This is going to be another expensive hobby

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Rockit said:
Compared to many other hobbies...it's dirt cheap.
Fishing/hunting..boats..ANYTHING with wheels...all way easier to blow big amounts of money on.
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100% agree with above, but have to add my most expensive hobby ever was my Ex-wife. Cost me thousands and thousands; all my home brewing/cider/mead/winemaking expenditures are a pittance compared to dealing with an EX. Ok, I'm being sarcastic, an Ex isn't a legitimate hobby, but it just if you look at where big money goes down the drain, homebrewing is chump change in comparison.
For the OP: some people feel they need an expensive brewing "rig", but you can brew great beer with a minimum of equipment. Your beer will greatly improve by pitching an adequate amount of yeast, fermentation control, a kegging set up the good recipes/ingredients.
You can use the Mr. Beer Fermenters, since you have 2, just multiply the existing 5 gallon recipes x .75 and make 3.75 gallon batches. Having a pot larger than 4 gallons would be nice.
If you don't want to upgrade to a larger kettle, my first expenditure would be a 5 gallon plastic carboy and an airlock/stopper. shoot for 3 gallon batches, that will work fine for your 4 gallon pot. The next upgrade would be a 5 gallon round cooler, about $20 from Walmart. Rig up a spigot and put a BIAB bag (about $8) in there and you have good mashing equipment.
So your next up grade would be temperature control. A small chest freezer and a controller is what you want, but for years I used a cardboard box lined with insulation board, kept cold with frozen 1-2 liter water bottles. You have to play around with it, but you can make that work for very little investment. An auto siphon costs about $10, I replace the tubing every 6 months or so.
Bottling is a tiresome chore, so eventually you'll want some corny kegs (about $50) and a spare refrigerator to hold them. You'll also need a regulator, Co2 tank, hoses and fittings, and all those things add up, but the amount of time saved is well worth it. You can spend a lot on kegging, but I just use a picnic tap, put the keg and Co2 bottle in an old 'fridge, and it works fine.
Keep an eye on your local craigslist, there's used brewing stuff available all the time.
Be aware of prices, some people try to get sell on craigslist for more than it costs to just order it on line.
Brew with the water you have and see how it comes out. If your water tastes ok right out of the tap, it should be fine. My well water has lots of Iron/Sulfur, so I use distilled water built up with added minerals for IPA's and water from my spring for other beers. Manipulating your water is somewhat advanced and not really worth worrying about until you have experience in many other areas of brewing. If your water isn't suitable, just use bottled spring water. When I make lagers, I'll use a 50/50 mix of spring and distilled water.
Get some extra food grade buckets, they come in handy for all your brewing tasks. I have one dedicated bucket for star-san sanitizer and use the same solution several times before It gets dumped.
If you haven't read the free on line book "how to brew" by John Palmer, I'd get stated on that ASAP. Good luck and happy brewing.
 
Soulshine2 said:
[...] Right now ,I am waiting for these Mr Beer kits to finish out to see if I even want to continue on to 5 gallon batches. Wife likes the banana /clove of Hefeweissen and I plan on working up to a batch of that [...]
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Just for the record, if you want good beer, stay away from Mr. Beer kits. They are 95% marketing and 5% product.

Instead, buy ingredient kits that are proven to make the promised beer (which they not always do) or use proven recipes posted here and elsewhere then compound from loose bought ingredients. Steeping grain, 3# bags or bulk buy of dry malt extract (you really only need Pilsen / Extra Light), hops, and yeast. That's all you need for extract batches. And decent water.

Unless you bought RO water, before you boil, treat your water with a pinch of Meta or 1/4 Campden tablet to destroy the chlorine.
 
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Kharnynb said:
mostly agree with you, but auto-siphons are an amazing invention worth every penny.
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The one I have (bought from Northern Brewer*) is probably defective. The rubber piston doesn't seal well. It's hard to start, and then about halfway thru draining the carboy it starts sucking air into the line. I could probably stop that by pouring some water in from the top, but it's not worth messing with. A $2 racking cane works perfectly every time.

