Thinking about trying homebrewing.

I just started myself. (My first batch is fermenting) And I can answer question 4 by recommending The Complete Joy Of Homebrewing 3rd edition by Charlie Papazian. Also, the answer to #2 is yes. I'm sure others will give you better answers than I could for the other questions. Enjoy!

 

1. Yes, buy a starter kit, they are usually better priced than buying individually.
2. No, electric stoves suck...gas much better..but split boil in 2 kettles if you must...use extract at first.
3. No, but get a starter kit with a plastic BUCKET and a plastic BUCKET with a spigot (bottling bucket)
4. How To Brew, by John Palmer...(or Charlie Papazian's...a somewhat distant second, IMHO.)
5. Cheers

 

Starter kits are a good place to start. They will provide just about everything you need to get going. Most will also include your first recipe kit. Note that stater kits don't include a brew pot/kettle or a hydrometer. You will need to buy both separately.

Here is the kit I recommend:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...g-starter-kit/deluxe-brewing-starter-kit.html

Or, if you live in a small apartment, you might decide to go with a small batch kit to start out, in which case this is a good kit:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...ter-kit/1-gallon-small-batch-starter-kit.html

If you're brewing on an electric stove, you won't be able to get much more than 3 gallons of water/wort to boil vigorously, so a 5 gallon brew kettle will work fine. Here is a decent, affordable one:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...t/brew-kettles/5-gallon-stainless-kettle.html

Lastly, here is a hydrometer kit:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewery-essentials-gravity-testing-assembly.html

You can do 5 gallon bathes on an electric stove, but won't be able to do a full boil, or all grain. It will have to be extract, and partial boil. This will somewhat affect the beer's taste. I had to brew for a while using an electric stove, and ended up preferring to do all grain 1 gallon batches. Now I still brew in the kitchen, but on an gas stove, and do 2.5 gallon all grain BIAB batches. Having said that, it is possible to brew very drinkable extract beer on an electric stove.

I've always used glass carboys, but plenty of people here use plastic with good results.

How To Brew by John Palmer:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Ever...F8&qid=1382154132&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+brew

The Complete Joy Of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Homebrewing-Third-Edition/dp/0060531053/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y

Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew by Jamil Zainasheff & John Palmer:
http://www.amazon.com/Brewing-Classic-Styles-Winning-Recipes/dp/0937381926/ref=pd_sim_b_3

My favorite brewing books:

Farmhouse Ales: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition by Phil Markowski
http://www.amazon.com/Farmhouse-Ale...d=1382154369&sr=1-2&keywords=brew+like+a+monk

Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition by Jeff Sparrow
http://www.amazon.com/Jeff-Sparrow/e/B001JS40QW/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_6?qid=1382154398&sr=1-6

Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew Them by Stan Hieronymus
http://www.amazon.com/Brew-Like-Mon...d=1382154336&sr=1-1&keywords=brew+like+a+monk


I hope this is useful to you. Have fun and good luck!

od

 

Hi Tad,

It's easy to overwhelm new brewers and throw a bunch of information at them and expect them to makes head from tails. I try to keep things simple when I brew. Maybe I haven't come far from my first batch, but I've got quite a few brews under my belt.

1. There are two answers here. If you are a new brewer trying to tackle this on your own, buy a mid grade kit. If you're serious about this you'll make adaptations and continue the obsession. If you know a homebrewer who's helping you get into this hobby, ask for assistance here.

2. To use a stove effectively, you'll need multiple pots and a main kettle to dump them all into when you finally hit a boil. It adds an extra hour or so to brew day. I hated doing this when I lived in an apartment. I don't advise this and there are safer, quicker and less stressful ways to get this done. If you're going to go this route, look into a bucket heater on Amazon, or Local Home Brew Store. If you want to spend the coin now, you'll need a turkey fryer (or better) and a propane cylinder to brew outdoors. I believe most of us go this route. It sounds like you've got a 7 or 8 gallon pot for a full boil over an hour, right? *Tip of the hat to the elite who use natural gas or an all electric system.

3. Not a bit. You need to move your beer from an "Ale Pale" after about a month or people will judge you for potentially oxidizing your beer. If your working with a Better Bottle, then you're in great shape. <---also plastic, but not a glass carboy.

