bottles so I can give away some beer to my friends to get thair feedback. You could certainly have them over to taste but this might drain your keg faster than you would like.

 

[kornbread]

My (mental) kit 6.5g Fermenter, airlocks, 6g glass carboy, 5g stainless cookpot, sanitizer, brushes, plastic stir spoon, various hoses for kegging, 2 5g kegs, 5lb CO2 tank with all the appropriate connections. Am I missing anything?

I would suggest a larger pot. If you start with extract or partial mash brewing, then the 5G pot will be fine. But, if you move up to full boils, then you're going to need a bigger pot. So, you might as well start off with a bigger pot now, even if you have to go with an aluminum pot to save a little $$

Of course, if you get a bigger pot, then you're probably going to need a burner of some kind. I've done a lot of all-grain full boils on the stove, but I had to break it up into two pots. An electric stove top just takes forever to bring five gallons to a boil and even then, it's not a very good boil.

I need a suggestion on what thermometer to use and what hydrometer to use, combo/no combo/digital what?

Cheap Hydro: You're probably going to break it anyway.
Digital Thermometer: (preferably on with a separate probe.) Digital is easier to read and the separate probe lets you take a temp without getting your hand so close to the steam.

I am going straight to Kegging, mostly because I found a "Double Dual" Kegging system for $200, that's tought to beat even with bottling. Is it recommended to keg right out the gate or should I start by bottling.

No problem there. Just remember you'll need a place to keep those kegs at serving temp. (fridge/freezer) If you ever just want to "experience" bottling, then I'm sure you can find plenty of brewers that would let you come over on bottling day to help out.
You can bottle from the keg if you need a few bottles to travel or give to friends.

I have no capacity to consume 10g of beer very quickly, is it possible to store unconsumed untapped beer in a keg? for how long? do I need to watch temperature closely or will room temerature suffice (55-80 deg)?

I've got five kegs in my fridge with only two taps. I rotate them around from time to time just to be drinking something different. Some of them have been in there for nearly a year and they still taste great.

I notice that there are a lot of you using High end wort coolers to cool the wort faster, why not pour the mash over ice before adding the yeast to cool it quickly, am I missing something?

Yes. you're missing a chance to get an infected batch of watered down beer.:cross:
Either use a chiller or an Ice bath to cool you're wort and you'll be fine.

My understanding of the fermenting process is as follows: once you get your wort and get it to 70 deg and put it in the fermenter and store it at 65 deg you will leave it be for 1 week to 10 days, then move it without disturbing it too much to a secondary fermenter and leave it be for 2-3 weeks. Then move it to keg to condition and mellow for another 3 weeks to a month, does this sound right?

That method will work. However, a lot of brewers just leave it in the fermenter for about 2 weeks, then chill it, and either bottle it or keg it. Once it's in the keg/bottle it'll need to "condition" for a week or three.

What is the purpose of the second fermentation if you are kegging?

Technically, fermentation should be complete before you move to a secondary. The secondary is just for "clearing" the beer or adding more "aroma" hops, (known as dry hopping.), or flavorings. (Such as fruits, oak chips, etc.)

Do I need priming sugar?

Priming sugar will work in a keg but, I've never done it that way. I just rack the beer to my keg and hook it up to my co2 and let it carbonate/condition for about a week and it's ready to tap.

You can do what brewers refer to as "force carbonating". Crank up the CO2 and lay the keg on it's side and shake it for a few minutes to "force" the CO2 into the beer. I've done it both ways, and I prefer the "set it and forget it" method unless i'm in a big hurry to drink my beer.

Once your keg is empty or close to empty what cleanup can I expect, will it look like a Carboy with all the dead yeast at the bottom or will it be relatively clear and need simple cleanup?

There will be some material at the bottom of the keg. I just dump in a scoop of Oxyclean and some hot water and let it set overnight. The next day rinse it out and I'm good to go.

Thanks for all your help and info

No problem, glad to help. Good luck!