*I should probably leave the product a review on their website, mostly to test whether they still delete all the bad reviews.
 
To madscientist...I have an Exwife as well, and you're 100% correct..those are probably the most expensive thing on earth.
I like your breakdown and progression of equipment. I tinker and I think what you said you did , I could do as well . I have some equipment usable now. I can get more ,just a matter of what and where and how much . I hit thrift stores often and find all kinds of unusual but completely usable stuff at a fraction of cost. I'm going to wait on these 2 kits and then see what I feel like doing. I'm becoming overwhelmed by all the comments -you need to buy this , you need that , don't do this , don't buy that you don't need it...its getting a little confusing and almost makes me want to give up before I get started. Heres what I don't want to happen which has been stated - to buy cheap and then rebuy for a quality upgrade....ON THE OTHER HAND, I don't want to make a big investment for quality purpose sake only to not see any return or lets call it depreciation or even not like it and sell it and have to take a loss. What I have was cheap enough at $5 per kit . All I have invested is water ,about 3 hours time and a couple bucks for the fresh yeast to get it going. If this goes in the trash I'm out a whopping $20.
 
Rockit said:
Compared to many other hobbies...it's dirt cheap.
Fishing/hunting..boats..ANYTHING with wheels...all way easier to blow big amounts of money on.
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+1...
I cant think of another hobby I have that is a fraction as cheap as this one. I spend 2000 per year just getting to Fly fishing spots. Don't even ask me about the boats expenses...and Skiing? Sheesh! Cant afford it anymore. Wood working?...forget a bout it..not even close. Gym membership? Nope way more expensive...Lets see maybe walking the dogs...dont know about that either, that's an 800.00 dog x 2 plus vet bills, fancy food and lord knows what all else as I quit asking..

Cheapest hobby I have by far...anyone whose not saving money brewing there own over buying it is doing it wrong. An awesome IPA we brew that everyone loves is still only 5.00 per gallon....Cheap! Dirt Cheap!

FWIW... I build my own fly rods and tie my own fly's...still not even in the same league comparison wise. And dont get me started on anything that goes bang.

Gardening might be the closest thing I can come up with....OH Wait....I weed with an excavator...never mind.

IMG_1507.JPG
 
Here is what I tell people to buy.

1) 16 gal Bayou Classic SS pot with valve and Bazooka screen 155.00 online
2) 70 Quart Coleman Extreme Cooler 47.00 Walmart
3) Propane burner 40.00 on sale all the time. Add 40 if you need a Tank
4) Hydrometer and Tube thing 15.00 LHBS
5) Long Spoon 1.00 Dollar store
6) Digital thermometer 12.00 on line
7) bottle caper 15.00
8) 2- 6 gallon ferm buckets with spouts 35.00
Dude your brewing for the next 10 years for < 300.00 , no upgrades needed unless you want them.
 
Kharnynb said:
On a bottling bucket, sure, on a primary it just adds more problems than it is worth.
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I've never had a problem. Much easier to clean than the autosiphon. Attach a hose and turn the valve. Every primary I purchase will have one. Sure, the autosiphon can come in handy, I just dread cleaning and sanitizing the thing due to its awkward size.
 
I agree, if you have money to spare for a full steel ss brew bucket, it's a totally different thing than a plastic bucket with a spigot.

While of course it can go perfectly well, i've already had one failure in a bottling bucket that cost me almost half a batch...don't want to increase that with a 2-4 week sit around in a fermenting bucket.
also not great to clean a spigot somehow if you are using a swamp cooler where it sits in the water for weeks.
 
Kharnynb said:
On a bottling bucket, sure, on a primary it just adds more problems than it is worth.
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Hundreds of batches now and not one infection not counting the penicil growth I had just recently after pitching some roasted coconut into secondary. Always store my buckets with enough starsan in them to keep the valves flooded. Nothing is going to grow in there.

