What do i need

[Michael Bilby]

OK i want to put down a brew from scratch so what do i need and whats a good lager recipe what is the process for that  can anyone help plz.

[Peter Smith]

need a pretty big sky hook to lift that puppy out

[Dougal]

Haha! Damn straight.

Michael, definitely try some smaller batches first before you think about scaling up. You need to make sure that the quality of what you're brewing is worth making a bigger scale batch. If your hygiene isn't up to scratch, then 800 litres is a lot of bad beer to pour down the drain. It's also 1066 x 750ml bottles to clean and sanitise! Give a few 25 litre batches a go, and when you're confident that you're making a decent brew, then look at scaling up- most folks on here end up doing 50-100 litres for a larger batch size, and kegging it to save on cleaning all those bottles.

 

[Michael Bilby]

yea i am trying some smaller batches first i have over a 1000 -750ml wine bottles and work for a bottling company so i can get more i am trying to get a vat  and cooling coil may take a while and to answer the others the beer is for me the wife and the father inlaw and anyone who comes around for a drink  and i do make a decent brew from the tin beer but i want to try it from scratch just thought i would make one or two bach's per year.

[Barleyman]

As long as you've got a stack of cash, why not?

In saying that, I find I can brew A LOT of good beer through a 30L FV using a fermentation fridge & temp control.

 

Do you really want to have to deal with a thousand bloody bottles?? 

[mattd2]

If you have the room, it might be "cheaper" to build a walkin cooller using an old "through the wall" AC unit. the benifit of this is you can use it to store your beer once it is sitting around waiting to be drunk.

If it was me, and I was determined to brew 1000 litres once a year, I would be seriously considering getting at least a few 50 litre kegs. I would expect $4000 for legit 2nd hand kegs or new imports from China. That would get away from those 1300+ bottles. If you do go bottles consider getting crown caps instead of wine bottles. I would not be looking ofrward to that bottling day(s)!

 

[Tom C]

And if they're not champagne bottles you'll just have a large puddle and lots of broken glass.  Table wine bottles won't take the pressure.

[Barleyman]

What pressure?

http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/forum/topics/help-plz

[Scarrfie]

Michael I have only been doing all grain for little less than two years with 38 batches now under my belt. I wouldn't dream of upscaling yet for two reasons. The lesser is that I enjoy the wide variety of beer craft brewing offers, I didn't actually anticipate this when I started trying to improve kit beer. Second is that there are so many more variables and opportunities for something to go wrong. If you want to just brew two beers then I would suggest getting them faultless and then duplicating them exactly say three or four times each in a 25 litre batch before stepping them up. I have been trying to perfect one beer and after seven variations I am still not happy and still making mistakes.

A lager doesn't give you much room to hide any faults either. I brew in ambient and my success rate for lagers over winter was really only 50%.

Something else to consider if you like a hoppy brew is that hop qualities in a beer decline over time. An aromatic hop profile would decline after a matter of weeks. Six months will see the bitterness subside somewhat as well.

Good luck though with what ever you brew.

[JR]

You might be a candidate for a williams warne beer machine.

[mattd2]

or 43 WilliamsWarns

[Sam]

Two l000 litre batches in one year is 38 litres of beer a week! The first investment for that quantity of beer for 'personal use' would have to be a set of wheels or some kind of trolley jack system for the inevitable beer belly! Jokes aside give it a go at smaller quantities to start with and you might find you enjoy being able to experiment -  all grain brewing can become a bit addictive.  Even a 50 - 100 litre batch should last for quite a while, and would be a lot more manageable, allow you to have a range of beers, and be at a volume to suit a kegging set up with a large chest freezer. One type of beer all year round might get a bit boring too. 

[Sam]

Who would have thought in the mere space of 5 houses down the road on recycling day you might be able to find the 1000 litre fermenting capacity you require ;p