Equipment for a beginner

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iBimmer

iBimmer

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Hello,
I'm new to home brewing and since local stores don't have always beer I like, I decided to brew my own.
I will be thankful if someone can help me choose what I need (additionally) to begin the journey.
I bought Brewers Beast Beer Equipment Kit with Glass Carboy with my choice of Hefeweizen.
I have in mind to buy Inkbird ITC-308, FermWrap and Thermowell for glass carboy.
I live in SoCal, so I intend to use the freezer during summer time to cool my brew when hot and FermWrap during winter to keep it warm. In months like April/May/September/October when temperature is fluctuating enough to spoil a brew, I intend to put the carboy in the freezer, wrapped in the FermWrap, and connect both to the Inkbird -- if it gets too cold, heater turns on and vice versa.
Can anyone advise if I'm thinking this the right way? Will this setup work for a total newbie and will it give me enough control over temperature?
Thanks in advance
 
Last edited by a moderator:
i second temp control being important. looks like a good git to start with. my only suggestion is a wort chiller . it will save you time and bring the temps down quickly. longer term and looking back i wish i bought a bigger pot and my gas burner sooner. hmm or a better bottle caper.
 
Good little setup. Just a word of caution to a new brewer, be careful with that glass carboy! Don't try to carry it without some kind of harness or milk crate, to risky imo, or just wear long sleeves if you carry it lol. My kit came with one too, and then I traded it at the local homebrew shop. Now that I have kids I'm double glad I got rid of it.

Next set of gear you may want is some kind of chiller, and maybe a refractometer. I broke 3 before I got a refractometer. My gf broke one the day I got it...
 
Thank you for all suggestions. Will see how my first batch goes and report. I still don't have a freezer which is essential where I live. Once I get it, I'll pull the trigger and see what happens.
 
That’s a good start. I just recently got a freezer that converted into a farm chamber, I’m loving it. As stated above, a wort chiller is a time saver. With the warmer temps (summer) on the way, you may want to look into a small pump that can be attached to the chiller and a cooler ( basically recirculating ) the first few gallons i pump into a water bucket for cleaning afterwards. Then I place the hose in the cooler that I have ice packs in to keep the water cold.

Welcome to the hobby...
 
How cold does it get in So Cal?

Fermenting beer produces heat, and the freezer will keep temps steady.

Not sure you will need to add heat in So Cal,
 
During winter I've seen temps going down to below 40s. I'm not sure how many degrees fermentation process adds to wort temperature, but if is 40-45 degrees, IMO I can't brew without a heater.

I chose glass only because I think plastics add unwanted chemicals to anything stored in them. Using the plastic one must be much more convenient, I agree.
 
Guys, I just finished making my first wort. I hope I did everything right.
I have a few questions.
First on is about pitching yeast. My recipe called for steeping grains in 2 gallons water, adding DME and then cooling wort to ~80F. Then adding ~2 gallons of cool water to the wort to make 5 1/4 gallons in the primary fermenter and pitching dry yeast that came with it. When I pitched the yeast, it kinda clumped together and I kept stirring vigorously, it separated in a few smaller clumps. The yeast looked normal and it was not clumped in its package. Is this normal?
Also, I put the plastic bucket fermenter in the freezer and set the temperature controller to 70F (I'm brewing German Hefeweizen). The temperature probe sits on top of the bucket, I still don't have Thermowell, waiting for it to come in the mail one of these days.
Third question, I got a stick-on thermometer strip, do I stick it onto the primary fermenter bucket or on the secondary (glass carboy)?
Any thoughts if I've done something wrong?
Thanks
 
You are doing fine. Put the sticker on the primary, secondary doesn't need much temperature control. Many brewers (me too) don't use a secondary at all, just dry hop in primary. Don't worry about yeast clumps, your yeast will wake up and find the sugars. Controller probe on top of the fermenter is okay. Better tucked under insulation that is taped to the side, best is a thermowell, but that is advanced equipment for another day.
 
Thanks. This is exactly what I did. I taped the probe on the side of the bucket.
I just checked the airlock and I see activity ~6-7 hours after I put it in the fermenter. Is this normal?
I'm adhering as strict as I can to the supplied 2 page manual. It says activity should start in about 12 hours. I also received a capsule with yeast food which I used as directed. Could this be the reason it started to ferment beforehand?
 
It all sounds good to me. I've had the same strain of yeast show activity any where from 4 to 24 hours in different beers. Just be patient, they'll get the job done.
 
Not sure if anyone will see this, but I have a question regarding a mash tun and hot liquor tank: I'm going to need this kind of set up to do all grain, mostly for convenience/temperature control. There are of course equipment kits sold for this purpose that come with what you need (false bottom, valves, tubing). I don't know if the coolers you find in the big box stores are the same kind as those sold by supply companies such as NB, and if getting all those small parts plus coolers at those stores would save any significant amount of money, or just go with the equipment kit and save the work?
Or find used equipment of course.
 
toxdoc49 said:
Not sure if anyone will see this, but I have a question regarding a mash tun and hot liquor tank: I'm going to need this kind of set up to do all grain, mostly for convenience/temperature control. There are of course equipment kits sold for this purpose that come with what you need (false bottom, valves, tubing). I don't know if the coolers you find in the big box stores are the same kind as those sold by supply companies such as NB, and if getting all those small parts plus coolers at those stores would save any significant amount of money, or just go with the equipment kit and save the work?
Or find used equipment of course.
Click to expand...

You could also look into BIAB (Brew in a Bag) which is one vessel brewing with a large bag. There is a section dedicated to this in the forum.
 
