Trying a new hobbie

[mjknapp]

This thread is mostly directed to tt3, but anyone else that can help, please do.

I am taking tt3's advice and am going to try brewing my own beer, it sounds like a very fun and interesting hobbie. My question is, is there a place I can buy everything I need to brew with, or do I have to peice it together. I found one site that had a product called "the beer machine" but I thought I would ask before I bought anything. What do you use, did you buy it, or did you make it. If there is a site that will have everything I need to start, let me know where it is, and what exactly I need to start brewing.

[Don-Dad]

here is a site I made to market some beer supplies (part of my online business), I have no idea what is the best to use, I'll leave that part up to tt3.

http://www.ezresearch.com/shopping/beer.html

[underfoot]

This thread is mostly directed to tt3, but anyone else that can help, please do.

I am taking tt3's advice and am going to try brewing my own beer, it sounds like a very fun and interesting hobbie. My question is, is there a place I can buy everything I need to brew with, or do I have to peice it together. I found one site that had a product called "the beer machine" but I thought I would ask before I bought anything. What do you use, did you buy it, or did you make it. If there is a site that will have everything I need to start, let me know where it is, and what exactly I need to start brewing.

I recently started brewing and have been very happy with the service and products at Northern Brewer (http://www.northernbrewer.com). They have some kits that they sell to get you started. There's a link to them on their startup page.

I have the one they call the Glass Starter kit and it has worked very well for me. In addition to equipment, they also sell beer ingredients in kit form. All you have to do is follow the directions and in a few weeks you get beer. I've brewed several of their kits and they were all excellent.

Be sure to join the Northern Brewer forum if you want to learn more about brewing. Its the best forum for brewing that I have ever found.

I'm sure you'll enjoy brewing. Just the smell of the grains and hops is enough to keep you interested for a long time. Ahhhh...malted barley...

[tt3]

Underfoot has it exactly right on what I would recommend, to a T.
You'll also need a large stock pot to do the boiling in, but the one I got was from the local grocery store for $5. its a 5gal
My advice to you is this, get a book first, or go to www.howtobrew.com and read the first couple of chapters.
The book that got me started is by Charlie Papazian, the new complete joy of homebrewing.
Read a bit first, then invest. also check for a local brewshop in your area, support local if you can!
In a nutshell, Read read read! :D
more later

[mjknapp]

Cool, thanks guys, I will order everything tomorrow, and let you know what I get, and when it is here. I will check out that forum and read up a bit tonight to maybe educat myself a little, but I am a trial and error type of guy, I dont like instructions. ](*,)

[mjknapp]

I ran into a minor roadblock in my brewing experience. It just happens to be my wife. She thinks I am crazy for wanting to do this, and she said that i will just clutter up the house with beer making suppplies. Where do you make your beer. Obviously it has to be boiled in the kitchen, but when it is fermenting, where do you have to store it. I found the one that I am going to buy. It is the deluxe glass starter kit. I am calling my buddy in Iowa who still works for pepsi, and having him send me out a couple of tanks so I can use them as Kegs. But I just have to talk the wife into it first.

[tt3]

Don't know how much I can help with this one. My wife gave me my kit! :lol:
I do my boil on the stove, its electric and it takes a while. Other folks get a turkey fryer and do it outside. NEVER use a pot that has cooking oil in it though! Using the turkey fryer will mean more cost for more trinkets.
I keep my fermenting beer either in the basement or the dining room. Kids aren't allowed in the basement so thats a cool place for me, literally. Keep the boxes your carboys come in, they make a great way to keep the light off your beer.
The kitchen always ends up cleaner then when I started... there's a plus. Tara is really good about keeping away from the fermenters when they are in the dining room. I only ferment up there in the winter, when its too cold in the basement.
If you start kegging right away there is that additional cost too, although you can do it on the cheap. And you won't have to deal with the bottling hassle.
Think your buddy can send a couple of tanks my way? Add to the kegerator! :LOL: just kidding, Val would not like that, I'm afraid!

