What would i need...

“I think I will start out with a kit of some sort (more suggestions?). Say with a targeted initial outlay of 200 - 250 what would be my best investment?” Do you have a good Local Homebrew Shop (LHBS) nearby? If so, I would walk into the shop and ask for their equipment kit they sell to new homebrewers. The essential homebrewing kit that Northern Brewer (online) sells is a good beginning as well.

“Should I start all grain?” I personally would recommend that you brew a few extract kits to get the basics (e.g., proper sanitation process, proper fermentation control, etc.) down pat before going the all grain route. Going all grain just adds another level of complication. At the end of the day this is your choice. You will need more equipment to conduct mashing if you go all grain (plus other stuff). Going all grain (depending on how you do it) a bit more to lots more.

Here is an example of an ingredient kit for a coffee stout: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/peace-coffee-2nd-crack-stout-extract-kit-w-steeping-grains.html

Cheers!

 

listen to this advice. when you're learning to plan the piano, you don't start with Chopin or Liszt.

i would start by learning to brew a regular/standard beer that you can taste in a few week. there is a lot to learn about the process of making beer (sanitation, timing, etc.). it's not hard but some practice before going big will save you from wasting time and money, and finding out in 6 months that your big roast monster isn't very good.

if you can't make a decent pale ale or dry stout, you're highly unlikely to make a good RIS.

 

Since your goal eventually includes bourbon barrel aging (a key part of your plan), you'll need to determine the likelihood or easiness of finding a barrel. I have not tried so I can't give you first hand info, but I think the small ones are pretty scarce, and I think the full-sized ones are also fairly difficult to obtain. If you can't find a 5-gallon barrel then you need to have brewing equipment that can potentially handle larger batches so that you can quickly (in a day) fill a 10- or 15-gallon barrel. Realistically you can't even consider a 50-gallon barrel unless you have the help of a homebrew club.

Hopefully some BA members here can comment on the ease of finding a barrel, and how far in advance you can buy one and have it in readiness for when you reach the point of being able to put your RIS into it.

 

6 months to a year for conditioning an RIS?
Why so long, commercial breweries do not hold big stouts in conditioning tanks for anywhere near that amount of time, why would a home brewer need to?

 

I have had homebrewed RIS beers where the homebrewer had a primary ferment for 3-4 weeks and then bottled the beers. The beers can age for however long you want in the bottles. Drink them after 2-3 weeks of bottle conditioning (to carbonate) and try one. If the beer tastes too hot for your palate, then wait a bit (a few more weeks) and try another bottle. Start drinking when it suits your palate but please save some for longer aging just to show how the beer can evolve with time.

It is your choice if you want to bulk condition (secondary) but it really is not absolutely necessary; beer can age in bottles just fine.

Cheers!

 

Maybe not in the tank, but if it's barrel aged it's going in the barrels for 6 months or so in most cases; maybe 3 in the tank and 3 in barrels if they're rushing things. There are reasons these beers cost so much.

 

Obviously Barrel Aged beers need time in the barrels.
The 6 months to a year comments were not talking about BA Stouts. I'm wondering what their basis for that time frame was?

 

commercial breweries typically don't age them before selling because doing so would cost them money (storage, money tied up, etc.). instead, it's up to the consumer to do so. some people like Bigfoot when fresh... but most seem to agree that it's better after a few months of mellowing.

commercial breweries also tend to make cleaner beers that typically don't have as many imperfections that diminish with time. for example, many commercial RIS are filtered. homebrew rarely is, so time is needed for fine particulates, of which there are a lot in an RIS, to settle out.

as a general rule, comparing what professionals do to our home-scale operations isn't a 1-to-1 comparison. there are many commercial processes that simply aren't applicable to the homebrew scale.