Yes...coolers from big box stores work well for a mash tun, as said above BIAB is the minimum equipment required, and a good place to start and possibly stay forever....shameless plug LOL [emoji38]

A simple SS braid in a cooler works very well as well.

I would hold off on an HLT, as the upside of hearing sparge water is only a time savings, you can cold water sparge while getting your kit together with no impact to your beer, but just a little more time to come to boil as the cold sparge will cool your runnings a bit.

With a large enough cooler, full volume mash and no sparge is pretty simple to get you out the gate...

Simple cooler conversion...anything more doesn’t make better beer, just looks better IMHO :)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/ten-minute-cooler-mash-tun-conversion.125108/
 
toxdoc49 said:
Not sure if anyone will see this, but I have a question regarding a mash tun and hot liquor tank: I'm going to need this kind of set up to do all grain, mostly for convenience/temperature control. There are of course equipment kits sold for this purpose that come with what you need (false bottom, valves, tubing). I don't know if the coolers you find in the big box stores are the same kind as those sold by supply companies such as NB, and if getting all those small parts plus coolers at those stores would save any significant amount of money, or just go with the equipment kit and save the work?
Or find used equipment of course.
Click to expand...
same coolers, same lining food safe to 170 degrees... beyond that they can leech and the liners can warp. luckily theres no reason to take them over 168...
 
wilserbrewer said:
Yes...coolers from big box stores work well for a mash tun, as said above BIAB is the minimum equipment required, and a good place to start and possibly stay forever....shameless plug LOL [emoji38]

A simple SS braid in a cooler works very well as well.

I would hold off on an HLT, as the upside of hearing sparge water is only a time savings, you can cold water sparge while getting your kit together with no impact to your beer, but just a little more time to come to boil as the cold sparge will cool your runnings a bit.

With a large enough cooler, full volume mash and no sparge is pretty simple to get you out the gate...

Simple cooler conversion...anything more doesn’t make better beer, just looks better IMHO :)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/ten-minute-cooler-mash-tun-conversion.125108/
Click to expand...
Thank you for that information. I did wonder whether those false bottoms would also fit into the big box store coolers, sounds like they will. I do have a few mesh bags for all grain, and that might also work well enough for mashing instead of false bottom.
I am not sure I understand the cold water sparge. I thought you had to use hot water to sparge.
 
toxdoc49 said:
Thank you for that information. I did wonder whether those false bottoms would also fit into the big box store coolers, sounds like they will. I do have a few mesh bags for all grain, and that might also work well enough for mashing instead of false bottom.
I am not sure I understand the cold water sparge. I thought you had to use hot water to sparge.
Click to expand...
you do not have to use hot water for sparge... the theory is hot water would work better but people who have done experiements and comparisions say there is no real noticable difference but I think it would depend on several factors like type of sparging and the time period of the sparge.
 
Hey fellas, let me "steal" back my original thread and update with my progress.
After it fermented in the primary, I siphoned the wort to secondary a week ago. Today came the bottling day. I measured FG which was (I think) 1.010, manual said it should be ~ 1.011. I figured I was probably misreading it and decided to bottle. I used mostly Grolsch bottles which transferred ok, then I used a few other 12 oz bottles, wanted to try how caps work, Corona bottles are crap, will never use them again. Then at the end it was little left in the bottling bucket, so I decided it would fit in one of those Stella bottles, I think 11.2 oz.
I filled it up and then when I tried to cap it, it smashed under I guess too much pressure applied by me or bottle was somehow damaged beforehand. Biggest piece of broken glass fell on my right foot and slashed it with a blood gushing out to total mess. I managed to put pressure on it and went to doctor to stitch it. Then I remembered post #7 by Nokt. Of course I wore no shoes at the time, and I applied too much force onto that Stella bottle.
Lesson from this -- never buy Stella Artois ;)
Jokes aside, I hope someone will learn from these rookie mistakes and always take enough precautions.
Now, I put the bottles in the freezer and set it to 75F. Is this what they mean by "room temperature"?
 
Thanks Nokt. I repeat myself but, is 75F good "room temperature" to mature hefeweizen?
 
I couldn't find where you posted the yeast, 75 seems a bit high. I would think 70 would be better.
 
Speedy recovery. I would think your taste profile is set from fermentation. Conditioning temp of 65-70 should be plenty warm to carbonate and condition your beer.
 
75 is fine temp for bottle conditioning. Just be patient with it...assume it will take 3 weeks to be perfectly conditioned and worth trying at 2 weeks. Doubt you will make it that far but your future self will be mad at your current self for wasting the beer before it was properly conditioned!

That probe taped to the outside of your bucket is probably almost as good as a thermowell. If you add some insulation over the probe it is probably just as good as a thermowell.

If you dont have a fermentation chamber / freezer / fridge I'd read up about using a swamp chiller to keep temps moderated during fermentation. During active fermentation yeast can produce a fair amount of heat and you want to find a way to get rid of that heat.
 
Hi again fellas, my final report on my first batch. I just popped open my hefeweizen from a Grolsch bottle and it made a hissing sound like a....real beer. YAY!!
I noticed the distinctive banana flavor, I guess due to a bit higher fermentation temperature which I aimed to do at the beginning.
The only problem is that it kinda has this bitter aftertaste which I think it's owed to too much left overs of sediment and yeast.
Am I on the right track? If I had left it more to sit in the secondary, would it have had less sediment and less bitterness?
Do they let it sit for longer times and add maltodextrin for richer body at commercial breweries?
Oh, and 2 more things: my leg feels much better and I'm growing a beard now :)

(fermented @ 70F and bottle conditioned @ 72F)
 

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