You Beer?

"f86sabre" (f86sabre) 12/01/2013 at 20:00 • Filed to: Beer

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Thinking of getting my wife a home brewing setup for Christmas. First, I'm married to the perfect woman. She is into chemistry, loves beer and is a great cook. So, what kind of gear is needed? Yes, I could hit the Google, but you folks our a fountain of practical knowledge. Who makes reasonably priced good equipment and who has good ingredients?

BJ > f86sabre 12/01/2013 at 20:08

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If you've never homebrewed before, go to your local shop and pick up a kit. The basics are dirt cheap and you'll be started in no time. Generally these stores are staffed by enthusiasts with experience and they'll be glad to get you started without trying to rip you off.

You'll also need to be sure that you have a room that has a stable and easily controlled temperature and can be darkened if necessary.

I used to homebrew with a friend and it was a lot of fun, and a great learning experience. Have fun.

BJ > f86sabre 12/01/2013 at 20:19

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Your picture reminded me of the wall of taps at The Ginger Man in Austin, TX. What happened that evening is a bit of a blur, but I still remember that copper wall quite vividly.

Source

SkilletHead > BJ 12/01/2013 at 20:33

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+1 for the kit. It's typically mostly everything you need to get started for extract brewing. (you want to start brewing with extract, not all grain). I would add in addition to the kit:

a small container of Star-San to it to use instead of the powdered sanitizer that the kit will probably come with

a small tub of PBW (powdered brewery wash) to clean bottles before sanitizing them (unscented OxyClean works too, but can leave a residue if you leave bottles in it for more than 24 hours)

an auto-siphon to replace the standard siphon - makes it much easier.

Make sure you have an aluminum, stainless, or copper pot at least 3 gallons big at the house, too. Start saving empty non-twist-off amber beer bottles as well - you'll need about 55 12 oz bottles for a 5 gallon batch.

Good luck! Sounds like the perfect gift for someone like that!

BJ > SkilletHead 12/01/2013 at 20:47

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You're right about the extract - for the first year or so, this is the better way to go.

For sanitizers, I remember that there a million + 1 options but we used two: a cheap one for bulk washing and pre-storage cleaning, plus a no-rinse sanitizer that was especially handy for bottling - just splash a bit around and then fill 'er up!

Depending on how you like your beers, you have a few options for bottling (off the top of my head):

Non carbonated - just bottle as-is and it'll be vaguely fizzy at best

In-bottle fermentation - add some yeast and seal it up. This second fermentation gives a nice fizz and kicks up the alcohol %, but changes the beer's character.

Forced carbonation - this is a blast to work with (literally), and gives you tons of control over quantity and size of bubbles, but it's a lot more work and money to get set up. The last batch of beer I did was bottled like this, and it made a huge difference.

Hmmm, now I'm getting in the mood to homebrew again...

911e46z06 > f86sabre 12/01/2013 at 20:56

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First off, you need either a gas stove or a propane burner. Electric simply doesn't cut it.

The way to go is just one of those starter kits off Amazon. Not Mr. Beer or whatever it's called. Get a good one. It will have everything you need at first. Once you get more into it you can start adding stuff.

Bare basics are a big ol pot, a thermometer, a food-grade bucket (with a spigot), a carboy and airlock, a bottle capper and some bottle caps, a racking cane, a big spoon or whisk, and some bottles. It's also good to have a funnel. And lots of sanitizer.

hedbutter > f86sabre 12/01/2013 at 22:19

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I agree with everything stated, and would add to go with a larger brew kettle than 5-8 gal. While it is more expensive to start, if you want to start brewing all grain, a larger pot right off the bat will allow this jump to be cheaper and will require less equipment for the change (ie, already have a pot that can handle a full boil instead of needing to buy one). I started with a 15 gallon pot, and I'm currently doing all-grain brew in a bag (BIAB), which is essentially a giant beer grain tea-bag. homebrewtalk.com has a ton of information as well. Its a great hobby, just remember to sanitize everything (star-san and a spray bottle are recommended) and ferment in the temperature range of the yeast, and you should be making delicious beers in no time. Also, you can find a good propane burner for under 30 bucks which allows for a full 5 gallon boil.

f86sabre > hedbutter 12/01/2013 at 22:25

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Any recommendations on the burner? I was looking around and about the best I could find for a four leg unit was around $40 for a Bayou Classic. Seems to me four legs would be a bit more stabile and that would seem to be important when dealing with that much hot stuff.

gometz > f86sabre 12/01/2013 at 23:42

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You can actually do a full boil on an electric stove. I do full boils on my shitty apartment stove (sometimes 2 hour boils to get down to 5.5 gallons at the end).

gometz > BJ 12/01/2013 at 23:44

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In bottle priming doesn't require adding new yeast unless you filter. Even in a crystal clear beer there is still yeast in suspension (ex: my helles that just became finished, 4 weeks in the bottle, no added yeast, but I did add priming sugar. It was in secondary at 35*F for 5 weeks and is crystal clear).

gometz > f86sabre 12/01/2013 at 23:59

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I agree with most of what has been said, but to start off I wouldn't make too much of an investment.

If you have a 3 gallon pot, that is big enough to do extract brews. I did it that way for a few years and made good enough beers.

You don't need to have a propane burner or stove, I use an electric stove. It takes a bit longer to heat up, but all you need is boil time anyways.

Bottle conditioning is the easiest method. It can take 2-4 weeks but it will not mess up the flavor of the beer.

An important note: MAKE SURE YOU USE GOOD WATER. Water is often overlooked, but it is 1,000,000,000% important in how the beer will turn out. I was making good beers in Austin for years, took 2 years off when I was moving around for work, started making beer again in Lake Jackson, TX (hard water), and the beer was marginally good. I now live in Pearland (shitty water), so I buy all of the water that will go into my beer (for all grain I need 10 gallons to get 5.5 gallons of wort). For light beers I actually use distilled water and add the necessary salts.

I brewed for about 5 years before moving around for work and taking a 2 year break. Then I did it a little here and there for a year, but this year I got really serious and went all grain. I have now brewed 60 gallons this year since March (50 of which were all grain). My main goal right now is to perfect my own recipes (1 down so far!).

Keep everything clean, use good water and keep the temperatures right.

BJ > BJ 12/02/2013 at 07:42

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Oops, I meant in Houston. Whatever...

hedbutter > f86sabre 12/02/2013 at 09:24

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Apparently my 30 dollar mark was off. I bought this burner last October for 40, and its worked great for me so far. Also, to check if your current stove can handle it, you can order everything minus the burner first, and try a 6-8 gallon boil on your current stove and see if you can do it. If not, a quick run to Lowes/Home depot and you can pick up a turkey fryer burner to run outside. I prefer an outdoor burner, as I dont want to spill any sticky wort all over my kitchen, haha.