Home Brewing...

Thinking about buying a home brewing kit.  Are there any memebers here who brew thier own and would be willing to give some advice to the newbie?

With no disrespect to any other home brewers out there, and there are plenty, but the master just returned.  Definitely get a hold of Molbasser.

If you hadn't spent so much time cooking food on Saturday for the rest of us, you could have picked my Dad's brain! 

Feel free to contact him if you have any brewing questions...just be prepared to have him talk your ear off.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Believe me I picked his brain as much as I thought he could stand me... 

With any luck I'll be seeing him in action when I get out there in a couple of months.  This part of the trip is quickly becoming what I'm looking forward to most.

I just ordered a book "How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time", it'll get here Saturday, but I'm a visual guy.  I'd like to see pics or in person and be able to ask a few questions about what I really need.

My thought is that I'd buy something like this... http://morebeer.com/products/personal-home-brewery-kit-3-bottling-deluxe-1.html  but I'm trying to figure out if there's something better out there or if there are things I'll need that aren't in that kit.

I'm not looking to go pro but I also don't want something that's just going to make me want to upgrade right away.

Believe me I picked his brain as much as I thought he could stand me... 

With any luck I'll be seeing him in action when I get out there in a couple of months.  This part of the trip is quickly becoming what I'm looking forward to most.

LOL! Cool.

He and my Mom both enjoyed seeing you again, and I know they would be stoked to have you over to visit when you are out that way.

Best of luck with the brewing buddy, and if you need a a guineapig to try your beer you know where to find me.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

I've never been much of a beer connoisseur. Sam Adams was about as elaborate as I bought. So my sons decided to educate me and we took a trip and went to all the breweries in the San Diego area. What an eye opener.

But here's my point. I had just had some beer at GS5 that was every bit as good as anything we had in SD (or since), cooked up by our own Fish and Brew. Touch base with Martin, I'm sure he can point you in the right direction.

Ben

I just ordered a book "How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time", it'll get here Saturday, but I'm a visual guy.  I'd like to see pics or in person and be able to ask a few questions about what I really need.

My thought is that I'd buy something like this... http://morebeer.com/products/personal-home-brewery-kit-3-bottling-deluxe-1.html  but I'm trying to figure out if there's something better out there or if there are things I'll need that aren't in that kit.

I'm not looking to go pro but I also don't want something that's just going to make me want to upgrade right away.

Great book to start with!
If you don't want to feel the urge to upgrade right away then I'd recommend this kit: http://morebeer.com/products/personal-home-brewery-kit-4-bottling-super-deluxe-1.html

This is the kit I started with and I'm so very glad that I did. I didn't have to buy another piece of equipment for a while, but was still able to learn and grow as a brewer.  The ability to do a full boil would be the first upgrade anyhow, and the price of kettles can be awfully steep. You might as well go full boil to begin with. In fact, if you've got the funds you might even give MoreBeer a call and see what they would charge you for this kit with an upgrade to a 10 gallon kettle. IMHO a 10 gallon kettle is ideal for 5 gallon batches because it will help you to prevent messy boil-overs and also allow you the room to brew higher gravity beers (higher alcohol) or beers that benefit from a longer boil time. You might not appreciate that flexibility yet, but as you start to look at other beer styles to brew you'll find some differences in the boil that make a larger kettle a little easier to work with. Also, if you ever go to all-grain brewing you'll appreciate having a large kettle for beers like wheat beers and some Belgians that tend to benefit from a 90 minute boil.

The other benefit of this kit is that it comes with a wort chiller, which is another item that will make a big difference in the quality of your beer. AFter all these years I still use the original chiller I got with this kit.

Molbasser is definitely the guru you should talk to at NCKA, but I'm happy to throw in my 2 cents if you're interested. In the past 6 years or so I've learned to brew some pretty good beers (if I do say so myself) and I'm happy to share what I've learned from others, and learned the hard way on my own.

I just realized that MoreBeer is in Los Altos, only a few minutes from home.  I'll probably make some time to go chat them up a bit.

