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.

[Cain Harland]

The weldless bulk head consists of a short male threaded pipe to go through a hole in your pot, then on the inside and outside a lock nut or washer squashing a silicone o-ring onto the pot wall to form a seal. The most common ones have a locknut for the outside and a washer and short bit of female threaded pipe on the inside. You leave enough of the thread on the outside of the lock nut to attach a ball valve.

You should be able to buy a set that has a bulkhead and ball valve together.

1/2 inch NPT or BSP thread is the standard for home brew equipment, the 2 are different but compatible at the pressures used in brewing. I just figure that's worth telling you because I made the mistake of starting out using 3/4 inch stuff because it screwed on to garden hose fittings and it was a bit of a pain later on. And I discovered when looking to upgrade, stainless brewery plumbing is actually cheaper than brass garden plumbing.

I've seen a lot of folks recommend using a 7/8 inch punch for the job of cutting the hole and it is no doubt better but I have had no problems cutting them with my drill and a cheap Chinese step bit http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6216253480.html?orderId=63608458... my bit is metric and the bulk heads are usually imperial but when the hole is looking almost big enough I just go one step at a time till I can just just start to thread the bulk head in then use a file or grinding bit to smooth the hole edges.

[Peter Smith]

buy this book at same time as the starter kit   

http://www.trademe.co.nz/books/textbooks/other/auction-891781183.htm

maybe you can get it cheaper elsewhere but its the begineers bible on home brewing....    online version here is not as good but free     http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

maybe after doing a few kits try a fresh wort pack...   

[Nicholas Jones]

Hey Daza, I was much like you and not interested in going the kit route, it took me a few brews to get a handle but was drinking nice beer from day one. I started with one of these http://www.trademe.co.nz/home-living/kitchen/small-appliances/other... they have a kindof false bottom in them, brought a plastic food grade bucket and put a braid/valve setup in the bottom. I would heat strike water in the preserver, then dump onto the grains and mix, then put the bucket into the preserving pot to hold my mash temp stable using the water that remained in there and the thermostat. Id pull the bucket out at the end of the mash, drain the water into a fermenter then run the wort off into the preserving pot, boil my kitchen jug or a pot on the stove to bring the remaining water in the fermenter back up to temp for a batch sparge, sparge away and then boil. Can do that no-chill or make an immersion chiller. That setup is still running with a mate and prob cost me under $300. You may need to mod the preserving pot to get the bucket and valve in, but youll likely figure this out as you go. I made my mill out of a cheap pasta maker.. Good luck

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

I like the Monteiths Original Ale beer that is a nice one, but only 4% I am getting a stay away from lagers message here is that only when starting out? I have that stainless vessel on watchlist and thinking either BIAB or brew-kit? I have about $300 for whole set up and hoping I can get going for that. Cheers. To be honest I am not much of a handing man when it comes to making something out of nothing so would prefer just to buy parts/equipment and just put it together, I am great at following instructions so hopefully there is a step by stepo guide somewhere too, I have my eye on these  books...

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=890845947

and http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=892244785 and

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=892701777  let me know your thoughts on these please.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

found another good video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IneNZ4l6das  

[Peter Church]

as Pete Smith said, How to Brew is the best book out there, that should be your first purchase.

regarding monteiths original, a good recipe at the link below

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/recipe/1477-montheiths-origional-ale-cl...

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/60932-recipedb-montheiths-origion...

lagering is another layer of complexity, classified as advance brewing techniques in the Brewing Classical Styles book, it takes longer ( at least in theory) requires additional equipment etc; stick to ales for now.

[Peter Smith]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/893810147

not hard to pack up and ship i could help

[Dyl]

I just came on here to post the trademe link above!

You should definitely consider the above, mate the guy even offers to help you with your first brew if your in Auckland. I don't think it will go for $250 tho...

If that doesnt work out, this is a sharp price for a brnad new mash tun

http://shop.brewtopia.net.nz/product_info.php?cPath=14_15&produ...

[Cain Harland]

If you got that for anywhere near opening bid you would be doing well. Just the mash tun and immersion chiller would cost you that to set up new and on the cheap.

[Peter Smith]

The great thing about 50L keg brewing, as long as you buy well, they are worth the same when you have finished with them......    if you really must you can polish them, no need though...  I think it will go about $300

[Grant R Baker]

Starting out and you want to go all grain... good on ya.

Single vessel is the easiest way to start... BIAB (brew in a bag). Learn all the basics of mashing, sparging, boiling etc

 

Making the Wort

1* 50L pot, with a ball valve near the bottom is best.

1 * Big grain bag.

1 * Gas burner. The better the burner the better your brew day will be, using a basic 2-ring burner is very slow and becomes annoying.

(Hop bags/hop spyders are optional)

 

Fermenting

You are going to need a fermenter with airlock. Plastic Tubs or barrels works fine, last about 3-4 years. Stainless one last a lot longer (if you don't drop them) but cost more.

Personal choice (as most of this stuff is) whether you go for a tap on your fermenter or use a syphon to move your fermented beer from fermenter to bottle (or secondary vessel). I started on bottling tap but moved to syphon after a year or so.

 

[Peter Smith]

I would get one of these early on $15    http://www.brewshop.co.nz/racking-cane-stainless-76cm.html   

get some clear plastic tube to complete the syphon, (5m at bunnings for like $10) being stainless it will last forever and easy cleaning vs the plastic auto-syphons.   You can put the bottling wand on the end of the hose.    Just turf the hose every so often.   if in doubt get stainless vs plastic for everything you can that will ever touch the wort/beer....