[mjknapp]

The cost of it all is no problem, I guess I am lucky not having to worry about money, but I will succeed in talking her into it, just might take some collective bargaining, she has been wanting a new ring for quite a while, if I surprise her with diamonds, then throw out the brewing idea again, I am sure it will work.

[tt3]

I had a nice reply written out and Tara grabbed the mouse and closed the window :roll:
sparklers are a good way of convincing your wife, here here!
I'd say go with a turkey fryer rig then, if you have decent weather most of the year, you can do it outside without worrying about stinking up the joint.
Just let me know if I can be of assistance! Read read read... being prepared will help the batches come out right ;)
oh, and sanitization, that'll help too
cheers

[Remington]

Do you ship your beer? I would like to buy a six pack... :D :shock: :wink:

[mjknapp]

I did it, I talked her into it, and didnt even have to bring out the diamond card. :lol: I will save that for a rainy day.

I had to promise her that it wouldnt turn out to be another thing that I bought and used for a couple of months and then just left it sitting around gathering dust. So as long as I can make a half decent beer, then I should be ok, If I am really bad at making beer, then I will just ship all my brewing supplies to you tt3. lol

[mjknapp]

I'd say go with a turkey fryer rig then, if you have decent weather most of the year, you can do it outside without worrying about stinking up the joint.


Does it stink really bad when you cook it on the stove, That is too funny, Last night, she asked me if it would stink boiling that stuff on the stove, and I told her "Oh No, it won't stink at all" whoops, guess I spoke to soon.

[mjknapp]

Does the stock pot have to be stainless steel, or will aluminum work? I found a few 20 qt. stock pots, a couple stainless, and a couple aluminum.

[tt3]

holy crud, well, um... it kinda has a nice aromatic quality to it. Find a local brewpub and ask when they brew, go back at that time and you'll see! :lol:
ss or aluminum doesn't matter in my opinion. You'll find other people going on a tizzy about aluminum though so it depends on who you ask.

[mjknapp]

I will probably just get ss, as they will look nicer in the long run.

This is for you tt3, I am not sure if you are interested, but I found these on e-bay, and thought maybe you might want them. I talked to my buddy in Iowa, and he is sending me out two tanks for free, With a c02 regulator, and all the connections. These might help you. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11876&item=3822086575&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

[tt3]

I hope you understand what an incredible wild, killer super awesome score that is in just one sentance, right?
I talked to my buddy in Iowa, and he is sending me out two tanks for free, With a c02 regulator, and all the connections.
Congrats!
I've been having trouble keeping my four kegs filled, I'll hold off on getting more....
My buddy just bought a commercial kegerator, and replaced the one faucet tower with a three, and wants to give me the tower. Imagine, three taps
I'm agog at the possibility!

[mjknapp]

Yeah right, three taps. I used to work for pepsi, I worked there for a long time, so I have a few connections. To bad I live in philadelphia now, and they are in Iowa. I am going over plans in my head to build a little beermeister, but it is in the early stages....lol. I was thinking of using a small refrigerator compressor, and building the cabinet to only hold two tanks, and a little extra room for the Co2 tank. But not sure on how I am going to make it work yet. But this is so much fun, all these idea's. and I just want to start now. I wish I could just get the supplies beamed to me, like in star wars. But I will be patient, as hard as it is going to be, I will be patient.

[tt3]

Check out the draft section of the NB forum that underfoot recommended (and I'm on too)
there's one topic called "post pics of your kegerator" its like 11 pages long. There's some super ideas in there! and some crazy ones too!

[underfoot]

Geez...I take a day off from the forums and look at all the cool stuff I miss!!!

Glad you were able to convince your wife about brewing. Luckily I didnt have to as my wife bought all the equipment for me.

It will smell really nice unless you get a boil over. At the precise moment the wort hits the burner the smell changes to horrible.

I started slowly. Just the glass kit from NB. After I found out how much I enjoy brewing, I started to add a few more items. I built a wort chiller (very handy) and have recently added a thermostat control for my previously unused freezer (full of beer now) and last weekend added two 3 gallon carboys for doing smaller brews. Someday I'll get into kegging. Maybe next year.

