Thinking about getting into brewing my own beer. I'm a n00b so any advice, suggestions, etc is much appreciated. I'd start with attempting to brew standard beer, but I want to get into flavors that some may consider odd.
Read as much as you can, watch ppl brew on youtube, take notes, ask lots of questions on here no matter how dumb they might seem. How To Brew, by John Palmer should be one of the first books you read. Also, I recently just switched to all grain brewing, it seemed intimidating, but its really pretty easy- well after watching other ppl do it and reading alot anyway. Be OCD about your sanitation habits. Most of all, enjoy yourself. Its a lot of work, but its so worth it and satisfying in the end. The ppl on this site are more than willing to guide you and quick to tell you if youre doing something wrong haha but thats a good thing. Welcome to an addicting, wonderful hobby/lifestyle! Cheers!
as stated above http://www.howtobrew.com/ Don Osborn has got a pretty economical straightforward approach to brewing. Look at all his videos.http://www.youtube.com/user/donosborn Check out all of Northern Brewer Videos too here http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewingtv/
First be prepared to drop some dough. Second I would just pick up a basic brew kit and a malt extract ingredient kit. I feel its better to get a routine down before jumping to all grain and creating your own recipes. You can always alter the kits by adding different hops, spices etc. And as the other 2 said read as much as possible. Google and the forums are your friend, I dont think Ive ever had a question that hasnt been asked in a forum yet. Youtube is also great because sometimes its a lot easier to grasp a concept by seeing it done.
I hate lists so I'll make this quick: You should decide if craft brew/cooking is something that you love You should decide how much you want to spend on that love. It starts around $150. Buy ONCE I think I've spent more on brewing that my car is worth You don't have to Flesh out your odd tastes, and for the love of God, tell us. The suspense kills us Be willing to start with simple recipes and expand your technique. Walk, then learn how to run on the wild side
I'm pretty new to brewing, so not very long ago I was in your exact shoes (and have tons to learn yet). I started with a brew kit, this one to be exact: http://www.kegerator.com/gold-beer-...gid=Homebrew_Supplies-Homebrew_Equipment_Kits I then picked up the beer kit of my choice (partial extract with grains and hop additions). They sell them at kegerator.com, and many other great sites online. I was off and running. Now all I do is read about it, watch videos, talk about it and look forward to the upcoming brew days! All grain is next on the docket! Good luck and remember to have fun! Regards, Chris
What kits should I be looking at? I don't want to go too small only to waste $ & need to upgrade 2 months in, but I don't need to go extreme overkill either.
I'm also hearing a lot about temperature control, but don't know how to go about it the right way. My basement is cold in the winter, but not as cool in the summer of course. I have a mini fridge I can use if need be, though. Just need to know how to modify it properly.
I consider myself a pretty decent online shopper, and the kit I posted in the link above is a pretty decent deal in my opinion. There might be better deals on more basic setups if you don't want things like a secondary fermenter. I chose mine cause it includes the stainless brew kettle, a secondary fermenter, and the rest of the basics. I already need to get more equipment, but that's because I'm moving towards all grain. I recommend not using a large pot that's regularly used for cooking food, I want my beer stuff for beer only (keep the nasties out). Look around for yourself, cause there's lots of kits out there! As for temp; Lagers are usually stored between 46-58 degrees, and ales are between 60-75ish. Where I store my fermenting beer is usually around 50ish degrees this time of year, so in order to save cost on heating/electricity, I will brew lagers till it warms up a bit. If your mini fridge is large enough to facilitate a 5gal carboy, than use that baby! For the summer time, I'm going to buy a small meat freezer. Hope this helps! Regards, Chris
What temp is normal in the basement? Is it a heated space at all? Is the furnace down there? If you don't know what the temp is then you're going to have to get a thermometer to figure it out sooner or later. Basements normally will be 60-65 degrees, so that isn't too bad for fermenting ales. There are ways to moderate the temp to allow for a good fermentation, but you first have to know where you stand with the normal temp in that environment. If you're going to brew lagers then you'll have to convert your mini-fridge (if your fermentation container fits inside) by using a power interrupter thermometer that controls the electricity (thus the temp) doing to the fridge by plugging it into the wall receptacle between the fridge's plug and the receptacle. A thermocouple inside the fridge cuts off the power to the fridge to control the temp instead of allowing the fridge's thermostat to do it. (The fridge's thermostat probably does not have a setting above 45 degrees, and 45-55 degrees is the temp at which lager yeasts typically work.) But you shouldn't worry about that right now, and I encourage you NOT to try a lager until you've brewed a few ales to get the hang of this great hobby.
The kit that CDennryRun posted is a very good deal and everything you need. If you want to go all grain in the future youll have to upgrade to a bigger pot, but will still have use for the smaller pot and can use everything else with the kit. As far as temp, Mothergoose pretty much covered it. Figure out the temps in your basement and work with what you got. Do some research on yeast strains and what temps they perform best at.
I probably should have use the term 'external thermostat' for this thing and your Google search would have been easier. Most homebrew supply outlets will carry them. Here's a link to a Johnson Controls version on the Northern Brewer site. http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...rmostat.html?gclid=CJOVn8rZi70CFe5aMgodhUYARw
