Newb Questions

[jmorgret]

I have not started yet, still researching but had a few questions. I'm the process of gathering my equipment. Is there a difference between a stainless steel pot and the ones that are like dark blue or black and have the white specks in them? (I don't know what they are made of) There is a big price difference between them, so was wondering if one was better than the other for this particular hobby.

Also, those starter kits, like from midwest, are these worth it or what it be better in the long run to get the gear separately? It's been my experience when places have these "starter" kits, the stuff is usually the low end of the spectrum as far as gear is concerned and I end up having to buy additional stuff down the line.

And lastly, my wife and her family drink a lot of wine that comes in these big 4L bottles, which we save. Was wondering if the bottles are cleaned and sanitized, if I could use those after the batch is done instead of regular single bottles? That would allow us to pour all the glasses of beer from one chilled bottle and obviously save me time on doing the single bottle thing. The only downside I see on this so far is that if the whole bottle is not consumed after opening, whatever is left would go bad, but with the amount of people we have drinking the beer, I don't think that would be a problem. Am I missing something on this?

Thanks for any help....

 

[Hang Glider]

Pots -
Black or blue with white specks - these are enamel coated steel, and although they will work, they can chip, exposing the steel, which will rust, which will be problematic - iron is not a recommended ingredient in beer.
Save up, or trash the savings account and go for as large a pot as you can stand. 10gal SS would be a great start, as you can do full-volume boils, instead of partial boils (adding water to top off). Aluminum can be had cheaper than the SS, but get a heavy-grade aluminum if you choose that route.

Starter kits are fine, many of us probably started there and moved on. The only low-end item in most starter kits is the bottle capper. Toss that aside and get a bench capper (or jump directly into kegging!).

Oh, and Welcome to HBT!

 

[beerkrump]

Pots - The ceramic coated ones can chip and once they do they're done. If you want to save go aluminum.

Kits -The kit's quality is completely dependent upon the manufacturer/dealer. Midwest is good, as are most recommended on this forum.

Bottles - Don't use regular wine bottles as they are not designed to handle the pressure of carbonation. If you want to go bigger, use 2L soda bottles. Not exactly classy, but functional.

 

[XXguy]

If your wife & her family like wine - check out the whole section on wine & ciders here. Those 4L jugs make handy little fermenters for doing small batches of specialty wines, or even apfelwein, but don't use them for bottling beer.

 

[jmorgret]

Thanks for the heads up on the carbonation on the bottles, I never considered that.

As far as a boiling pot goes, I really want to spend the money now and get a big one instead of getting it later down the road. What about these turkey fryer kits, they come with the propane burner and a 7.5 gal aluminum pot? Could these be used to boil the wort? Still cheaper than some of the stainless steel pots that size.

 

[Reedwalker]

I use a Turkey Fryer 32 Qt. Pot and set up. I know many others do too.

 

[Makeyermark]

the turkey fryer with the aluminum pot will work well. You can save up and buy a SS pot later to do AG batches with the two pots. For AG batches, I use the SS pot for my strike / sparge water and my 7.5 gallon aluminum that came with the turkey fryer for my full boils.

 

[XXguy]

Make friends with your local craigslist site...... you can usually pick up a complete fryer for less than $50, sometimes new in the box.

 

[Recusit8m]

As far starting off goes...Make friends with your LHBS owner...Join the local home brew club...Get Papazians Scripture...lol...Go for the kit...I bought mine with the typical ale pails and the routine accessories (auto siphon etc)...started off with a Brewers Best English Brown kit (came out very well IMO)...Working on my second batch (California Pale Ale-Supposed to be an Arrogant Bastard clone)...Keep homebrewtalk.com on your browser at all times...and just so you know if the airlock isnt bubbling-it will ferment lol...as far as bottles go, start drinking Craft beers in the 22oz size and save the bottles, and ask your local homebrew club to help ya out...Since starting home brewing about 2mo ago ive aquired a new fridge (for kegerator project) and ive rummaged thru my in laws attic and garage and gathered up 2 old Schaffer kegs (keggle project) a 25g SS stock pot (I think my grandmother in law was the Hanzel & Gretel witch), and 2 old table top grist mills (possibly for grinding the marrow out of Hanzels bones)...Good luck in your beginning batch...Its great fun...and a great excuse to drink good beer

 

[Scut_Monkey]

Make friends with your local craigslist site...... you can usually pick up a complete fryer for less than $50, sometimes new in the box.

I got my turkey fryer for $40 of craigslist. It was brand new and came with a 200K BTU burner which is considerably more powerful than the standard 60K. I don't really need the power though. I would suggest going this route because it allows you to do a full boil and you get both a pot and burner very cheap. The transistion to AG is then rather simple if you decide to go that route.