Hi Very New To Home Brewing Where Do I Start? If wanting To Start From Scratch?

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Hi I have no equipment what so ever but am wanting to buy the right gear, I am wanting to start brewing my own flavour beer from scratch no bought recipe boxes, just doing it from the beginning. I asked on a NZ website and they suggested the Grainfather, but pretty pricey, can you please advise me on the best direction. Thanks.

Daza.

[Tom]

Brew In A Bag (BIAB) could be a good place to start for you. Fairly cheap & easy way to start All Grain brewing. See link below for more info on the process involved. For equipment and ingredients, a couple of really good well priced shops are, Brewtopia & Brewshop.co.nz

http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/profiles/blogs/beginners-guide-to-biab

http://allgrain.co.nz/

https://www.brewshop.co.nz/

Good luck.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Hi Thanks Tom, sounds like a good place to start, with no experience what so ever is this a easy enough way to brew if wanting to make your own beer? and learning all the new jargon and terminology is a little daunting but I am determined. can I ask is Trade Me a good place to find equipment, and what would I look for? specifically..Thanks again.

[Cain Harland]

Nothing against BIAB but heres another option.

If you have a reasonable size (depends on what size your going to brew) chilly bin with a drain hole in it lying around you could convert that into a mash tun easily enough. It will still be a functional chilly bin too. I made a manifold for the bottom of mine with parts from plumbing world but it would be way cheaper and easier just to get as suitable bulkhead and bazooka screen from aliexpress. If you do go that way be sure to batch sparge.

If the size suits you and your ok with cutting the top of one, a 50L keg from the scrap yard makes a fine pot and its cheap. Not really suitable for BIAB because the opening in the top isn't the full diameter. Also you would want to put a ball valve in the bottom to start with because they would be much harder to tip liquid from accurately than a pot, but you will almost defiantly want to do this at some stage with a pot too, its just so much easier to open the valve than lift and tip a heavy pot. You can get a weldless bulkhead with ball valve pretty cheap.

I also have a reasonably priced 50L trademe pot which am very happy with.

Eventually you would probably want a 3rd vessel but heating your sparge water in your only pot then storing it your fermenter while you re-purpose the pot to catch and boil the wort isn't that painful.

I would say that there would be very little in it price wise between this type of 2 vessel system and a BIAB set up if you have the chilly bin already. And neither is better or worse, plenty of pros and cons, and people produce great beer both ways its really a question of what suits you best.

Either way you will need some kind or wort chiller to cool the boiled beer before pitching the yeast unless you are planning on doing no chill brewing, look it up that's another decision to make starting out.

As for the price of the grain father it is actually pretty good value for money if you look at the cost for replicating its functionality. I'm pretty sure I could have bought one by now with what I have spent on my unfinished brewery and I know some guys on here have spent a lot more. You can certainly start out cheaper and if you get right into it upgrade this and that over time which is a bit less painful than having to fork out all at once. Not that you need to upgrade at all, plenty of folks make great beer on really basic equipment, but there are things that make brewing easier, faster, more reliable, more consistent etc. I saw somewhere a guy saying something like "Home brewing need only be as complicated and/or expensive as the brewers wife allows it to become"

[Mr Agsy]

LOL Cain, OH SO TRUE MATE "Home brewing need only be as complicated and/or expensive as the brewers wife allows it to become"

Hi Darren, I would suggest you keep it simple for your very first brew!! There's not much point spending loads of cash on home brew equipment only to find you're not too keen on home brewing a few months later...

You can get yourself a second hand fermenting barrel on trademe  for under $60 pick up some 750 ml bottles for $6.50 a crate of 12 from your nearest swap a crate store. Bottle capper will set you back $30  Hydrometer around  $20

I know you said you do not want to do recipe kits but I'd start off on a kit beer just to get your feet wet. You can make some really good quality beers from kits if you keep to the right temps and sanitize everything. The Brewferm range of extract kits are of the highest quality IMO. They cost a bit more than most other extract cans ($30- $40) but well worth it.

You could also do a partial extract before you go full all grain - buy a cheap extract kit of your choice and pimp it up with some specialty grains ,add in 2-3 ounces of hops (if you like it hoppy) and some dry malt extract .

If you are still dead keen on brewing after 2-3 brews under your belt then you can start to think about spending more cash on mash tuns, boil pots ,temp control equipment, kegs etc.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Thanks everyone for good info. I like your idea Mr Agsy maybe I should "get my feet wet" on a kit first, and for that I'll need a fermenting barrel? are they stainless or plastic? thanks again appreciate the advice

[Crusader-Rob]

get the starter kit, thats the best way to start. comes with kit, barrel caps sugar etc.

as a system, the grainfather is a fanteastic price, compared to the likeness of time and effort of building your own, and obviously the braumeister.