Read, read read. And find a local homebrew store (LHBS) that you like. They are always happy to help.

[mjknapp]

I looked yesterday for a local store, and believe it or not, there was one right down the street, I never even knew it was there, I havent been there yet, I was going to go today, but my wife got called into work. So maybe saturday I will be able to go.

[tt3]

Glad you got a local store! Find out their hours too, I know before the one here closed, they were always farting with the hours...
sucked when you needed an emergency ingredient or a last minute brew kit! Sucks worse not to have one though, except for a liqour store that also sells some brewing stuff.

[underfoot]

My LHBS has strange hours. They are only open on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. However, they do mail and fax orders every day. I guess this cuts down on their need to keep the store manned during off-peak shopping. They've been in business a long time so they must have a good thing going.

I like going in just to talk shop with them. Its cool to get some ideas and feedback from someone who works around beer and ingredients all the time.

[mjknapp]

I just got back from my local store, wow, I got a better deal on all of my supplies, on the site you recomended it had the deluxe glass kit for 140 bucks plus the shipping of 15 bucks. Well I am going to get it all plus a few extra things for 109 bucks. He has so many varieties of hops, malts, everything, the store smelled so good, I cant wait to go in and buy the stuff. But I need to hold up my end of the deal with my wife before I can get it. I have to completely clean and rearrange the laundry room and build her a new shelf. Just wanted to let ya know how cool of an experience that was. I got to go clean and rearrange,

[Don-Dad]

Good luck! Maybe one day we can all get together and experience your brew after you have perfected it :D

[Don-Dad]

We should start a beer brewing website, well I could get the space and design it and the experts can add their opinions and expertise. We might be able to make a few extra bucks marketing the stuff needed to build the kits, I am sure a merchant would pay for the referrals (sorry when you market on the web as I do, I always can find an angle to put content to good use)

here is good example http://www.ezresearch.com/homeauto/ I buolt site about 3 years ago. Do not update it much but after I bougth my floors online and was promoting the merchant I used for free. I found out they paid 3% on all orders you refer to them. Well I have sold over $20,000 worth of flooring so far, not bad, pays a few car payments :P

[underfoot]

I just got back from my local store, wow, I got a better deal on all of my supplies, on the site you recomended it had the deluxe glass kit for 140 bucks plus the shipping of 15 bucks. Well I am going to get it all plus a few extra things for 109 bucks. He has so many varieties of hops, malts, everything, the store smelled so good, I cant wait to go in and buy the stuff. But I need to hold up my end of the deal with my wife before I can get it. I have to completely clean and rearrange the laundry room and build her a new shelf. Just wanted to let ya know how cool of an experience that was. I got to go clean and rearrange,
Thats a great deal on the brew supplies. Although, I suspect that you will need some new power tools to finish the laundry room shelves, right? :D

[Remington]

Holy shamoly batman. I know what you mean about taking a day off and missing a trillion posts.

First off tt3 can I get beer shipped to my home? :D

[underfoot]

Holy shamoly batman. I know what you mean about taking a day off and missing a trillion posts.

First off tt3 can I get beer shipped to my home? :D

Yeah...where've you been, anyway? You missed all the fun!

Shipping beer can be a little tricky. In most states, its not legal to ship it or receive it unless you are properly licensed. However, its not unheard of for people to ship beer by declaring it as something else (root beer, grape juice, liquid bread, etc).

[Remington]

I have been entertaining guests for the last few days. I think it is rude for me to be on the computer while they are here so I jump on in the evenings. :D

But the guests have left!

[mjknapp]

Thats a great deal on the brew supplies. Although, I suspect that you will need some new power tools to finish the laundry room shelves, right? :D

She just bought me all new power tools for christmas, so I have everything I need. I tore it all to hell last night. Now I have to build the shelf, and Buy some hose to get the washing machine moved to where I want it.

