Fresh Young mead-head :P

[Chef-Ryan]

Good Day everyone, I am wanting to get into brewing mead and am looking at trying my hand at home brewing. Mainly wanting to try Mead, Doing 1 Gal batches to begin (till I Get a recipe I like so I wont be wasting 5 Gal of bad batch thats alcohol abuse).What Would you guys thing I should get for equipment to begin ( I have Pots for the stove from 1L up to about an 8 Gal pot) and where would my best bang for the buck be for my purchases. I live In Ontario canada, so If physical location for a store or pickup point is near there thats awesome if not I would not be against ordering online and getting it shipped, Just rather be cautious about shipping glass bottles and carboys.

Thanks

Ryan

 

[Voodoogruv]

Welcome to the forum, and to the hobby! I have ordered from MidwestSupplies.com with no breaks ever. Have bought 5, 3, and 1 gallon carboys from them, but I'm not sure about their shipping to Canada. There are many great and helpful threads to read here. Welcome again!

 

[fatbloke]

Best suggestion to start is to go to the front page at gotmead forums and read the "NewBee guide" (left hand dialogue/links box) and then try JAO in chapter 6. Don't vary the recipe if possible.

No heating, straightforward instructions and ingredients easily available in the local grocery.......

 

[StoneArcher]

Welcome to the forum!


Go to the local supermarket, buy some apple juice in a glass jug. Or wine if you can't find any apple juice. Then maybe order the yeast online if you need to.

An airlock, I like the three piece ones. They are easier to clean when your carboy pukes on you. You will have some time to get around to getting a food grade hose for racking.

If you get apple juice in the glass jug, maybe start off with making some hard apple cyder? Dead simple, and quick. There are some recipes that have it sitting in the carboy for a week or less.


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Local_Home_Brew_Store#Ontario


Oh, and keep us posted on what you mix up for your first batch! Good luck!

 

[Lungus]

Check Craigslist or Kijiji for people selling their brewing and winemaking equipment. I saw people selling whole kits with 3-4-5 gal. carboys, hygrometers, airlocks, bungs, wine thief the whole bit, the one guy wanted $80. Another with bottle tree and five, 5 gal carboys and all the other goodies to go with it for $200, negotiable I'm sure. I myself picked up 3 carboys 2x23L and one 26.5L with bungs and airlocks for $30.

 

[ErinRae]

Chef Ryan I'm also from Ontario and you can get carboys and any other supplies u need from the local brew stores. There's tons of brew shops around this area that brew the wine kits. I've gotten carboys, sanitizers, clearing agents, bottles etc. they'll have it all or can order it in for you. If you want used stuff kijiji def has tons of supplies at different times.

An apple cyser is always a good brew to start with if you like apple flavor!

 

[Chef-Ryan]

Thanks Everyone, I do Have to admit I found a fair bit of equipment on Kijiji, THo many of the stuff for sale is the large batches. Looks like I might be ordering from canadian brewing company in Mississauga area for my smaller sized brewing equipment and such, so i can do smaller batches to figure out what recipes i like before making the larger size runs . Plus they also carry small casks such as if i want to age it in a barrel .

 

[DanU]

ErinRae said you have local brew stores, I suggest taking a look there first as shipping glass can be expensive. You should be able to pick up a couple 1gal glass jugs for fairly cheap.

 

[Chef-Ryan]

indeed they are kinda local to me tho, tho the ones i have found don't have public store fronts but can do pickups as a-posed to shipping it.

 

[Chef-Ryan]

OK im in the process of printing the Newbie Guide to Mead (turned it into a single PDF in the right order) as a nice booklet . What can I say, its easier to read on paper then computer screen. Now to find time to read through it