How beneficial is it ot have the glass carboy vs. that plastic one they show in the pic?

If I were to upgrade to the 10 gallon kettle, what other pieces of the kit would I have to upgrade?

Does the kit include all the thermometers and other minor components that I would need to start? 

I'll definetely be sending some questions your way after I read the book a little bit if you don't mind.

Having a 10 gallon kettle won't require any changes to any of the other equipment. As far as carboys go, I prefer the plastic carboys since they are safer when carrying and absolutely won't break if you drop them, even when full of beer/wort. This kit will come with everything you need to brew a full boil extract kit including thermometers, hydrometer, stirring spoon, cleaning/sanitizing chemicals, etc.

Good luck, and welcome to the other madness! 

Oh yeah, one other thing about the kettle. I recommend a kettle with a ball valve. Lifting and pouring 5+ gallons of hot wort is not something I would encourage!

I was also going to recommend a 10 gallon kettle to you, but I noticed that MoreBeer doesn't sell the PolarWare 10.5 gallon kettle (42 quart), and they only have 8 and 15 gallon kettles in their store brand. This is the 10 gallon kettle I use, and you'd never need to buy another if you bought the same, but it definitely isn't cheap: http://morebeer.com/products/blichmann-10-gallon-boilermaker-brew-pot.html
You'll be fine with an 8 gallon if you that route, just watch out for the boil-over 

Yeah, that pot isn't cheap.   

I'd have to make a lot of beer to make up for the cost of that one. 

I have made a lot of beer over the years, started with extract brewing and quickly moved to all grain on a gas fired 15 gallon system.  I'm no expert but I have quite a bit of experience.  I agree mostly with the posts above, getting a kit that you are not going to outgrow right away is a good idea but at the same time you don't want to spend a ton of money on equipment that is over the top for your experience level.  Like any hobby, you can go big and lots of times end up having it collect dust in the corner of your garage....

Know this, brewing is fun, creative, rewarding, and lots of work.  I repeat it is a lot of work to make good beer that people are going to want to drink.  Anybody can slap some boiled wort in a carboy and be drinking it in 2 weeks time, but to make beer that is actually good requires patience, time, work, and cleanliness.  Start just above bare bones with equipment that will allow you to grow a bit but that isn't above your current abilities.  Also, like yak fishing, homebrewing is a great diy hobby.  You can create some awesome equipment in your garage, including complete all grain systems. 

For me, making beer isn't so much about what you brew on as it is how you brew it.  Here are my top 3 things to focus on when starting out.  #1 Sanitation, sanitation, sanitation is critical, you don't want to spend hours boiling and siphoning just to end up with spoiled beer due to a bacterial infection from poor sanitation.  When in doubt sanitize and then sanitize again.  #2 Would be temperature control during fermentation.  As you gain more experience this will probably become #1, but for now, just focus on minimizing temp. fluctuations during fermentation.  Learning to hold your fermentation temp. where you want it during the whole process is probably the one factor that will take your beer from good to awesome. #3 Patience.  Sure you can bottle you beer after 7 days and be drinking it 14 days after that, but extending those processes will make for cleaner flavors and a more stable beer.

Just my .02.  Brewing is an awesome hobby, especially once you start creating your own recipes.  Take your time and learn and understand the processes and it will be very rewarding.  Check out http://www.homebrewtalk.com/  A good forum and community of brewers.  Hope this helps.  Also, anytime you want someone to sample your beers, you know for constructive feedback  , just let me know.  Cheers!

Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it.  Keep it all coming.

and if you need a a guineapig to try your beer you know where to find me.

We sincerely appreciate your inquiry, however, we regret to inform you that you will not be hired for the position of guineapig.

To maintain the integrity of the product and ensure a long lasting presence in the marketplace, management has opted to select a candidate who's palette for brew is slightly more sophisticated than bud light limon. 

Sincerely,

Firewater Home Brew

Do you all buy bottles or do you re-use bottles you got from a commercially bought beer?