Quote:
Originally Posted by askmrjesus
Ok, first things first.
Start drinking Sierra Nevada in the big bottles, in large quantities. They use 24oz. bottles, and it's easy to get the labels off. Why 24oz. bottles? Because bottling is a pain in the ass, and bigger bottles equals less shit to clean. Avoid any beer that uses plasticky type labels. They suck.
The kit looks ok, go directly for the glass carboys though. The plastic bucket carboys are harder to get sanitized, and they hold odors you may not want.
The next thing you'll want, is a decent heat source. It takes forever to boil a huge pot of wort, on a typical kitchen stove. Cheapest option; a propane turkey cooker.
As far as kettles go, I would bite the bullet, and get one that holds a five gallon batch. Yes, a lot of starter recipes let you boil three gallons, and then add water to top it off to five. This is also a pain in the ass. A big kettle, with a spout built in to it, allows you to transfer your wort to the carboy via a piece of 1/2" tubing. Quick, easy, less risk of getting evil bacteria in your beer, and no fucking around with funnels.
Right, now that the shit is hot, you have to cool it down again. This takes forever if you don't have a wort chiller, so buy a wort chiller. The idea is to get the wort from boiling to about 70 degrees, as quickly as possible, so you can pitch your yeast. The longer it takes to do this, the higher the risk of unwanted critters in your beer. A wort chiller will do the job in about half an hour. Setting your kettle to cool in a bath tub, or a big ice chest, takes hours, and eats up a lot of ice. Screw that.
One of handiest items I have, is a digital thermometer/timer from Pyrex. You stick the probe into the wort/water, set it to beep at the desired temp, and go read RoadRacing World for a while. Unless you're really into watching water boil, this is the way to go.
Let me know if you get stuck on something.
Cheers.
JC
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I'm pretty sure that steve worked with a buddy to make his own wort chiller much cheaper. If your handy you can find the instructions on how to do it
We always order from morebeer.com
Steve also belongs to a brew forum I'll check the home page when I get home for you. As well he has a pretty good primer you want to pick up easy recipes.
You tube should have alton brown's vid on home brewing there are a couple of discreprancies.
The biggest challenge is the bottles I believe there is a brew supplier near binghampton that sells em but collect em from a local bar if you can.
That brings you to your next challenge. Bacteria. We soak the bottles in fragrence free oxyclean it helps peel the labels easily. We use cheap ass vodka to sterilize the caps when bottling and he cleans the carboys and brewing supplies with Star San.
The expensive glass bottles aren't always worth it it's the airlock that's important. Get a plastic waterbottle that the airlock fits and santize the bottle really good.
There is an easy starter recipe for the cider we make. It's a win happy situation everyone loves it and it's easy. Apple juice, champagne yeast, corn sugar. High Alcohol content nice dry fizzy flavor. It's apple season to the actual cider from the stands makes a nice flavor.
If you decide your into it you may get me to commission some carboy bags for you with the old sewing machine lol