4. Referring back to my comment on #1: If you have a buddy who homebrews, you NEED to sit in on a brew session. If you don't have a buddy you should look into finding a local group of homebrewers in your neighborhood of Texas. How To Brew and all the other sources are priceless, but it doesn't give you the hands-on-experience that you NEED right now. Sitting in on a brew session typically runs the price of a 6-pack of craft brew, by the way. You'd be surprised how many seasoned brewers want to help you out on this endeavor. If you don't believe me, look at all the responses you've gotten here already.

 

If you don't think your stove is up to the task then there are some decent one and two can prehopped extract kits you can use from the likes of Woodfordes and Muntons. While it is the beer making equivalent of instant noodles, they can produce some perfectly respectable beers like bitters and lower abv stouts, and you can play around a bit with them to make them more to your taste, like brewing them a bit short or dry hopping or adding hop tea etc. I certainly prefer beers made this way than plenty of partial boiled beers I've tried. Plus it's very quick, cheaper to start with (if not in ingredient cost) and you can still use all the equipment if you move onto full boil extract or all grain.

something to consider anyway

 

1. yes, starter kits tend to be good. there are lots of good ones out there, just pick one. make sure it has at minimum at least one bucket and a carboy OR two buckets (6.5 gallon size), an AUTO-siphon, and of course you'll need a copy of How to brew by Palmer. The joy of homebrewing is a reasonable substitute (if it comes with the kit, but the other book doesn't).

2. 5 gallons is rough on a stove. You'd need either a powerful stove and a big pot (like 7.5 gallons or bigger), or you'd have to split your boil into two different pots. The latter is a viable option, BTW. I split my boil for a while when I was doing extract and lived in an apartment. You must also split your hops proportionately to the boil volumes of your two pots, should you decide to split the batch. You can also brew smaller batches, another option with merit. I actually brewed a few 3.5 gallon batches of all grain beer when I first made the switch.

3. plastic buckets make fine beer. I rarely use my carboy, except for bottling. For extended aging, you'll need a carboy, this is true. However, if you are already thinking about extended aging, you should step back, and take a big breath of reality on your next inhale. Maximize your means of successes, minimuze those of failures. Resign yourself to making the easy beers at first!

Which brings up an important point: The KISS method of brewing is the far superior method of brewing, FAR superior. This fact is inarguable. Increase complexity, increase chances of having a failboat moment, or making drainpour ale. Pale ales, IPAs, brown ales, hefs, wheat beer, porter or moderate ABV American stout*, these are feasible noob recipes. If you're going for a 15.8% Russian imperial stout with essence of boysenberry, orange peel, rocky mountain oysters (served Ala-carte), barrel aged in chardonnay barrels with a cumquat fruit secondary... good luck, you're probably well on your way to making drainpour ale.

4. Joy of homebrewing is a bit easier to digest, but how to brew is a bit more in depth. Either will work, if you read them and follow the advice. Both of course are complete junk if you don't read them or don't follow the advice inside.

*since porters and stouts can overlap, I included a stout. But I MEAN a stout that's about 6% ABV, NOT one that's 13% ABV.

 

1. The starter kit I bought 8 years ago was great. I bet they still are.
2. I brewed on an electric stove for ~3 years. It is not ideal. I did full boils by splitting the wort in 3 kettles of 2-5 gallon size and I would need to spend at least one extra hour boiling wort. I do the same approach now, only with gas and two kettles, on power burners, and it still takes long. My turkey fryer, outside, would be faster, but I have my reasons.
3. My starter kit came with a bucket, a bottling bucket, and a glass carboy for secondary fermentation. I almost never do a secondary and almost never use my glass. Breaking it scares the crap out of me. No off flavors from plastic. Some worry about leaching out chemicals that are best not ingested. My guess is the alcohol in the beer is worse for you.
4. Howtobrew.com: read it, appreciate it, and then show your appreciation by purchasing the latest edition so you can reference it when your internet goes down.

 

Highly recommend 3 gallon batches.
-full boil even on an apt stove
-less crappy beer to drink if you mess something up
-if its good its still 3 gallons which is still a fair amount
-more variety(2 cases of the same beer, even really good,is a bit much for me)
-potential for partial mash and low grav all grain

Also, consider splitting the batch. The first batch I did was a Kit pale ale. Very basic. But i split the batch into 2 and bottled one half and dry hopped the other. Got 2 pretty different beers out of it and got to see/taste the process an effect of dry hopping.