[mjknapp]

Hey Rem, you should give this Brewing thing a shot too, it is really pretty cool. I laid in bed last night reading about 50 pages of stuff that I printed off the web. My eyes were burning after I got done reading all that stuff, and my head, all that info trying to go in at once. Man Alive!!

[Remington]

I know I should, but the wife would never allow it. :roll:

[mjknapp]

Collective bargaining, It worked for me. If I ever perfect it, and turn out some good beer, I will send you some. It will be marked Root Beer of course.

[Remington]

Ah yes... we love Root Beer... :wink: :lol:

[stizz]

looks like we got ourselves a little stay at home brew club going here. I brew myself,..still a bit of a novice, and of course I havent had the time to at all recently.

I got myself a copy of "brewing for dummies" and was fortunate to have a couple "old pros" for friends who held my hand for the first few boils.

I must say it is a bit much for one person to do by himself, having a buddy involved makes a world of difference.

I personally like making Dry Irish Stouts, if I can find my stout recipe, I'll post it. It's pretty easy. :D

[mjknapp]

I found my local store, all my supplies, all my ingredients, but I am stuck on a stock pot. I have found them, but I am not going to spend that much on just the pan,tt3 said he got his for little to nothing at a grocery store, but I only find them for around 100 bucks. I even found one at Williams-sonona or whatever that store is called for 465 dollars, for a stinking pan. If I have to I will pay the 50 bucks for some I found online, but I was trying to find one at a store near me that I could just go and buy this weekend.

[mjknapp]

aha, I found one a kmart online. It is a 26 qt, so it is 6.5 gallons,I dont really nead one that big, but it will work. It is aluminum, not stainless, will that still work. I have heard conflicting stories on this subject.

[underfoot]

aha, I found one a kmart online. It is a 26 qt, so it is 6.5 gallons,I dont really nead one that big, but it will work. It is aluminum, not stainless, will that still work. I have heard conflicting stories on this subject.

Is the entire thing aluminum? Aluminum can react with acidic substances (tomatoes are really bad) and the reaction can mar the aluminum and give you some nasty flavors as well. If its an aluminum clad kettle, you'll be fine as long as its clad with stainless.

Anodized aluminum is OK to use. The anodizing process protects the aluminum allowing you to cook acidic foods without issues. However, anodizing tends to be expensive, so I've found.

Currently I'm using an old 18qt. stainless kettle. I dont boil the full 5 gallons of water, only about 2 or 2.5. This changes the recipes a little but with some software (Promash or Beertools.com) you can make the necessary adjustments for a partial boil.

[mjknapp]

it is all aluminum, from kmart, so I dont imagine it is anyhting fancy, If I only used to to brew my beer and nothing else would that be ok, or should I just keep looking for stainless steel.

[mjknapp]

this is the pot I am talking about, have a look at it, and let me know what you think. http://www.kmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1760507

[underfoot]

this is the pot I am talking about, have a look at it, and let me know what you think. http://www.kmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1760507

Check your NB forum question. Several good answers there.

I looked at the K-Mart listings and if you can afford an extra $25 dollars, they have a 24 qt. stainless one.

[Don-Dad]

I might be able to save you 10% on that purchase, Kmart does not run it online store, and the same company that runs their store runs fodgog.com which has the same pot.

Go to, http://www.dflsports.com click on the 10% off coupon and it should deduct 10% at checkout. DFLsports.com is one of my sites.

[mjknapp]

Allright Don, thanks alot, I am still not sure which pot to buy, we are gonna go look for one tomorrow night after my wife gets off work, if I do end up getting this one, I will use that 10%. I appreciate it.

[tt3]

Wow, miss a day and holy cow!
I'm just gonna say about the pot, mine is aluminum. Done 50+ batches between the two (yeah, I've got two) and still no off flavors or discolorations.
Stizz, porters and stouts are freakin' awesome for first recipies, really hard to screw up noticably.
About shipping beer, there is a slight loophole through which we can all jump. If you send the bottle as a collector item and the contents are not intended for consumption or are incidental to the bottle, its cool... and you can send yeast samples for evaluation too.
Since most homebrew and home made wine isn't filtered its not lying... just stretching a bit.
mj (can we go by first names? Guys, I'm tony, it's just easier this way)
did you join up at the NB forum? I haven't been on in a while...
cheers all!