Safe to say 10's of thousands of batches are fermented in valved buckets every year across the globe...Infections are an issue for any brewer regardless of process or equipment. I have an auto siphon as well and use it for wine and occasionally beer if need be.
Your beer is only as safe as your practices. You cant expect to treat a valved bucket the same as you would a non valved bucket. Take time to disassemble them after each use as much as you can, cleaning the threads and gaskets, stick a small brush inside and clean what you can, look in them and make sure nothing is fouling them, but IMO the most important is to keep them flooded in starsan. If your worried about etching the buckets doing that for prolonged periods then remove the valves and store them flooded in a separate container by themselves and install back in the buckets when your ready to ferment, bottle or whatever.

This topic comes up all the time and is like beating a dead horse, but to put a blanket statement to a new brewer that valves should be avoided for risk of infection is just plain wrong. Having a preference one way or the other is fine. But we should teach proper handling and usage of all brew gear and the merits of all.

PS: That penicil growth didn't affect the beer or the operation of using the bucket valve one bit..just made sure I didn't let the surface level fall to low at bottling and suck any in. It was a Gluten free for my daughter hence the reason it got bottled instead of keged..she said it put commercial gluten frees to shame. I have another batch ready to bottle right now...I boiled the coconut in 2 cups water this time instead of roasting and direct pitching. Pretty sure light roasting just doesn't kill everything it needs to. Hope it taste as good. She will let me know if not that's for sure....... Might have to grow penicillin on purpose from here on out if not.. :)
 
I've got spigots on all my bigmouth bubbler fermenters. I always disassemble when cleaning, takes about 15 seconds to get it off the fermenter, then I clean it w/ a small brush, soak in PBW, rinse, soak in Star-San a bit, then back on. It probably takes, cumulatively, 5 minutes to do all this. In fact, when I store the fermenters I don't reinstall the valve until the day I use it, and I dunk that spigot in Star-San again, working the valve, before reinstalling it.

Seems to work.
 
Don't feel like you HAVE to sit on your money and go in for the best at first. Sure, if you're upgrading later on that's probably good practice, but if you get a decent starter kit to get your feet wet you'll use most of that equipment even when you start upgrading your system in the future. When you start making bigger purchases/upgrades (e.g. kettle, pumps, kegging stuff, etc.) then take your time, peruse HBT threads and weight your options.

That's what I like about brewing, its not like other hobbies (e.g. motorcycling, boating, etc.) where you have one big purchase and that's what you're stuck with. You can brew great beer with cheap equipment, and you can brew great beer with the most expensive equipment. Everything in between is just process, preference, and quantity related.

I get asked (by non-brewers) all the time if I save a ton of money on beer, and my answer is always no. If you factor in ingredients, equipment, energy (gas/electricity), and time you're probably not making it for much less than you can buy it in most cases.

You'll find many different opinions, processes and techniques unique to all homebrewers, which is why it's such an awesome hobby.

Enjoy it! :mug:
 
Stillraining said:
Hundreds of batches now and not one infection not counting the penicil growth I had just recently after pitching some roasted coconut into secondary. Always store my buckets with enough starsan in them to keep the valves flooded. Nothing is going to grow in there.

Safe to say 10's of thousands of batches are fermented in valved buckets every year across the globe...Infections are an issue for any brewer regardless of process or equipment. I have an auto siphon as well and use it for wine and occasionally beer if need be.
Your beer is only as safe as your practices. You cant expect to treat a valved bucket the same as you would a non valved bucket. Take time to disassemble them after each use as much as you can, cleaning the threads and gaskets, stick a small brush inside and clean what you can, look in them and make sure nothing is fouling them, but IMO the most important is to keep them flooded in starsan. If your worried about etching the buckets doing that for prolonged periods then remove the valves and store them flooded in a separate container by themselves and install back in the buckets when your ready to ferment, bottle or whatever.

