Bought my first starter kit and burner, what else do I need?

I recommend ball lock vs pin locks. I don’t know about all the new kegs available so I can’t recommend a specific brand. I got all 3 of mine used on Craigslist. They are the old soda kegs. They work great and can find them for pretty cheap used. A lot of people get into homebrewing and realize it’s more work than they were expecting. Also, you can get 5 lbs CO2 tanks. Since you’ll be doing one style you might not need a bunch of taps so 5 lbs vs 10 lbs might be the way to go. For me brewing nothing but hazies would get old pretty quick. But either you’ll branch out or be the next treehouse.

The best thing you can do is read “how to brew” by John palmar. Also, spend time on the Homebrewing Forum on BA and just read the threads. Lastly, visit your local homebrew shop if you have one. See what they have and talk to the guys.

Welcome to a great hobby. Have fun and don’t forget to RDWHAHB.

 

You might also look at Charlie Papazian's books. Lot's of good info there.

 

There are two aspects to cleaning. 1 is cleaning and 2 is sanitizing.

For cleaning never use anything with a scent. I use scent free oxyclean and an odorless and color free soap. There are brewing specific soaps that people use and might be better but they cost more and as of right now the soap I use works fine.

2nd is sanitizing. I use starsan. A few good tips are to make a 5 gallon batch with DI or RO water and keep it sealed. You can use it over and over. Also, use a spray bottle. The spray bottle makes the starsan go a long way.

 

As for kegging, Adventures in Homebrewing has deals on new kegs that's amazing. (If I didn't have a couple, I would think the price is so low it must be a scam. It's not.)

Star San is the key. Lots of great tips on how to prevent wasting it. I would suggest buying a huge container. It gets ALOT cheaper when you don't buy the teeny bottles. Nobody ever ruined a batch by sanitizing too many things.

Despite hundreds of hours listening to advice from scored of great homebrewers, I would say that I learned to homebrew working in a hospital cleaning tracheostomies. Be clean, and your beer will be at least decent. Ignore cleanliness and sanitation, and you'll be putting your kitchen drain to use.

Finally, fermentation temperature. I'm not going to go any further on that subject, though. There are already more term temp threads than grains of sand. But, makes sure you read a few of them. It's the one thing that will take your beer from decent to amazing.

 

For cleaning I use PBW. Its basic, and then I use Star San for sanitizing. If the high pH won't kill something the low pH will.

 

Welcome to the great hobby of homebrewing, Jimmy. Your thread will get more appropriate readership in the Homebrewing forum, so I'm going to ask a mod to move it there. Your questions about kegging likely will receive answers from readers in the Homebrewing forum, but you should also read through the threads in the Home Bar forum. The questions that you have are pretty basic and have been covered numerous times in both forums.

Is your kit for an extract-based recipe or for all-grain? Just be prepared and read the instructions thoroughly before you get going. If you are a 'detail' person, you'll be okay. Write down a timeline on the instructions sheet for each step. Watch for any potential boil-over because it happens quickly early in the boiling process. Don't leave your kettle unattended and be ready to turn off the heat source and stir the wort to combat the foam. Take notes that will help you on later brews. Good luck.

 

Did you get extract or all-grain. You will need rice hulls if it's all-grain. The directions say 1.1 qts water per pound of grain but wheat,oats and hops will soak up a bunch so i would do 1.5/1.75 to be safe.

 

Your post says you got a brewing kit and a burner, but you don't mention anything else. There are a number of other things that you'll need, including a few extra things if your kit is for an all-grain recipe. Here is a link to a search that I did of this forum using'equipment' as the search word in thread titles. If you still need hardware, this should give you all the info that you'll need, but ask further questions if you have them.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...?q=equipment&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=8

 

Where do you live in California?

 

I am not far from you. I live in Orange County. I take it you’re a Monkish fan?

 

I would add Scott Janish's book The New IPA to your reading list. If you are going down the hazy route full speed, he has spent the last 2 years heavily researching it. Tons of good info on hopping and malt bill.