first brewing this weekend

[SpeedyR]

been many years since I've brewed my own beer but with a christmas gift of a brew setup, it looks like i'm in business again. I bought Palmers book and have been reading it here and there. Good stuff.

This weekend will be my first batch in many moon (I did some with friends in New Zealand in 1989). Things seem much simpler now.

so I have my basic brew kit with a 6.5gal primary/fermenting bucket, a 6.5gal bottling bucket, and a 5 gallon glass carboy if I want to do some secondary. Plus the assortment of brushes, fillers, siphon, thermometer, hydrometer, etc.

I also got two Brewers Best kits (american pale ale and Imperial Pale Ale).

I bought some star-san and PBW (and found out it came with B-Brite as well- I did remember from the last time that clean stuff makes good beer), and just got the parts to make my own wort chiller (immersion type, 50' 3/8" copper and compression fittings for attaching to garden hose). I also picked up a LP burner for outdoors (Academy had them on sale) and a 30 quart/8 gallon aluminum pot to heat my wort/mix. I boiled water in it for about 30 minutes (heard to do that to "condition" the aluminum so you don't get taste in the mix).

so this weekend the plan is to sterilize everything in a bucket with one of the above cleaners, heat the malt up and follow the instructions and when i'm done put everything in the 6.5gal fermenter as I will be out of town for a week. I will get the wife to check on the fermentation process and see how it's going..

so my questions (you didn't think this was NOT going to have questions, did you?)- can you think of anything I am missing? will I be OK with the aluminum pot for heating the malt/wort? Seems a lot of folks recommend stainless or enamel?

secondly- will i have any potential issues with the 6.5gal fermenting bucket and a blowout? I don't want the wife to have to deal with something like that when I am gone. lol. or should I just set it up with a blowoff hose (I have some extra 3/8" tubing from the chiller)?

lastly with the Brewers Best kits, I"ve read that if you substitute live yeast (white labs are available locally) that it will help a lot with the beer. What sayeth the forum?

OK, One more- my thoughts are to leave it in the fermenting bucket for 3 weeks, then bottle, and wait at least another 3 weeks before cooling and trying the beer. Sound about right? or wait longer or shorter in either stage?

Any thoughts on one or the other kits a better option for first timer?

I've been reading thru the forums to see what others think so it's time to dive in!!!

 

[NWAleDad]

you can use aluminum but you will want to create an oxidization layer first. put about 1gal of water in it and boil it off.

there are always a risk of needing a blow off tube during the first stages of fermentation. the second brew i did blew all over the closet in my office. so i play it safe and set up a blow off tube until the krausen falls.

using the yeast that came with the kit is fine. if you change the strain you can change the flavor. if it is dry yeast rehydrate, if recommended on the package.

3 weeks in primary is fine. 3 weeks in the bottle is minimal. i leave in the bottle for three weeks to condition and then try to keep in the fridge for another two before drinking it. That never seems to works out

Welcome back, good luck, and have fun! :rockin:

 

[SpeedyR]

I put about 3 or 4 gallons in the aluminum pot and boiled it for about 30-45 minutes (once it got to a nice rolling boil). further down the road I'll get a SS pot and use this for turkeys, but it was too good a price to pass up at the time.