Thanks for the advice!
This is so freaking awesome! My beer is coming to life! It's all foamy now inside and I'm super excited!View attachment 381630
Remember the "P" word.
Patience.
Thanks for the advice!
This is so freaking awesome! My beer is coming to life! It's all foamy now inside and I'm super excited!View attachment 381630
Thanks Morrey. I'm looking forward to learning as much as I can. It's so neat to see the fermentation process. I'm glad I went with the plastic, see-through fermenter.
I'm hoping the beer I made will be tasty. Can anyone tell if it's going to be good just by looking? Better yet, does my beer look "normal" in the fermenting stage?
View attachment 381759
It's foamed up about 2 inches now since this photo was taken.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!
I can see! It's so neat to see. So, what exactly is happening in there to cause that violent reaction?
You might want to do another kit just to get the process down. You do know that you can look at the ingredients list for most kits and put them together yourself, right? Yes, the kits come with extract, steeping grains, and hops. You have to choose the yeast separate, at least on morebeer.
Only thing left to do for your first batch is to let it sit, then bottle.
Perfect. Is there a better way to go about buying the ingredients rather than kits? Id much prefer To put everything together myself, but im lost when it comes to what to buy.
Should I purchase bags of pellet hops, and a decent amount of bags of yeast, grains and extract? I've seen 5lb bags of pellet hops and stuff like that on eBay. What would you do? I'd love to focus on putting together a small room full of everything I'd need.
I just received this as a Christmas gift to add to my gear (I asked for it): View attachment 381937
Thanks mongoose! I'm working on it! I still have more to do, like adding the corn sugar packet/water mixture. The notes idea is very helpful. Does it Matter which yeast to use, or can I just purchase some packets of the same kind I used for this batch?
Thanks mongoose! I'm working on it! I still have more to do, like adding the corn sugar packet/water mixture. The notes idea is very helpful. Does it Matter which yeast to use, or can I just purchase some packets of the same kind I used for this batch?
Mongoose said it well, very well. Slow down. There will be plenty of time to brew, play with ingredients, etc. For now learn the basics. You got to learn to crawl before you run. Also, read, read, and read some more. I have a half a shelf of brewing books already read, and pretty much start a new one once I finish the current one that I'm reading. Always something new to learn.
If you don't know what the ingredients do or taste like, how can you put together an inventory of them or even a recipe? That's why I liked starting out with kits, and I will still brew them, so I can try new things.
Perfect. Is there a better way to go about buying the ingredients rather than kits? Id much prefer To put everything together myself, but im lost when it comes to what to buy.
Should I purchase bags of pellet hops, and a decent amount of bags of yeast, grains and extract? I've seen 5lb bags of pellet hops and stuff like that on eBay. What would you do? I'd love to focus on putting together a small room full of everything I'd need.
I just received this as a Christmas gift to add to my gear (I asked for it): View attachment 381937
That sounds like a horror story. So, kind of throwing myself under the bus here, but I did the same thing by starting my first brew at 10:00 PM without any knowledge of the process and solely relying on the directions. It went till almost 3:00 AM and my buddy bailed on me by 11:30 PM. Needless to say, I had a long, hard night ahead of me.
Lesson learned on becoming too excited, but that's what it's all about. I am a bit confused when it comes to him having an assortment of product that he could use whenever he wants. Is it not good to have containers of hops and everything else I had mentioned?
Perhaps what I may be missing is, hops expire? Grains expire? Are there a ton of different types of hops, and just blindly buying them is not smart? What did you mean by you had to search the internet for a hops schedule?
I've already decided to continue on the kits, as you all had recommended. I will always be ultimately taking your advice, so I just wanted to let you all know I'm not stubborn, lol, just learning and asking lots of questions.
I will be reading How to Brew. I have heard nothing but raving reviews, so trust me, it's happening!
Hi all,
this is my first post ever in this forum. Like other forums I belong to, I look forward in interacting with all of you, and helping others once I get my foot on the ground!
With that being said, I have absolutely zero experience in this hobby, but I love the thought of being a part of it. Would some of you kindly tell me what I will need to buy (and your favorite companies that supply them - if that's okay to post on this forum) in order to get started with all grain brewing? I am not interested in the kits at all. I want to be making it from scratch.
