I put the hydrometer sample back in, just sterilize the jar and meter first. Hydrometer's are pretty important in that they tell you when it is safe to bottle. Ie if you bottle before fermentation is compete you'll have bottle bombs.
I use bleach to sterilize the brewing equipment and starsan to sterilize bottles and caps. Just go easy on the bleach and rinse until the smell is gone.
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Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
How to start homebrewing, kits?
You can pick up a refractometer fairly cheap on ebay these days. It will take a much smaller sample to get a reading (just needs a few drops).
I would have suggested going with one of the magnotta kits. They make a west coast IPA, but it is only available during a few months of the year, so not sure if its out there now. It is a premade wort already hopped, so all you need to do is ferment and bottle. Its a good way to get the sanitation and bottling end of the process down. You can even add some dry hops if you want to up things a bit.
I would have suggested going with one of the magnotta kits. They make a west coast IPA, but it is only available during a few months of the year, so not sure if its out there now. It is a premade wort already hopped, so all you need to do is ferment and bottle. Its a good way to get the sanitation and bottling end of the process down. You can even add some dry hops if you want to up things a bit.
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JasonTremblay
- Posts: 108
- Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:18 am
Just something to throw out there ...
A new 5 gallon glass carboy from Canadian Homebrewing is $36. A couple 20 litre cornelius kegs from Ontario Beer Kegs are $120.
Kegs have some distinct advantages over glass: they're impervious to light (you cut down the risk of skunking); you can transfer your beer with CO2 (no oxygen pickup, no messing around with siphons); you can do warm fermentations more easily using a 5 gallon bucket with water + an aquarium heater; they're lighter; they don't shatter (I've heard a bunch of stories of carboys shattering); you can skip bottling altogether; easier to fit into fridges / chests for dispensing or lagering; lighter; smaller.
The initial cost of kegs (+ CO2 equipment) is spendy, but you gain some advantages that tend to improve the quality of your brewing life if you're looking at upgrading your equipment.
I've seen some VERY clever small space brewing setups with kegs.
To use a cornie keg as a fermenter, BTW, you have to cut the dip tube by 4cm or so (it takes about 5 minutes with a Dremel + cutting wheel) so that the yeast can drop to the bottom of the keg and you're drawing out only beer.
Good luck!
Jason
A new 5 gallon glass carboy from Canadian Homebrewing is $36. A couple 20 litre cornelius kegs from Ontario Beer Kegs are $120.
Kegs have some distinct advantages over glass: they're impervious to light (you cut down the risk of skunking); you can transfer your beer with CO2 (no oxygen pickup, no messing around with siphons); you can do warm fermentations more easily using a 5 gallon bucket with water + an aquarium heater; they're lighter; they don't shatter (I've heard a bunch of stories of carboys shattering); you can skip bottling altogether; easier to fit into fridges / chests for dispensing or lagering; lighter; smaller.
The initial cost of kegs (+ CO2 equipment) is spendy, but you gain some advantages that tend to improve the quality of your brewing life if you're looking at upgrading your equipment.
I've seen some VERY clever small space brewing setups with kegs.
To use a cornie keg as a fermenter, BTW, you have to cut the dip tube by 4cm or so (it takes about 5 minutes with a Dremel + cutting wheel) so that the yeast can drop to the bottom of the keg and you're drawing out only beer.
Good luck!
Jason
I bought a refractometer on Ebay for about $25. It only needs a few drops of liquid.ercousin wrote:Thanks for all the tips everyone, I bought the Brooklyn Brew Shop kit for my first brew and am already planning on how I can expand to 3 or 5 gallon batches with a bit more investment.
My kit didn't come with a hydrometer, but I'm wondering if I should really worry about that for a 1 gallon batch. I'm reading "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie Papazian and he says you need to extract a good amount of liquid from the carboy every time you measure, and then toss it (or at least not put it back in). I'm imagining my 1 gallon batch ended up as 0.8 gallons with only a few measurements. How does everyone else use their hydrometer, do you put the liquid back in (assuming you sterilized the hydrometer and container)?
I just bought the Brooklyn Brew Shop kit as well. Moving up from a Mr Beer two gallon extract kit.
Happy brewing!