 

This is also a fine idea if you can't do a full boil. Remember, full boil >>>> adding top-off water. I do small batches (2-2.5 gallons) on stovetop and they come out great, but I'm still doing a full boil, albeit with less overall volume.

 

What they said!

 

Here's the best advice I can give...probably reiteration...I've been drinking and can't be arsed to read it all.

It's pointless to purchase books when all the information you will ever need is available online...for free.

Kits are for people who don't know if they are actually interested in brewing...but can provide equipment you can use in the future.

Better bottle > Glass (Even though I believed otherwise in the past)

You absolutely need this to have a chance at making great beer:

1. Money
2. Fermentation chamber
3. Yeast starter
4. Wort cooling capability (immersion chiller, plate chiller, etc...)

Anyway, homebrewing is expensive and requires a fair bet of knowledge to execute properly.

 

I don't know about all that.
Yes, brewing does involve an investment, but it doesn't have to be a huge one. I started for around a hundred bucks, not counting ingredients.
THe only one of the 4 "absolutes" I agree with is to use a yeast starter. However, even that can be fudged with a smaller, lower gravity beer.
As long as the OP has a place to keep fermentations that is dark and relatively stable temps, (preferably in the lower to mid 60's) a full on, dedicated fermentation chamber isn't needed.
For smaller brews, an ice bath in the sink will work. Yes, it is best to get the temps down quickly, but as long as there;s a lid on the pot while cooling it'll do.

OP: My advice is, first read John Palmers How To Brew online for free. Then I would say to buy Papazian's Complete Joy of Homebrewing, then buy the print version of How To Brew.
Palmer is more technical, talking about numbers and so forth, Papazian is more loose, "feel" based. Both approaches are good, and both will end up with beer.
The number one thing once you are brewing, is sanitize, sanitize, sanitize. If that is on par, you're good.
If you're looking at smaller brews, 1, 2, 3 gallons, again, you can get away without yeast starters. If you're looking at 5 gallon batches, do a starter. They're easy and it's a good habit to get into.

 

That's why I said "great" beer...not "beer."

 

Actually kits can work for those who know they are interested too. I got a kit from a st louis homebrew store. They were cool enough to modify it to exactly what I wanted too.

Fermentation chamber is high on my list, and a necessity for warm climates like texas (unless you keep your AC ridiculously low in the summer). If you cannot keep your beer at 70F MAX temperature, you're already way behind the eight ball. My fermentation chambers (freezers with johnson controlers) keep my fermenting beer at 62-64F ambient temperature, and produce great beer. Really, if you live in a warm climate, this should be addressed BEFORE you buy any kits. Someone who lives in Canada may not have this same concern as someone who lives in Texas tho (If the person in Canada has a temperature steady, below 70F place to ferment, of course).

yeast starter not needed with dry yeast and 5 gallon batches. any liquid yeasts (i.e. wyeast, white labs) and yes, you need a starter.

wort cooling - yes. try it with ice once and you'll be looking to get a wort chiller, so just get one in the first place.

money - you need money, but it doesn't need to be a ton of money.

 

This book is great for breaking everything down in a simple manner. Also lets you jump into all grain at half the price by brewing 1 gallon batches. It'll help you understand the process and give you the freedom to mess around with ingredients without worrying about wasting 5 gallons of beer. If you have a small apartment it’s perfect.

http://beercraftbook.com/book/

Currently have a 1 gallon batch of a chocolate stout fermenting.

 

+1 to the "If you want brew beer bring money" sure it starts out cheap with snagging brewing equipment off craigslist and using starter kits, then you want more and the homebrewing monster is released.

Most of my information I've gotten for free online. http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html was my best friend along with these forums and the guys ( & gals) over at homebrewtalk. If you want to buy some books: How to Brew (Palmer), Brew Like a Monk (Hieronymus) and Radical Brewing (Mosher). Got a commute to work, beer podcasts can be handy, I recommend most stuff on the brewing network with Brew Strong and the Jamil Show being my favorites.

Can you brew on a stove? Yes. Can it take forever? Yes...and it will. My first few batches I was boiling 2.5 gal on my stove and it was taking 20 minutes to get a roiling boil.

Any other advice? If you do decide to jump in and something goes "wrong" (which it will) remember the homebrewer's mantra: Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew (RDWHAHB)

 

Commercial 'calibration' beers are also acceptable.