I thought I'd also mention, I am not afraid to purchase the right equipment. I don't have a ton of money to get started, but I could go up to probably $700-$1,000, which I know isn't a ton but if it could help me bypass starter equipment, I'd like to go that route. So please let me know your thoughts on the higher end equipment needed.
A friend of mine told me I should start with these items:
-All Grain Brewing System (stainless steel)
-Stainless Steel Immersion Wort Chiller
-Gravity Testing Kit
-21" Stainless Steel Spoon
I'm happy to add additional items to this. Again, I'd much prefer to buy the right equipment right off the bat. If you have specific companies/places to buy from, I'd be very happy to hear so I can be pointed to the right direction when I purchase - that is, if it's okay to post things like that in this forum.
I'm looking forward in being a part of this community! Thanks for having me.
-BrettCo
That sounds like a horror story. So, kind of throwing myself under the bus here, but I did the same thing by starting my first brew at 10:00 PM without any knowledge of the process and solely relying on the directions. It went till almost 3:00 AM and my buddy bailed on me by 11:30 PM. Needless to say, I had a long, hard night ahead of me.
Lesson learned on becoming too excited, but that's what it's all about. I am a bit confused when it comes to him having an assortment of product that he could use whenever he wants. Is it not good to have containers of hops and everything else I had mentioned?
Perhaps what I may be missing is, hops expire? Grains expire? Are there a ton of different types of hops, and just blindly buying them is not smart? What did you mean by you had to search the internet for a hops schedule?
I've already decided to continue on the kits, as you all had recommended. I will always be ultimately taking your advice, so I just wanted to let you all know I'm not stubborn, lol, just learning and asking lots of questions.
I will be reading How to Brew. I have heard nothing but raving reviews, so trust me, it's happening!
Are there a ton of different types of hops, and just blindly buying them is not smart? What did you mean by you had to search the internet for a hops schedule?
Perhaps what I may be missing is, hops expire? Grains expire? Are there a ton of different types of hops, and just blindly buying them is not smart? What did you mean by you had to search the internet for a hops schedule?
I humbly recommend you go low tech first to see if you truly enjoy homebrewing, before sinking a bunch of money into it.
Dave, what books are on your shelf?
How to Brew - Palmer
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing - Papazian
Mastering Homebrew - Mosher
Brewing Porters and Stouts - Foster
The Illiustrated Guide to Brewing Beer - Schaefer
The Everything Beer Book - DeVito
Brewed Awakening - Bernstein
I also like reading about commercial brewers:
The Craft of Stone Brewing Co. - Koch, Wagner
Beer School (Brooklyn Brewing) - Hindy, Potter
Brewing Up a Business (Dogfish Head) - Calagione
Next up:
Radical Brewing - Mosher
There are probably a dozen or so more on my Amazon wish list waiting to be ordered.
Janb-19 - every post is an important post for me to read, regardless of what it's stating. Thanks for helping me out! Right now, the internet is helping me tremendously during my journey.
Martin - I have no idea what anything is yet. Still learning the process, jargon, ingredients, etc.. I'm getting there lol.
Atoughram - thanks for the advice on the second book recommendation. I'm going to Look in to that one too. And I sure hope this beer comes out tasting good! I smelled the top of the airlock and can smell the beer inside - it certainly smells good if you ask me.
GHB - I am learning that time and patience is key. I have my kit and I'm happy with the purchase. Now I need to dive in to the science of everything, which will help me understand the process better.
Mongoose and PADave - per usual, thanks for all of your contributions in this thread. I won't be buying anything in advance until I know the exact beer I want to brew. It just makes the most sense now that I can understand why it's not a good idea to buy lots of ingredients. Good news is, I found a local home brew store which I didn't even know existed! So I'm stoked about that, and will be going on Friday to look around. Now I can buy fresh from them.
Thanks as always! What an awesome thread this will be for so many new people. So many people will learn from it.
Thanks so much. I'll be looking in to BIAB for sure. Right now I'm waiting on my first extract brew to be complete. It's got another week to ferment.
Question for all: should I leave it be for an additional week before bottling? It calls for two weeks, but I don't mind waiting longer if it could make it better. Or should I leave it an additional week after bottling? Or it won't make a difference?
Also, I wanted to take a pic to show how far off I was from the 5 gallon mark. I wrote the number 5 on the side of the fermenter to show where I should have been. I must have over boiled, but I hope it doesn't drastically change anything. View attachment 382280View attachment 382281
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