[stizz]

BTW, the coolest pot I have ever seen was a modified 5 gallon keg. The inside of the top had been lopped off cleanly with a plasma torch; leaving the handles intact.

The result was a solid 5 gallon capacity stainless steel pot with a rounded bottom. The one i saw was custom made,..anybody know where one of these can be aquired?

[mjknapp]

mj (can we go by first names? Guys, I'm tony, it's just easier this way)
did you join up at the NB forum? I haven't been on in a while...
cheers all!


Yeah, np, my name is mike, it is a little easier I guess. And I have decided to use aluminum, from what I have read, as long as i dont decide to can tomatoes in my stock pot, then it will be allright. Tomatoes and any other really acidic food.

Yes, I joined the NB forum, but they got so busy arguing between themselves, my question was kindof lost. They cant seem to agree on aluminum, os stainless.

[mjknapp]

I put my name in my signature, It is easier in most cases like you said, except for your case tt3 is easier than Tony......lol

[mjknapp]

I found this one at linen and things, it is ss, and pretty cheap, This is the one I am going to get. http://www.lnt.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1350749

[tt3]

I'm not even going to try and log into the nb forum 'till we're home, tooo much reading! That aluminum vs ss question is one of a few pandoras boxes in brewing. A big one for me is also extract brewing versus all grain... the main assertion I dissagree with is "all grain brewing is better"
Too general for me. I think most brewers techniques improve and at the point they want to go all grain, they are pretty decent brewers.
I've had samples from a "brewer" who's first batch was all grain and it was pretty wretched for the style he attempted.
Whoops, going off topic here
cheers!

[mjknapp]

that is a busy forum, every time I log onto it, there is 100 new posts, and I have no chance of keeping up on my reading of all of them.

[mjknapp]

I got all my supplies and brewed my first batch af american pale ale last night. It is sitting in the frementor now, churning and bubbling away. It is so cool watching it ferment.

[mjknapp]

I took some pictures last night, and I am going to post them tomorrow so you guys can see it.

[mjknapp]

I brewed another really good beer lat night, it is an "apricot honey ale". wow, it smelled so good, and tasted excellent!!!! I can't wait for this one to be done. I think I am going to try an all grain beer after these two are done.

[tt3]

Keep in mind AG is a much longer journey! I wish you luck in that, I am lucky enough to get two an-a-half hours to brew, I'd never be able to do an all grain batch! :)
Luckily, I have little interest in it ;)

[mjknapp]

I know it is alot more work, that is why i want to try it for the challenge. Just to see if I can do it. I am also going to make some wine to, my wife wants me to do the wine.

[tt3]

Better be careful, pretty soon you'll be keeping a 150gal fishtank in your dining room housing blood parrots and oscars too! :lol:
All kidding aside, let me know if you need any info with that too, but most all what I know I got from the wine forum ;)
Tell ya this much, get a double lever corker at the very least if you're going to cork your wines....

[mjknapp]

Better be careful, pretty soon you'll be keeping a 150gal fishtank in your dining room housing blood parrots and oscars too! :lol:

I already have one 150 gallon tank, and I am wanting to get another to put in our shore house, but my wife said we are not down there enough to get one, I told her we could hire a maid, but she just doesnt like the idea, I guess I will have to talk her into one thing at a time.

[tt3]

Too funny! I just set up our 29gal after much discussion with my wife. I wanted it up for some fun little fish, she didn't. Constant persistance will perservere (usually) :lol: :lol:

[mjknapp]

What kind of fish are ya gonna get, Auloncara Baenschi are pretty cool fish for a 29 gallon, you could get about 7 or 8 of them, the males are a beautiful yellow with a blue/turquoise face, the females are alot duller, but the males make up for it. Ps. Saulosi are another really cool little fish, the females are a deep shade of orange, and the males are a blue and black stripe. they stay pretty small, and you could get a dozen of them in a 29 gallon.