[Peter Smith]

GET STARTED   - Goto a local home brew store and buy basic starter kit , around $150.      http://www.trademe.co.nz/home-living/lifestyle/home-brewing/brewing...      this will include all you need  including bottles,  ask to swap out the larger kit with something like a pale ale if you can.....      ask to upgrade to us05 yeast.

Do about 5 different brews, with these kits ,   if you like kit beer this maybe as far as you need to go....  its not epic pale ale thats for sure!   so after chugging through a bit of kit beer you decide your homemade lion red days are over and its AG for you, this is often decided are visiting an all grain brewer and tasting what they call an ok batch....  

Listen to  to this all about BIAB    most of us here did BIAB or chilly bin tun all grain to start , it works and is way cheaper then a grain father, there is quite a bit of kit around as people have moved to grainfather so watch trademe

http://traffic.libsyn.com/basicbrewing/bbr04-24-14biablegacy.mp3

perhaps watch someone do a BIAB batch and watch someone do a Grain father batch.   

IMHO the grain father makes great beer but you still need to learn the basics around sanitation, fermentation temp control etc etc

[Peter Church]

+1 to getting a kit brew done as a starting point. My advice would be that the 3 vessel setup should be your target for the second year, get a few ferments done with wort someone else has made then move to BIAB.

Look to get beersmith if you are going to start all grain brewing, 3 vessel or BIAB.

you should be able to pick up a big brew pot for about ~$1 per litre off trademe, they are light weight but do what is required, better quality are ~$2 per litre, add a weldless bulk head fitting and ball valve at the bottom. Longer term you can add a false bottom to this to use as a mash tun, insulate with a blanket etc 

http://www.trademe.co.nz/home-living/kitchen/pots-pans-bakeware/pot...

One length of copper for an immersion chiller, trademe brassman123 (link below) is as cheap as any, although you can google no chill brewing, big in Aus 

 http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=1086664

 

get a second hand fridge (~$50) and an STC1000 (~$35) so that you can control fermentation temp, important no matter what other choices you make later

read through all the old posts on here and aussie home brewer too, masses of invaluable info

enjoy the new obsession

[Crusader-Rob]

I went through the process.

Kit Brew.

Extract and steeping specialty grains
x3

partial mash (Some base Malt + Specialty grains)
x4/5

BIAB with 50Litre Pot

Now I'm running a 2 vessel system, which is nearly finished.
1xHLT/MLT & 1xBK. Heat Water in MLT/, mash in full bvolume water and grains. Mash out. trandfer to BK and boil.

Once this is done, I'll probably save the extra money required to have my third vessel, but that'll take some time.

some important tips here for the kit brewer as well, here: http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/forum/topics/simple-things-to-avoid... 

[Cain Harland]

Good point on the fridge and STC1000 defiantly the first investment to make beyond the absolute necessities. You also need something for the hot side of that ie heat pad, heat belt, airing cupboard heater or 25w light bulb. Being able to control fermentation temperature is huge for making good and consistent beer. The STC is easy to wire up and when done has power out for the fridge and heat source, you just dial in the target temp and tolerance (I just use 1 degree) and it will turn on the appropriate thing to keep your brew within the tolerance of the target.

Having said that maybe if your lucky there is a spot in your house that during a particular time of year stays a consistent temp that is appropriate for fermentation with a particular type of yeast. In the days before temperature control people just brewed with the seasons.

The advice to do a couple of kit brews is good but if you aren't interested and want to just jump straight into all grain why now. Also their a bit pricey but allgrain, baylands and golden bear all do fresh wort packs if you want to skip brewing from a can but still try fermenting before moving to all grain and when I say pricey $3-4 per L is pretty good for a beer that might cost you $8 or more for a 500ml bottle at the supermarket, it is a bit more than you would brew it for.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Hi I am on the look out now for a Brew Pot and just wanting to ask do I need to make an attachment to it at the bottom outside for something like a tap? I have seen the nice S/S ones on brew gear sites have something like that? I watched a good video yesterday on YouTube for a BIAB method here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlz_858ooWE   and could someone please comment on the books I listed in a previous post, Thanks.

[Peter Church]

If you go brew in a bag you can get away without a tap in your pot, you chill using an immersion chiller then transfer the wort to your fermenter with an auto syphon.

http://shop.brewtopia.net.nz/product_info.php?cPath=27&products...

Alternately get a weldless bulkhead fitting such as below, go to an engineering workshop, explain that its for a brewing setup and that you'll come back with a sample and they might even drill the hole in the pot for you if you don't have the gear

http://shop.brewtopia.net.nz/product_info.php?cPath=14_23_66&pr...

then add a ball valve and your away