This topic comes up all the time and is like beating a dead horse, but to put a blanket statement to a new brewer that valves should be avoided for risk of infection is just plain wrong. Having a preference one way or the other is fine. But we should teach proper handling and usage of all brew gear and the merits of all.
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All i did was state my opinion, that they are to me, more trouble than they solve. also, you cannot deny that it is one more thing that can go wrong, even if it hasn't for you.

even a slightly leaking one means it displaces air and adds oxygen to the beer.
 
Aaaaand...back on topic :D

To the OP: I too wrestled with what to buy when I started. With some advice from my LHBS (shameless plug for High Gravity in Tulsa right here lol) I decided to go with a deluxe starter kit. Six gal bucket fermenter, bottling bucket, hand capper, hydrometer, auto-siphon, racking cane, all the stuff I needed except a kettle and bottles. Bought a Polarware 5 gal SST stock pot, an extract kit, 2 cases of bottles, and I want to say I was "all in" for right around $200.

I still use most of the stuff I bought that day; while I'm all-grain now, and looking to upgrade to 10 gal brew days, I still ocassionally do 5 gal extract/steeping grain brews on the stove, so all the stuff is used to this day.

Now, to be completely transparent: after a couple all extract brews, I got another fermentation bucket, then 3 6.5 gal glass carboys, I upgraded to a bench-mount capper, and started brewing for "the pipeline" :D. Then I got tired of bottling and started kegging...got a fridge capable of holding 3 cornie kegs, and so on....there can be a progression of gear!!

Have fun, relax, don't worry, and have a home brew!
 
Yeah, I just finished my first brew. $50 for ingredients, $50 for bottles and lever caps, $50 for a brewing pot on top of the starter kit I got for Christmas and I spent another $80 for a Coleman 5 gallon mashing tun.
 
mongoose33 said:
Assuming you have little to no equipment, let me suggest this kit to you:

https://www.morebeer.com/products/premium-fermonster-homebrew-starter-kit.html

It comes with virtually everything you need to brew, including an extract kit for your first brew--so you don't even have to make the decision about ingredients, and can focus just on process. The only thing it really lacks is a burner such as a propane turkey burner (for outside), or possibly you could do it on your stove if it's stout enough.

Kristiismean above has it right: buy once. Don't go cheap just to find out you want to upgrade shortly thereafter. The kit above is really a great starting place, the kettle is good, the fermenter is good--it's what I wish I'd bought when I started.
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+1. I don't have this kit, but wish I would have. Though I'd say a 10 gallon kettle is better than 8.5, as you can then move to all grain BIAB with a $35 bag and pH meter....but if you have a decent stove, and want to do 3-4 gallon BIAB, this would be perfect.

You are getting good advice. The equipment can be tempting, but resist, and spend the energy making the beer. The crazy fancy equipment really is an automation obsessionmany guys have, which is really cool for the engineer minds, but not necessary.

I'm only in my 4th month in the hobby, and already have dragged 2 lay down freezers in the basement from Craigslist , and am halfway down the keg/Keezer rabbit hole. :tank: maybe I need to follow my own advice.
 
SWMBO says there's a hard limit on any new purchases. Yes dear. Absolutely, dear.

She's convinced the Mr. Beer kit is a disguised gateway to obsession and she feels guilty for humoring me over the last year or so.
I'm a seasonal brewer during the cooler months with limited space and means but it ain't gonna stop me. It's too much fun and the brewing/distilling bug is genetic. Piecing together my setup has been some of the best fun I've had since giving up my other life doing electronic systems configuration and fielding work for the Army. Brewing is simpler, less stressful, and who the hell cares about General Order #1 now, eh?

