Home Brewing...

The best beer in the world is brewed by non other than our very own....CHADROCK!

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

Both, buying is easier.  If you plan to reuse bottles rinse them after drinking so you don't end up with dried beer inside.  Eventually you'll probably move into kegging, you'll get sick of cleaning, sanitizing, and filling bottles.

No one's mentioned it yet, but you're going to need some way to boil the wort. If you've got a turkey fryer you're golden as it'll have plenty of BTUs and allow you to brew outside. I brewed inside for over 10 years while living in apartments with boils up to 8 gallons on the stove top. You can do it, but its not recommended as its slow and messy.

As someone mentioned, a ball valve is really nice to have when it's time to move the wort to a fermenter. A cheap alternative for a boil pot is a converted keg AKA a keggle. You can make one yourself if you're reasonably handy or they show up on Craigslist fairly often.

If you stick with partial boils you can get by w/out a wort chiller, but it makes life easier and the brew day shorter if you have one. I'd say its a necessity if you do full boils or move on to larger batches. Again you can go the DIY route or buy a prefbab'd one or used on CL.

And as surfbrewer says -- sanitation, sanitation, sanitation.

cheers and welcome to another addiction

I've got the turkey fryer, so I think I'm set there.

How much of a difference is there in a partial boil and a full boil? Why the difference?  I'm sure a lot of this will be explained in the book but any insight you can give would be helpful.

How do you ensure sanitation when you're brewing outside?

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

  

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

How do you ensure sanitation when you're brewing outside?

Rules for outdoor brewing sanitation:
Rule 1.  Don't piss in the brew pot
Rule 2.  Anything living that falls into aforementioned brew is to be considered protine.

Looking on CraigsList I found this... http://modesto.craigslist.org/for/3802172830.html

Are keggles better than a pot?  What's the difference?  A keggle seems to be a lot cheaper than some of the pots I've seen.

How do you ensure sanitation when you're brewing outside?

Only after the boil do you need to worry about sanitization. Cover the kettle when cooling the wort and you are golden. I do mine outside too in wind, rain, etc. A wort chiller will be a must (you'll know after one time of doing the ice bath thing). A fermentation chamber (old chest freezer) with thermostat controller is super awesome too. Pick up a copy of "the complete joy of homebrewing" by Charlie Papazian. I got the madness just over a year ago. I'm still learning all the time. Have fun with it and don't over think or trip on anything. Shoot me a PM anytime dude. I got a batch of IPA to bottle tonight!

Yes, please ask me all you like.  I'm very willing to help.

For cheap brew kettles (and burners) you just cannot beat off season turkey fryers.  That is what I use on my homebrew set up (well used, I haven't homebrewed in years).

SNBCo just bought a MoreBeer Tippy Dump Digital Deluxe (20gal) and I am in hog heaven setting up our Nano Brewery.  Its gonna be trick.  We got 2 20gal and 4 10gal jacketed heated and cooled SS conical fermenters to go with it.

But, I digress.

Are you going to brew extract?  All grain?  Ales? Lagers?

What sort of plans do you have to cellar your beer (control fermentation temperature).

At any rate, I'm here to help and always feel free to come by the brewery.

MolBasser

The best beer I the world is brewed by non other than our very own....CHADROCK!

ABSOLUTE BEST BEER EVER.I've been hammered on it a couple times.Chadrock Ale.hell yeah.

How do you ensure sanitation when you're brewing outside?

Only after the boil do you need to worry about sanitization. Cover the kettle when cooling the wort and you are golden. I do mine outside too in wind, rain, etc. A wort chiller will be a must (you'll know after one time of doing the ice bath thing). A fermentation chamber (old chest freezer) with thermostat controller is super awesome too. Pick up a copy of "the complete joy of homebrewing" by Charlie Papazian. I got the madness just over a year ago. I'm still learning all the time. Have fun with it and don't over think or trip on anything. Shoot me a PM anytime dude. I got a batch of IPA to bottle tonight!

You making labels Chad??  How u do that?  I just bottled up my first IPA last week, its o....k...I have some corn and barley   fermenting right now, but I digress . Its definately a fun hobby...

  #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,

Wiser words have not been typed.

MolBasser

No one's mentioned it yet, but you're going to need some way to boil the wort. If you've got a turkey fryer you're golden as it'll have plenty of BTUs and allow you to brew outside. I brewed inside for over 10 years while living in apartments with boils up to 8 gallons on the stove top. You can do it, but its not recommended as its slow and messy.

As someone mentioned, a ball valve is really nice to have when it's time to move the wort to a fermenter. A cheap alternative for a boil pot is a converted keg AKA a keggle. You can make one yourself if you're reasonably handy or they show up on Craigslist fairly often.

If you stick with partial boils you can get by w/out a wort chiller, but it makes life easier and the brew day shorter if you have one. I'd say its a necessity if you do full boils or move on to larger batches. Again you can go the DIY route or buy a prefbab'd one or used on CL.

And as surfbrewer says -- sanitation, sanitation, sanitation.

cheers and welcome to another addiction

+1

Looking on CraigsList I found this... http://modesto.craigslist.org/for/3802172830.html

Are keggles better than a pot?  What's the difference?  A keggle seems to be a lot cheaper than some of the pots I've seen.

A keggle is just a keg that has been converted into a kettle, "keggle".  They work great, 15 gal. capacity.  Can still be used to brew 5 gallons, but "if", more like when, you decided to move up to 10 gallon batches you are already set.  You will find that it is just as much work to brew 5 gallons as it is to brew 10 gallons.  That deal on CL seems like a nice one but like posted before you can build your own even cheaper, if you're so inclined.

How do you ensure sanitation when you're brewing outside?

There is a no rinse sanitizer called star-san, it is your best friend.  That and tin foil and you're set.  Put the star-san in a spray bottle and spray everything liberally, use tin foil to wrap, cover, and seal, then spray again with star-san.  I probably go a little overboard with the spraying but my time to brew is limited and if going to invest time and money to make something that I am hoping is going to be great, I don't like taking chances.  Chadrock is right, that after the boil is when you really need to be careful.  Prior to boil just make sure everything is clean, no dust, chunks, or cheese.

Pick up a copy of "the complete joy of homebrewing" by Charlie Papazian.

+1 on this book.  pictures for the visually inclined and not too scientific compared to other books.  very laid back style.  great for starting out.

I never bought bottles but I have certainly bought products so that I could re-use the bottle afterwards!  Also, if you don't have enough bottles and you need to bottle soon just go out and buy a case of something good (no twist offs) and drink like mad!