 

[sea2summit3]

.... use your run of the mill thermo, as long as it goes to 212 degrees or above. Digital is nice but can building up condensation when brewing and is a bit slower to read a temp than analog...

... Store you kegs cool. I've had beer in mine for over a year and as long as I maintain the CO2, it won't go bad...

.... do not pour hot wort over ice to cool it. Everything that touches your beer, post boil, needs to be sanitized, including your hands. Hot wort on top of ice will definitely water your beer down and potentially infect it with nasties that can make your beer taste like monkey butt...

Buy a good book such as How to Brew and The Joy of Homebrewing. Most of your questions can be answered in there. You can also use the seach engine on this site to access a plethora of information and infinite wisdom!

Cheers!

 

[eljefe]

Are you planning on buying a pre-made kit or ordering components to match your mental kit. If the former, there are several vendors out there that probably have what you are looking for:
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/
http://www.northernbrewer.com/

There are also other vendors who support this site, there is a vendor section that you can look through.

I agree with others to buy a bigger pot.

 

[HickoryMike]

+1 on the autosipon. That's the best $10 you can spend.

I prefer bottling. Bottles can be given as a gift. It's easier to take bottles to a party. Last night I went to watch the UFC PPV with some friends and grabbed a sixpack on my way out the door....a keg would have been an unnecessary pain in the ass. Some folks on here detest the bottling process, but once you find a system that works for you it's not so bad. I bottle a batch in 45 minutes and without much headache.

 

[coloryder]

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!!!!
Headed out today to start in on my brewing supplies (christmas was lucrative for those receiving gifts from my wife and I so its a little tight til February) gonna pick up the Fermenter (bucket style) skip the carboy and pick up a "kit" I am going to go straight to kegging but have the option to bottle since i do have a multitude of friends who are avid beer drinkers with extra 12oz long necks available. Thats cool right using commercial beer bottles and recapping them?

I have a stainless steel 5g pot already from an earlier purchase thus I will remain doing partial boils (boiling appox 3g and adding the 2g of cold water after the boil).

It seems that you are all in agreement that leaving the wort in the fermenter for 2 weeks is fine and eliminating the secondary on my first beer which will be, by necessity, a very simple beer.

Suggestions on a simple Amber or light Ale Kit that tastes good.
I will be getting the Double Dual 2 kegging system from Midwestsupply.com comes with 2 5g cornie kegs and a 5lb tank with a dual regulator and all the tubing required. I have a minifridge that should work, going to have to measure it, does anyone know the minimum inside height I will need to make this thing work? i think its about 26" from floor to ceiling inside the fridge but want to make sure that I have what I need.

Wish me luck

C

 

[eljefe]

I will be getting the Double Dual 2 kegging system from Midwestsupply.com comes with 2 5g cornie kegs and a 5lb tank with a dual regulator and all the tubing required.

That is the one I bought and it has worked out great so far.

I have a minifridge that should work, going to have to measure it, does anyone know the minimum inside height I will need to make this thing work? i think its about 26" from floor to ceiling inside the fridge but want to make sure that I have what I need.

There are numerous threads on here about fridge sizing.

Here are two useful ones:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/what-size-mini-fridge-151988/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/sizing-your-chest-freezer-corny-kegs-75449/

The second one shows a great way to size the fridge as well as the dimensions of the keg. Please keep in mind there is a lot of tubing so if you plan on keeping the CO2 tank in the fridge, you will need to account for that space. The advantage of keeping it in the fridge is you don't need to drill holes into the side of the fridge to run the gas lines.

 

[Sithdad]

Do not trust the volume markings on the side of the fermenting pail. Pour in water, 1 gal at a time, and make your own marks (I would make marks up to 6gals). If you do this on brew day you can just pour off 3 gallons into your boil pot and use it right away instead of just dumping it down the drain.

When I checked the measurements on my pail they were off by 3-4inches the entire way. I was actually adding less water than I thought.