This weekend my ANVIL kettle came in and the 5gal. stainless stockpot will play support along with the Igloo mash tun and assorted carboys. This should keep me busy for another year until I can figure out the next "upgrade". :)
 
I stopped by the LBHS after dropping the infused cigars off at the distillery a few doors down. I talked again to the young man who helped me find the yeast. I expanded on what I want to brew, what I plan on doing and after reading How to Brew last couple days ,which he said was great that I had read it, I am getting a better idea what needs to be done and I think I may go the BIAB method for a more economic and simpler start and I can get a better idea from the start on AG batches instead of training myself for an extract batch only having to re-learn how to AG . AG doesn't seem difficult at all , just a few more steps . Like I analogized - its like saying I took a can of Campbells condensed soup (LME) and I made soup(beer)...No I didn't, I opened a can and added water and heated it up and ate it.
When I want to make SOUP ,I get a big pot(mash tun), and a stick of butter and clarify the onions beforehand(malt and roast the barley)broth or stock (water)and organic vegetable and meat (add the previously malted /roasted barley )add some heat (mash)and spices(yeast) and wait for it to simmer(ferment)then add the garnish and fresh ground pepper(hops)before serving(bottling). NOW I have what I want and I actually made it myself .
The young fella "Jake"said that AG is about half the ingredient price as LME and I'll be able to tweak recipes.
Need to get my house in order first but I think I can do this. I apologize if I came off as unappreciative ,there were a lot of advice given and much of it was on a lot of overpriced electronic engineering equipment I don't have money nor space for ...yet. Maybe in a few years when I'm able to retire I will consider stepping up a notch or two on the high tech . For now I just want to make beer and see how it turns out. I thank all of you for the advice so far.
BTW- I have a batch of (Actually Bob's Red Mill) barley I am malting since Tuesday, its chitting nicely and as of 5 minutes before I started this post the rootlets are 1/8" . I had done a small batch previously for "another project" which I refer to as "corn chowder" and it turned out great , roasted it to a light tan and soon added to a mash. The results came away with a light sweet caramel flavor as was intended. IMO I have a 12 yr old Glenfiddich tasting product. SO, thats at least one process I already kinda know how to do .
 
IMO I would start with an extract brew. That was one nice thing about the MoreBeer kit, it included one.

Brewing isn't rocket science but neither is it so simplistic we can just assume that the entire process from beginning to end will be completed flawlessly. The brew day can be split into two segments: pre-boil (where we don't care as much about sanitation because the result will be boiled, sanitizing it), and post-boil (where after boiling great care should be exercised to keep things sanitized).

The more steps you take upon yourself at the outset, the greater the chances you'll make a mistake--and to what, then, will you attribute a bad tasting beer? Bad water? Bad PH? Incorrect crush? Bad mix of ingredients? Poor mash temperature? There are many things to get right on the cold side.

I'm a scientist, and one of the things we do is try to eliminate alternative explanations--and in brewing, there's a lot of them.

It's interesting that you're malting, but almost nobody malts their own grain. That might be someplace you get later, but for now, simpler is better.

And FWIW, you'll find the advice above in books, not just from cantankerous old internet denizens.
 
well see thats me, I'm the "almost nobody" that does things. I grow tobacco . I did brain tan leather. I used to do taxidermy. I built a functioning wood chipper from a cut away picture once. I built a cedar strip canoe that I still have...its just my way . I have this thing inside me that drives me to do weird, maybe unorthodox things.
I have a horticulture degree so the whole barley malting process is just another hort project crossover(like tobacco) .
But I get what youre saying. Thanks
 
Soulshine2 said:
well see thats me, I'm the "almost nobody" that does things. I grow tobacco . I did brain tan leather. I used to do taxidermy. I built a functioning wood chipper from a cut away picture once. I built a cedar strip canoe that I still have...its just my way . I have this thing inside me that drives me to do weird, maybe unorthodox things.
I have a horticulture degree so the whole barley malting process is just another hort project crossover(like tobacco) .
But I get what youre saying. Thanks
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I totally understand where you're coming from. But leave the malting and the hop-growing to the experts at first, until you get gain a little bit of competence in the brewing part. Making your own malt can be the next step. When things go wrong (and they will) you need to be able to guess intelligently what went wrong so you can make changes to try to correct it. If you don't have *any* ingredients or processes that you can trust, you have no base for troubleshooting. It will get frustrating very quickly.