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Kel Varnsen
- Bar Fly
- Posts: 641
- Joined: Mon May 25, 2009 9:25 am
- Location: Ottawa
I got started doing 1 gallon kits from these guys. They were ok and got me started. I have done 10 homebrews since then. Those kits are nice although a couple of things you might want to check. One thing I found was that their recommendation for strike water temperature you dump the mash in was way too high. There are online calculators that will help you get your temperature better.ercousin wrote: http://brewerspantry.com/index.php?rout ... ry&path=70
- This one seems to be only ingredients, no equipment...
Same with priming sugar when you are bottling. When I did those kits they had hardly any carbonation, since the amount of corn sugar I was adding was too little. Go online and find a priming sugar calculator to figure out the right amount of sugar.
Oh also when you figure out what pot you are going to use, figure out how much fluid 1-gallon is and mark that line off on a wooden spoon. That way when you are doing your boil you can get an idea if you are boiling too much or not enough.
Alternatively it is not hard to find a glass for 15 bucks or less on Kijiji.JasonTremblay wrote:Just something to throw out there ...
A new 5 gallon glass carboy from Canadian Homebrewing is $36.
So my brew day was just over a week ago now and I have about a week left before I can bottle.
I'm starting to research putting together an equipment kit for 5 gallon batches.
I'm having trouble finding used brew kettles, but there are dozens of glass carboys on kijiji. Does anyone know a place I can get cheaper/used brew kettles? Does it need to have a drain spout near the bottom, and a thermometer on the side?
Also what equipment is usually required for sparging?
For my 1 gallon brew, I was able to use two pots that could hold more than a gallon. I had to do a little dance of transferring my liquid between the two pots several times to be able to circulate the liquid through the colander with the mashed grains in it and collect the full 1.2 or whatever gallon to boil. How does other 1 gallon brewers do this? Also my colander was filled to the brim with my grains (and it was a decently large colander). Do most people only put a portion of their grains in the strainer for sparging?
How does sparging work for 5 gallon batches? I imagine some kind of bucket with holes in the bottom is required? How do you set it up to capture what come out the bottom?
I am reading a book about homebrewing so I imagine this will be explained eventually. I just wanted to ask how other people normally deal with sparging (in terms of equipment used) because that was definitely the most complicated part of the procedure.
I'm starting to research putting together an equipment kit for 5 gallon batches.
I'm having trouble finding used brew kettles, but there are dozens of glass carboys on kijiji. Does anyone know a place I can get cheaper/used brew kettles? Does it need to have a drain spout near the bottom, and a thermometer on the side?
Also what equipment is usually required for sparging?
For my 1 gallon brew, I was able to use two pots that could hold more than a gallon. I had to do a little dance of transferring my liquid between the two pots several times to be able to circulate the liquid through the colander with the mashed grains in it and collect the full 1.2 or whatever gallon to boil. How does other 1 gallon brewers do this? Also my colander was filled to the brim with my grains (and it was a decently large colander). Do most people only put a portion of their grains in the strainer for sparging?
How does sparging work for 5 gallon batches? I imagine some kind of bucket with holes in the bottom is required? How do you set it up to capture what come out the bottom?
I am reading a book about homebrewing so I imagine this will be explained eventually. I just wanted to ask how other people normally deal with sparging (in terms of equipment used) because that was definitely the most complicated part of the procedure.
I started with a ketle that had no valve, it works but is much easier to have one. You can add one later with a weldless conversion, you just need to drill a hole in the side.
For batch sparging I use a converted cooler. Changed the drain valve and added a manifold that filters the wort. If you are reading the same book I started with there will be instructions on how to do this. Otherwise search around the web, there are videos that show how to do this.
It seems like a lot to buy and money to spend getting started, but as many of us find out it is better to do it right the first time rather than have to replace things down the road as you get more into it.
For batch sparging I use a converted cooler. Changed the drain valve and added a manifold that filters the wort. If you are reading the same book I started with there will be instructions on how to do this. Otherwise search around the web, there are videos that show how to do this.
It seems like a lot to buy and money to spend getting started, but as many of us find out it is better to do it right the first time rather than have to replace things down the road as you get more into it.
As far as a brew kettle, I would look at these from Ontario Beer Kegs:
http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/Nine_Gal ... -2weld.htm
If you will ever want to move up to 10gal batches, go for the 15 gal pot. They come with 2 ports already welded in, and for about $15 each you can add a ball valve and thermometer.
http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/Nine_Gal ... -2weld.htm
If you will ever want to move up to 10gal batches, go for the 15 gal pot. They come with 2 ports already welded in, and for about $15 each you can add a ball valve and thermometer.