[tt3]

Thinking blue rams and a couple of angels with a dusting of cories on the bottom... Val doesn't go for the african cichlids... new world or not at all

Brewing tonight, honey wheat for a party in three weeks. mmmmmmm there's gonna be 5-6 kegs there, all of different styles, and majority high gravity beasts! :twisted: :twisted:

[mjknapp]

Do you get to brew all the beer for the kegs. That is cool, both of my carboys are full, so I cant brew anymore for a while. I am jealous....lol

I get to bottle next monday, and then rack this next batch to the secondary. I am not gonna brew any more till this first batch is completely done, and I have my kegs.

[tt3]

Nah, I'm only brewing the one, the host has three in secondary ready, another buddy has one, and there's the possibility that a few others will bring a keg too.
When are you expecting your kegs? You can brew three weeks before and have on sitting in secondary ready to go when you get it! :D
cheers

[underfoot]

Do you get to brew all the beer for the kegs. That is cool, both of my carboys are full, so I cant brew anymore for a while.
What a lousy excuse. Go buy some more carboys!

[tt3]

RIGHT ON Kevin! :LOL:
I've got a goodly number of them, but two are tied up with wine at the moment. If you've the space, more is better! :D

[mjknapp]

shmbo says "that is my laundry room, not your beer brewing room" that is why I am stuck with two carboys for now, but a little persistence and.........................(to be continued)

[tt3]

persistance is a grand thing! (Some would call it pestering though)
heee :lol:
The fermenting keeps me out of trouble.
You said she wants you to do wine, right? Well, can't do wine with your beer carboys now can you? :twisted: :wink:

[underfoot]

You said she wants you to do wine, right? Well, can't do wine with your beer carboys now can you? :twisted: :wink:

You tell him, Tony!

I remember the picture of your brewing area. Plenty of room to go vertical I imagine. Build a couple of shelves so you can have multiple carboys in the laundry room without taking up valuable floor space. These shelves would be for the wine, of course. :wink:

[mjknapp]

I bottled my first brew over the weekend, and I racked the apricot honey ale to the secondary. It is killing me not being able to try my new beer yet. I am going to brew up something else this weekend just to keep me busy. Should I wait the full three weeks to try one of my pale ale that I just bottled, or if I tried one after two weeks, will it be good?????

[Dadaland]

O.K, I cant take it any more. I confess I brew my own as well, however; I use one of those you-brew places they do all the racking ,filtering,and carbonating. I do the canning and drinking.

Here is my final recipe (my own) after 350 L of development

Dadaland's Canadian pale ale

52L Water

2L Lager (extract)

3L Ale

.5L Dark Ale

100g willemette hops (mmm, yummy)

20g frugle (misspelled) finish hops

24g brewers yeast

The real challenge is trying to make it last 30 days

[underfoot]

I bottled my first brew over the weekend, and I racked the apricot honey ale to the secondary. It is killing me not being able to try my new beer yet. I am going to brew up something else this weekend just to keep me busy. Should I wait the full three weeks to try one of my pale ale that I just bottled, or if I tried one after two weeks, will it be good?????
I just opened my latest concoction after two weeks in the bottle. Perfect carbonation. I would suggest that after two weeks, chill one down in the fridge. When its cold enough for you, open it and taste it. Typically your beer will be carbonated after two weeks at room temperature.

If it isnt carbonated, swirl the bottles around a little to get the yeast off the bottom of the bottle and back into suspension. Then give them another week or two.

[tt3]

Hey, if its been a week in the bottle, I'd try one now! I've had a couple of batched ready to go by then. Thing is they do mellow and blend a bit with some age...

Dadaland, I've always been interested in starting a brew-on-premises with a homebrewstore attached. I'd think there's some money in that. The local make your wine here place is doing pretty good...