Brewing supplies/equipment?

[Ninjahedge]

Just fishing for recommendations.

I recently got a new house (well, OLD house, but it is new to me, ya know?) and was thinking about getting a brew kit.

The only problems being, knowing what kits were good, which ones/what amounts would save some $$, and where to get them....

Any recommendations?

Also, for anyone who has done this, where have you set up shop? The garage? The basement?

Any advice or information about this would be appreciated.


BTW, if this ISN'T an OT post, if there is some help forum for beer making here, let me know!!!


TIA!

 

[lizardth]

My hubby gets all his supplies from http://www.austinhomebrew.com/

They have so far gotten their orders out same day, and I know several other people who use them for their supplies.

 

[Quiksilver]

Weee I'm home now...

Anyway as far as places to buy kits, supplies, ingredients...

I personally use Northernbrewer.com I like their selection and their packaging tends to be very good so it all comes intact incase FedEx decides to punt it to the door.

You could also use Midwestsupplies.com which IIRC is NB's main competitor but I find their site navigation annoying to use.

On to kits....

I have this one...
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/marketing-categories/landing2/deluxe-beer-starter-kit.html

So far I like it, it comes with everything I needed (give or take a few things and I used the glass one) and its way better than my previous kit.

My previous kit was a single stage Coopers beer kit which was a big mistake purchase IMO. Your pretty limited to what you can do with it and it uses plastic bottles which tend to break seal easy and its more expensive to gets caps for it when they wore out.

As far as my area...

I do all the boiling outside in a 7.5 gallon pot on a burner so i don't smell up the house; roomie wouldn't appreciate it. Then I just bring it in for the fermentation.

It all depends on what you plan on brewing, if you want a real lager (eg, using lager yeast) your going to want it to be quite cold (40-50 degrees) ale yeast is much more Versatile and is anywhere from 40 to 80 degrees I've seen.

beer thread I made a few days ago.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2121758&highlight=

I need to update it again as I had to swap the airlock for the blow-off hose.

 

[Crusty]

My hubby gets all his supplies from http://www.austinhomebrew.com/

They have so far gotten their orders out same day, and I know several other people who use them for their supplies.

I used them all the time for CO2 fill-ups locally, very awesome place.

 

[Codewiz]

You want a place with a consistent temp. That would eliminate most garages.

 

[KB]

I get my supplies from www.eckraus.com; however, I have found that on some items your local brew shop may have better prices, particularly on heavy items that have high shipping costs.

A kit like http://www.eckraus.com/KT211_____WZN.html is all you need to start.
A brewers best malt kit is easy to make and comes in many flavors http://www.eckraus.com/BB110_____WZN.html

I brew my stuff in the basement on the concrete (when its warm eneough) so that if it spills it doesn't get in the carpet.

 

[Anubis]

http://morebeer.com/

have fun

 

[Ninjahedge]

You want a place with a consistent temp. That would eliminate most garages.

We got a steam boiler in teh basement. That place can get warm (probably over 70F) and chilly (probably down to about 50F) in a day.


What is the limit to the temp range? (The attic is DEFINITELY out!! )

 

[Ninjahedge]

I will try the links at home (work blockage).

Question is also, do your recommendations include the actual hardware as well?

Bottles/seals pots, heaters, fermentation tanks, filters, etc etc.....

I believe that the ingredients might be easier to find than the plastic/glasswear.....

 

[zinfamous]

gonna brew up some 4loco?

:hmm:

 

[Quiksilver]

updates my post.

 

[zinfamous]

one thing that I can certainly advise from a brewing project with some of my buddies many years ago: do not use those syrup malts. Do not do that. Use grain, grind it.

Find an excellent source of fresh hops. The local supplier that we used at the time always under-portioned our hops in the recipes, and quality just wasn't that great.

If you can, make friends with a local, established brewer--if you have a good microbrewery in your area, knowing the brewmaster is a good thing. They're usually pretty cool, and will not only give you good advice but send you home with some fresh goodies to try out, as well.

 

[Ns1]

n/m, I'll wait.

 

[Patranus]

 

[Ninjahedge]

Pet, my mother bought me one of those.

Waste of $$. You can't USE any of it. The plastic will not hold hot, it just stores what you finish with, and the rest is meh.

I would need a true kit, not a tiny mini-spare tire you can't go over 50 on!

QS, I think I would probably go for Ale, seeing how it is more forgiving. If the basement stayed cool constantly I might try lager (maybe in the spring and fall when the heat is not on).

Cooking outside sounds liek a good idea, I just have to see what I can use for that, and a pot big enough to hold it. (also, ~8 gallons! Isn't that over 50 lbs for the liquid alone? I am trying to figure how to get it down the stairs! )


Any problem with things like mildew in basements?

 

[Codewiz]

We got a steam boiler in teh basement. That place can get warm (probably over 70F) and chilly (probably down to about 50F) in a day.