I bought a couple of pounds of tobacco leaves from an Amish farmer a few years ago when it was still legal to do so. I intended to make my own cigars; I don't smoke, I'm just a sucker for that sort of thing (saw Jimmy Stewart rolling a cigar in Shenandoah) and know its a dying artform. I still have most of it around here somewhere; I assume it's still good if the moths haven't gotten to it, just dried out.
 
z-bob said:
I totally understand where you're coming from. But leave the malting and the hop-growing to the experts at first, until you get gain a little bit of competence in the brewing part. Making your own malt can be the next step. When things go wrong (and they will) you need to be able to guess intelligently what went wrong so you can make changes to try to correct it. If you don't have *any* ingredients or processes that you can trust, you have no base for troubleshooting. It will get frustrating very quickly.
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I looked back through one of my books, "Homebrew All-Stars" by Drew Beechum and Denny Conn. Very good book, IMO.

Each "All-Star" has their own section detailing what they like, don't like, various ingredient and process information, and in many cases, advice for new brewers.

In Gary Glass' section he offers this "Parting Advice":

NEW BREWER: Sanitize everything, and I do mean everything, that touches your wort/beer post boil. But that's the obvious advice that every new brewer gets, and so here's something more unique: despite what many will tell you, don't start homebrewing by brewing all-grain. Take it easy, eliminate as many variables as possible your first time by brewing a simple extract kit. From there you can build your experience and knowledge to confidently try more complex brewing techniques.

Like OP, I've done a lot of...weird?...hobbies in my life, from developing and publishing game theory for fantasy baseball to making custom golf clubs to learning how to reload ammunition to....a lot of things. Now homebrewing. Much of that was hugely accelerated by the internet, forums and youtube and dedicated sites.

What I've learned over the years is that I will greatly shorten the learning curve if I seek out and listen to older and wiser hands. Their accumulated wisdom is something that should be heeded unless one wants to spend a lot of time banging one's head against the wall of a barely-moving learning curve.

I don't write this to convince OP; he's clearly decided how he's going to do this, and more power to him. I write this for others who might be reading this thread and wondering how to proceed.
 
While I agree with the advice to start extract, I expect the OP will want to move to AG immediately after first successful extract, which will probably be batch 2 or 3. This is what many are doing, as good BIAB is a temp probe, bag, pH meter, and chiller away...and to make extract clearer, chances are you have a chiller already. So, it is good to buy kettle with this in mind.
 
Tommydee said:
While I agree with the advice to start extract, I expect the OP will want to move to AG immediately after first successful extract, which will probably be batch 2 or 3. This is what many are doing, as good BIAB is a temp probe, bag, pH meter, and chiller away...and to make extract clearer, chances are you have a chiller already. So, it is good to buy kettle with this in mind.
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I've done 28 batches; my first 3 were extract, and that was about right. Since then, all-grain.
 
Just a note to folks just starting out. I am going way back to the 1960's. First I was an underage teenager that wanted beer but couldn't buy it. Had to actually go to a library in a bigger town than I lived in to find out about making Beer. That done I had to find the ingredients at a time when hardly anybody made beer for themselves and I had to get something for equipment. Went to the feed store to buy Malt and they didn't stoke it but they could get it. There was a choice of one malt in those days that you could buy on special order from the feed store. As for the Hops, I found some growing wild along the rail road track in a Pin Cherry tree. Now for the equipment. All I had available for a brew pot was Mom's Blue Enamel Canning Pot. And for a fermenter I had a real gem. A Medelta Pottery Ceramic Crock. It took two boils in that pot to fill the crock. Put a wooden lid on it and that was it. I used Flieshmans Yeast because that is what was available. I managed to brew a beer that was pretty good from a teenagers point of view. It was probably crap but it got me and my friends drunk so who cared. Now for bottling, I had no capper but you could find lots of bottles with screw caps in those days so I managed there. Total cost in 1960's dollars, Well about 5 bucks for the bag of Malt. The Yeast was in the cupboard and Mom didn't miss any if you took some.
 
