NM Girl here!

[MegMal]

Hi all!

My name is Meg and I got bit by the homebrew bug!

My husband loves beer and all kinds of beer except Miller/Michelob/Bud and their ilk. So we (really, he) drink a fairly wide variety of beer in the house. But when I saw a link to HBT and the keezers and kegerators that you've all built - I was hooked. I'd long been wanting to try to brew my own beer, as I tend to like specialty small batch brews. Several of my extended family have brewed in the past and I plan on picking their brains as well as having a degree in chemistry myself (so the sheer math and calculations are a thing of beauty for me!).

I decided to do this back-***wards as usual and build the Keezer first (as a birthday gift for my husband) and then next summer, start home brewing - first extracts then in several years, go AG. I've lurked for a long time here and it's been wonderful for gathering information.

The Keezer is a conversion from an upright Sears freezer (coils on the back, condenser at the backbase) with three taps in the door. The freezer would fit three cornies and a 10# CO2 tank with room for one more cornie if I made it tight (which I don't want to do). Even building the small shelf for the tank/cornies leaves me enough space for guages and a small shelf (possibly for the random six pack or brewing supplies).

Any advice for a first-time builder?

 

[corkybstewart]

Welcome to the obsession. There's a brewing club in 'Querque, The Dukes of Ale I think. Track them down and join, their members will be able to help you a lot.
Don't wait until summer, brewing is a cool season hobby so springtime and fall are best. Brewing in the NM heat presents new challenges that first time brewers shouldn't have to worry about.

 

[MegMal]

Thanks for the welcome!

I've been told about the Dukes! I'm kind of shy, so I may or may not make it to a group meet up.

I have budgeted through the end of May for the freezer conversion/Keezer, so I have to wait until summer to start purchasing my homebrew equipment (though I've been told that I may be being given some by extended Family!!!! )

I figure with judicious purchasing and whatever I can score from other people, I should be able to brew by September of next year. I can't stand the heat very well, so summer brewing would be tricky at best unless I do it up at my parents (they have a very well controlled house temp with central air and many dark closets with cement floors!)

 

[dover157]

Welcome to HBT. Lots of good info here and the hours are better than most stores when you have a question. I reccomend Victors Grape Arbor on san mateo just north of I-40 if you feel like asking somone question in person. Cant say anything about the brewing club though sorry.

 

[drocu]

I'd suggest putting the CO2 tank outside of the freezer to give yourself more room for beer. Try to find a manual for your model to determine where the coolant lines are so you can avoid drilling through them. The only thing better than a 3-tap kegerator is a 4-tap one.

By the way, your husband is one lucky guy.

 

[scotched]

The only advice I can give is (and you certainly have the means to do this), control the fermentation temperature on your first batch.

This makes a night and day difference, and I wish I had thought of this on my first 3 batches of beer.

 

[r8rphan]

Why can't I meet a woman like that?

 

[corkybstewart]

. The freezer would fit three cornies and a 10# CO2 tank with room for one more cornie if I made it tight (which I don't want to do). Even building the small shelf for the tank/cornies leaves me enough space for guages and a small shelf (possibly for the random six pack or brewing supplies).

Any advice for a first-time builder?

I second the idea to put the CO2 bottle outside. The gauges actually take more space than you would imagine, and it's nice to be able to view and adjust the pressure without opening the freezer. If you are not absolutely sure where the coils are drill a small pilot hole, just barely through the skin on the inside. Then take something like a knitting needle, or other probe and dig around to make sure there's nothing but insulation where you want to drill. If it looks good, drill a hole just big enough for your gas line, but again just through the skin,m not into the insulation. Dig around again to make sure there are no wires or tubing before you drill the hole all the way through. I've done this on 4 fridges and never hit anything.
What are you using to control the temp inside the freezer? There's a thread on here somewhere about using the existing freezer thermostat, that will save you $50 or $60, or you can buy an external controller.

 

[Homercidal]

Living in the warm climate means you'll have to purchase a freezer or something from Craigslist and a temp controller for a fermentation chamber if you want perfect temp control all year. Really not a big deal IMO now that I've done it. There are other methods, but they are lots more hands-on and don't hold temp nearly as steady.

My advice is to make a cheap swamp cooler now that it's cooler out and start brewing! There are tons of threads in the beginners area to get you started. Extract kits work very well to start with and can make great beer with some helpful advice.

Sanitation (I recommend Starsan)
Temp control (already covered)
Yeast health and pitching rate (temp during handling, building proper sized starter, aerating wort, etc.)
RDWHAHB!

 

[drocu]

If you have an extra freezer/fridge/mini-fridge, I'd just skip the swamp cooler and make a fermentation chamber using the ebay temp controller. I did the swamp cooler for a bit and found it to be annoying. And after making the ebay temp controller, I saw how easy and cheap it was and it works amazingly well.