First post/Introduction.

Congrats and welcome! The really nice thing about homebrewing is that there's a ton of flexibility with everything from equipment to recipes, so you'll find over time that your equipment varies based on your preference.

Here's what I had to get started: a big (20 or 30-quart) stainless steel brewpot, a big brewing paddle, a glass 6 gallon carboy for primary fermentation, a glass 5 gallon carboy for secondary fermentation, a siphon for transferring from pot to fermenter, bottling bucket (though I prefer to use the siphon with a bottling attachment), immersion wort chiller, hydrometer, thermometer, sanitizer (I like sani-clean, but my fiance likes iodine-based cleaners---matter of preference), a capper, and saved up empty bottles for the next batch

Sadly, I only have an electric stove, so I don't have the space or setup to do all-grain. I've found that liquid extract brewing or partial mash still gets me where I want, though I'm sure you'll get a lot of purists steering you towards a propane burner and keggle (or false bottom pot) for all-grain brewing. That's an awesome addition if you have the space and money. I've never used dry malt extract with brewing so I can't speak to that.

Do you have a local homebrew store? I really like annapolishomebrew.com because they make their own recipe kits (and have a wide variety of "copycat" recipes) and ship all over the country. Tough to imagine going back to the boxed kits since using them. In a local shop, I'd look for a place that has their own grains and materials to make a kit from scratch. That'll come in handy once you start wanting to experiment with your own recipes (or recipes you find online).

Happy brewing to you and your wife!

 

Welcome to the addiction. www.howtobrew.com is the first place I send new brewers and people interested in the hobby. It sounds like you have a good jump on it though. Shadowing an experienced brewer is as good as it gets when you want an idea of how this stuff works. Look forward to seeing you on the forums!

 

The paper version of how to brew is pretty cheap, and has newer info. But the free online edition is good material also. I really don't recommend glass carboys. The plastic PET carboys (better bottles) are much more user friendly. And less dangerous. But, check out craigs list for your area and see about getting second hand material after reading how to brew. There are many paths you can take, and different equipment you can get. Reading how to brew will give you perspective and direction, and that will dictate what equipment you will want to get.

 

Welcome to the BA site, Nedcmk1, and to this great hobby. If you are reading back among the pages of this forum, that's a great thing to be doing. Pay special attention to threads about equipment needed, which beers to brew first, and any threads that discuss the pros and cons of all-grain brewing vs. extract brewing. Palmer's How to Brew discusses those topics too, so you should be covered. Evert now and then a thread gets started that is noting but good tips for the beginning homebrewer, so if you don't see a thread like that (and it seems like it's been at least 6 months ago for the last one) you can do a search on the key word 'tips' and maybe that will get one or more of these threads for you.

Hang around the site as long as you'd like, discover the features of this place, and enjoy your time here.

 

Welcome @Nedcmk1 ! My advice is to just dive on in, and learn from your mistakes along the way. The more you brew, the more you'll learn. Definitely read some books/watch some videos, but the best way to learn (at least for me) is to just start doing it 'hands on'.

 

welcome and let the brewing begin. best hobby ever and lots of great folks willing to help.

 

My tenants that I definitely didn't just come up with off the top of my head:

1. Sanitize, sanitize, sanitize.
2. Keep in mind that we make wort. It's the yeast that makes the beer. Treat them well, and they'll treat you well.
3. Just accept the fact that you will make a few real clunkers at the beginning. You'll have fond memories of choking these down and learning from your mistakes.
4. Keep it simple. No need to make an 11% oak aged caramel apple maple bacon pecan habanero black IPA with brett on your second batch. In fact, stick to grain, hops, yeast, and water until you have made multiple really nice beers in a row.
5. Stay sober on at least your first few brew days. It seems like there are a thousand things going on at a time on your first few batches. No need to make it more difficult on yourself by drinking. At this point, I typically have one beer during the boil and another during cleanup.
6. Since you said you'd like to develop your own recipes in the future, start keeping track of what beers you like and what's in them. A lot of breweries will list ingredients on their sites, and you'll have the full recipe for the ones you make yourself.
7. Have fun!

Welcome to the forum!

 

Ask lots of questions BEFORE you brew your first batch. We can help prevent a lot of common beginner mistakes

Go ahead and buy How to Brew in print. Amazon sells it for ~$12. You could substitute Brewing Classic Styles if you want a lighter intro to brewing with a lot of tested recipes. Amazon sells that for ~$12.

 

Bitters & Esters is where I buy my homebrew equipment/ingredients. It is a good store, although its small physical size means that it doesn't have a huge selection of malts. (Still, it should be completely adequate for a beginning homebrewer.) I actually have some old glass carboys that you're welcome to take, if you want them, although I strongly advise you to go with plastic instead. But anyway, I think you're "doing it right" in terms of taking a class at a local homebrew store so that you can get some guided hands-on experience. My advice in another thread is the same advice I would give you, except that it is a little specific because that brewer (1) wanted to do 1-gallon batches (which is why I suggested 2-3 gallon batches) and (2) likes hefeweizens, which is why I suggested an extract hefe recipe as a good starting point. It may be that neither of those considerations applies to you.

 

Did the kit include some sort of smoked malt? I can't think of any smoked malts that would be steepable. They should be mashed. Or perhaps this was actually a mini-mash recipe. I'm really hoping the LHBS didn't have you do a simple steep (that doesn't meet mash conditions) with a smoked based malt.

 

@ only 4 oz of smoked malt you will probably be OK, but beware any advice/recipe kit having you steep base malt instead of mash it. Welcome to Opinions R US

 

It will still be beer, but it's not a best practice. Steeping (rather than mashing) base malts results in the starches in the malt not being converted to fermentable/unfermentable sugars/dextrins, and also results in having starches in your beer. Starches in your beer can be bad for shelf life and appearance.

As GK101 noted, 4 ounces isn't going to ruin this beer. Kind of annoying that recipe kit builders are still doing this kind of thing though.

I haven't read the whole recipe, but this caught my eye...
"18. After 2 weeks take a hydrometer reading. If you hit your final gravity and the beer is clear and tastes good, you are ready to bottle."
IMO there's a step missing there, which is to take a second hydrometer reading 2-3 days later and make sure it's the same, i.e. that the final gravity has stabilized.

 

When it comes to boiling off or adding water i've learned to trust my math rather than my hydrometer. I've made the same mistakes when topping off and it throwing my readings off