When I was 15 in like 1965 I used a Blue Enamel Canning Pot and a Medelta Pottery Ceramic Crock for the fermenter with a wooden lid. I picked my own wild Hops or else used Spruce cones. I managed to buy Malt from the feed store on special order for 5 bucks for a fifty pound bag. The yeast was Flieshmans bread yeast snagged from Mom's cupboard. That figures out to $5.00 bucks for 25 Imperial gallons of beer. that got drank by an underage teen and friends who where also underage. That was one and a half cents a bottle. If you are willing to scrounge and compromise then it can be one of the cheapest hobbies going. On the other hand I will just bet that after you have been brewing for awhile you will want and get all the nice Go-Ga's
 
z-bob said:
I totally understand where you're coming from. But leave the malting and the hop-growing to the experts at first, until you get gain a little bit of competence in the brewing part. Making your own malt can be the next step. When things go wrong (and they will) you need to be able to guess intelligently what went wrong so you can make changes to try to correct it. If you don't have *any* ingredients or processes that you can trust, you have no base for troubleshooting. It will get frustrating very quickly.

I bought a couple of pounds of tobacco leaves from an Amish farmer a few years ago when it was still legal to do so. I intended to make my own cigars; I don't smoke, I'm just a sucker for that sort of thing (saw Jimmy Stewart rolling a cigar in Shenandoah) and know its a dying artform. I still have most of it around here somewhere; I assume it's still good if the moths haven't gotten to it, just dried out.
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what do you mean when it was still legal. Tobacco leaf can be bought. It has to have the main rib left in the leaf or else it becomes "processed" and the feds want a cut . Whole Leaf Tobacco sells it every day. I still buy some from them.
Moths don't eat tobacco, tobacco beetles do . If you still have that leaf it is probably just a little dried out but can be reydrated . Tobacco stores best below 12% moisture . Spray with distilled water and put it in a garbage bag to rehydrate overnight. Tobacco blending for cigars is probably a lot like you guys' beer recipes. If you do it right ,you'll know right away,because it works.
Guys, please don't take my want to do it my way to heart. I'm reading . I'm talking to the guy who runs the LHBS . He understands my situation with space and investment level. I understand the process. Just because I am not doing it how you do it doesn't mean I won't get to the something I'm after...a co-worker used to use this analogy all the time... Theres more than one way to cook a steak.
Theres self taught musicians that can't read music but they make awesome songs.
I'm not a trained sous chef either but know what goes together and I experiment from time to time. I can cook some kick ass food....which as I explained to my wife, this is basically cooking.
 
I thought cured whole-leaf tobacco was taxed now, like pipe tobacco. But that wasn't the point. If you're going to and jump directly into the deep end of the pool (malting his own barley, for anyone just joining this thread), which I think is a bad idea but I wish you well, doing Mr Beer sized batches makes a lot of sense. You have the fermenters already, and you might already have a kettle. Good luck.
 
I just thought of something. Maybe my tobacco analogy was a good one. I did roll and smoke a couple of little cigars, and proved that I could do it. They weren't very good, but since I don't smoke anyway that didn't matter. If I had to (zombie apocalypse, etc) I could roll cigars, and they were get better with practice; no need to practice now. And the next step would be to grow and cure my own tobacco (I have tobacco seeds)

So if making your own malt is the point, and brewing beer with it is just to test the malt to see how you did, carry on. :) But you don't need 5 or 10 gallons to do that, 2 gallons will do just fine.
 
Soulshine2 said:
well see thats me, I'm the "almost nobody" that does things. I grow tobacco . I did brain tan leather. I used to do taxidermy. I built a functioning wood chipper from a cut away picture once. I built a cedar strip canoe that I still have...its just my way . I have this thing inside me that drives me to do weird, maybe unorthodox things.
I have a horticulture degree so the whole barley malting process is just another hort project crossover(like tobacco) .
But I get what youre saying. Thanks
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All good reasons not to mess with extract and go straight all gran from the get go. It adds 1.25 hours to your brew day and is dirt and I mean DIRT simple.