What is the limit to the temp range? (The attic is DEFINITELY out!! )

You want stability. You don't want wide swings in temp. You can brew at 70 degrees for Ales and you could brew at 50 degrees for lagers.

But either way, you don't want wild temperature swings because it will ruin your beer.

 

[Wyndru]

I went with the Fermentap system several years ago, with the hopes that you could just "drain" the sediment in the primary, and then just open a valve and have the beer transfer down to the secondary carboy without ever leaving the sealed system. I remember it working fine, but I recently brewed a batch and just kept it simple; did a runoff hose, and when I transfer it I will just use a 3 piece air lock.

I mainly didn't do the whole fermentap process this time because I was missing a part, but I also read online that it's more work than it's worth. My biggest complaint about the inverted carboy systems is that you need to basically flip the carboy over onto a small plastic stand (the same stands that they sell for carboy drying), and that scares the hell out of me each time, it's not very stable.

So to sum it up, IMO keep it simple, either a 5 gallon bucket with a three piece airlock, or if you want to go fancier, go with a glass carboy with a bubbler.

Also, I made my own wort cooler with garden hose and copper tubing, it works well, and was cheap. There are instructions online how to do this.

 

[Ninjahedge]

I will probably have to get, or print, a book on this.

Wyn, I understood about 2/3 of what you were saying there as I have not DONE any brewing myself yet.

The key to what I am looking for is something I can brew a decent batch, save some cash and get a nice, well rounded mouthfull of suds that is hard to find for less than $30 a case here in the 'burbs.

Of course, I know I will need some additional equipment for storage as well, but I think I should learn the basics first!

 

[Wyndru]

I will probably have to get, or print, a book on this.

Wyn, I understood about 2/3 of what you were saying there as I have not DONE any brewing myself yet.

The key to what I am looking for is something I can brew a decent batch, save some cash and get a nice, well rounded mouthfull of suds that is hard to find for less than $30 a case here in the 'burbs.

Of course, I know I will need some additional equipment for storage as well, but I think I should learn the basics first!

Yeah, I kinda went a little overboard, sorry about that I just didn't want to see you waste your money on some elaborate system. But like I said, a basic kit with 5 gallon plastic buckets would be fine and allow you to brew whatever you want. Some of the kits even come with instruction manuals guiding you how to brew, and the ingredient kits will fill in the rest of the info.

Check some of those sites that were mentioned above (I like northern brewer too) they might even have kits that come with brewing books, when I got my first kit, it came with everything.

That being said, if you are looking to brew beer to save money/case, you might be disappointed. I spent a lot of money brewing beer when I was younger, but mainly because it turned into a hobby that I was constantly buying different equipment for. Also the amount of time invested was quite significant. If you are interested in the actual brewing and bottling and enjoy it, it is worth it. If you are just trying to brew up a case for under $30, you might find it not worth it. I know I had a few batches that when they were done weren't that great, and now I have a couple of cases of beer I don't like, and I spent a lot of time and some money on.

 

[santuitman]

I haven't brewed in a long time but I agree with and did what Wyn did. Basic 5 gal bucket kit. It keeps the batch small. Keep records of what you brew so when you have a really good batch you can duplicate it. I got a bottle capper and used bar bottles/longnecks that I got from the redemtion center. They have a powder to clean and sterilize the bottle so it worked out well for me. Also try to keep your capped bottles somewhere that it will be okay if one pops or breaks. It's bound to happen sooner or later. Look to see if you have any loacl supply shops. I used to get everything locally for about the same as online and you get free advice too.
Oh and when you have that first batch made don't forget to have us all over to try it

 

[Ninjahedge]

Ah, long time for this one, but I feel like bumping it.

As I clean the basement the possibility of this draws closer......

 

[BillGates]

I think I'd rather spend my cash on a kegerator...less time working and more time drinking, and it'll probably taste better.

 

[xSauronx]

You want stability. You don't want wide swings in temp. You can brew at 70 degrees for Ales and you could brew at 50 degrees for lagers.

But either way, you don't want wild temperature swings because it will ruin your beer.

indeed. i brew in the garage and haul the fermenter upstairs into a bathroom in the center of the house. its annoying, but the temp in there stays very stable.

then i transfer up there, and take stuff back to the garage to bottle and cap.

 

[vi edit]

one thing that I can certainly advise from a brewing project with some of my buddies many years ago: do not use those syrup malts. Do not do that. Use grain, grind it.

All grain takes a lot of space in the pot and a lot of time. Most brewpubs, and even craft brewers are using malt extract (syrup). You still use grain to make your wort. You then add the malt extract to provide food for the yeasties.

 

[zinfamous]

All grain takes a lot of space in the pot and a lot of time. Most brewpubs, and even craft brewers are using malt extract (syrup). You still use grain to make your wort. You then add the malt extract to provide food for the yeasties.

How about a jar of molasses?