1) heat water to strike temp
2) Immerse grains in it and give a good stir.
3) Go make love to your lady for 30 min. ( assuming your using a cooler MT to lock in heat and dont have to monitor anything ) and that's why I recommend it to you...KISS
4) Get dressed...Start heating your sparge water
5) At 60 min in...Drain first running from MT. Start heating collected wort and Sparge remainder of volume needed with your now up to temp sparge water all at the same time.

Guess what?............ your an all grain brewer.

Never done it but I bet rolling a cigar is way more difficult.

Carry on.
 
Never understood why people buy starter kits. Buy the shiny stuff on day one. Buy it all in one hit. Take the pain and then move on!

You have one pang of guilt as your family looks on disapprovingly, but you're all set to brew. Also, the kit starts paying you back from the very start.
 
IdiotBrewing said:
Never understood why people buy starter kits. Buy the shiny stuff on day one. Buy it all in one hit. Take the pain and then move on!

You have one pang of guilt as your family looks on disapprovingly, but you're all set to brew. Also, the kit starts paying you back from the very start.
Click to expand...

Because most people don't know enough about brewing, or if they will continue with it, to buy the shiny stuff on day one. I'm in the camp of get the bare minimum to brew, do a few batches, figure out what you need/want and go from there. I have a whole bin of equipment that now sits unused, that I "had" to have when I started brewing.
 
now I think some of you guys are understanding my point of view on starting. low initial cost vs "cheap" starter kit...theres a definite difference.
PADave- I try to buy middle of the road instead of cheap or high end whether it be tools ,vehicles or coffee(or cigars) . Something that works , maybe its not the best in bells and whistles but it works for my needs.
StillRaining,z-bob- rolling cigars is a traditional or "Cuban" technique. Theres a few ways to do it but to do it right. If you want to look it up , I roll "entubado" . Yes it takes some skill. I doubt many people could roll a perfect one right off the bat. Probably like brewing beer. I'm willing to make a few mistakes and brew some crap before I get to the Mmmm batch. BTW- z-bob, I just pulled a batch of my own homegrown Perique(fermented condiment pipe tobacco method originating in St James Parrish ,Louisiana)
Thanks Guys...maybe some of you guys need a couple of my cigars to enjoy with your home brews for your help and advice.
 
Amen on starting bare minimum. Plastic fermenter/bottling bucket, cheap mash tun cooler (get one with a spigot hole, do not try to drill one it's a pita) with homebuilt ball valve and screen from inside dishwasher hose, siphon tube size of spigot on bottling bucket, cheap stock pot 12-20 qt ( bigger starts to add dollars) sanitizer/cleaner(I used one step by itself for many batches) bottle capper and bottle filler. Packets of unflavored Knox gelatin added cold 24 hours before you transfer to bottling bucket if you want clear beer work wonders too.

Save beer bottles and wash them out immediately. Take off labels and sanitize in oven at 180F for 20 minutes. You will have to buy caps however.

Your first couple batches you do not need a full boil, add water afterwards... if you like the hobby a full boil is supposed to be a better beer but honestly if you end up not liking the hobby you waste money on the pot.

This is assuming you already have a wooden/plastic stirring spoon and a strainer and stove and thermometer in your house. Gas is best but electric will work and will take forever. If you have a turkey fryer even better because your house will not get hot and it will be much quicker.

Deals happen. I found a 10 gallon pot I purchased for $10 at work because no one was using it. Helps that I work in food industry... also found 9-gallon cooler for $2. Father in law gave me a turkey fryer that he wasn't using. Now have a homemade BrewEasy for less than $100, the pump was $60 (williamsbrewing.com)

Sorry a bit fragmented...
 

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