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Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 3:38 pm
by WTDist
So with a long and ... well... not so great talk with the missus im going to be shutting up shop with distilling after i run my last batches. No reopen date in the foreseeable future :shock:
And Im told the still needs to go :scared-eek:


Love home brew though so didnt go without a fight. still lost though :laughing-rolling: and knowing this is a distilling forum there are still a lot of members here that have brewed beer from what i have read.
So im going to start making beer. gave it a thought long time ago but loved distilling more. So with beer making legal she came around... took a while though :angry-banghead:

Ill have 16L of 66% WB/CF stuff aging so wont run out for a while if i sub in beer

I'll take a trip to my local home brew shop, being Annerly, which im not fond of, and ill ask them a few questions on what i need to brew beer successfully. Not fond of this because they will try and sell the whole shop to me :violence-smack: Could try a different one if any brissy beer makers know of a good one for beer?

Im wondering if anyone can help me out and tell me what i will need to make beer. Tools and Equipment? such as bottle brushes for bottles or something? All the basic small stuff beginners never think of when starting. heat belt or pad for winter? the alcometer a beginner might not think of or SG meter. got the alco and SG meters but im sure there are lots of things ill find i need and would rather know what i can first before i go in head first.
I will be doing a fair amount of googling and YouTubeing too. Unlike distilling i will have this researched before i start

My boiler and power controller will be gone too so cant use those. so thought i could boil grains in a large stock pot?


If im not distilling ill make beer so any advice on what i should gather up to make it successfully will be greatly appreciated

Thanks to anyone who can help me out in this dark day b-(
Cheers
WTDist

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:00 pm
by bluc
Bummer ya have to hang up ya hat. I am doing some ginger beer and beer as far as bottling goes it sux. I bought a tap a draft system bascially 4 x 6 litre bottles that use small co2 cartridges for a draft beer. Half way between bottles and kegs. May be worth a look for ya.

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:09 pm
by rumdidlydum
Thats sucks wt. Can't you convince her your using it to purify water for the beer or something?

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:11 pm
by WTDist
Tried. didnt work. brew kits on ebay remind me of the T500 kit :laughing-rolling:

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:23 pm
by WTDist
the boiler will go with the still. going to ask a family friend if he wants to buy it all off me and if he doesnt ill put the lot up in the for sale section, sooo many jars and bottles. basically everything i have for home brew/distilling except one fermenter. pretty sure i spend close to $400 in the last year making just the still and the power controller :angry-banghead:

oh well ill work out a price in my head when im finished my batches and organize if my mate wants it or the for sale section. Only bonus selling to him would be i could use it every now and again prob but he would want it for less than what is desirable

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:41 pm
by Doubleuj
Damn mate, that's no good! Was it just the legality issue that she had a problem? Move to NZ. :laughing-rolling:

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:55 pm
by WTDist
haha yea she says shes having nightmares. Ive been battling this for a year and half so i did well i guess. its why my builds took a while also

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 5:20 pm
by bluess57
I assume you want to do AG beers and not extract kits.
You need a vessel to boil about 30l of wort. Pots at this size are expensive.
Keep your keg boiler and cut out the top.
You want a mashing vessel. You can use the keg boiler with insulation or go with a modified Esky.
Collect 750ml long neck Cooper's bottles or go a kegging setup.

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 5:44 pm
by Adam007
WTD check out craft brewer they are in Brisbane.

When I dabbled with beer I bought some hops and that other stuff you make beer with from them :P

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 7:24 pm
by WTDist
THx bluess.
Ill get a 30L SS pot. Misses wants the boiler gone and ill sell it whole with everything when i get around to it.

planing on making a wort chiller before i start also. Ill prob do a few of those malt extract ones as a learning curve and evolve into AG so a esky would be good. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

ill give the craft brewer a go. round the corner from where i used to live
cheers

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 7:32 pm
by sp0rk
WTDist wrote:THx bluess.
Ill get a 30L SS pot. Misses wants the boiler gone and ill sell it whole with everything when i get around to it.

planing on making a wort chiller before i start also. Ill prob do a few of those malt extract ones as a learning curve and evolve into AG so a esky would be good. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

ill give the craft brewer a go. round the corner from where i used to live
cheers

Go straight to at least a 50L pot. 30L is just too small IMHO
also just No Chill to begin with, get your brewing process down pat before you introduce chilling

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 7:42 pm
by bluc
T500 boiler with power controller works great for mashing :pray: otherwise ya gotta stuff round setting up a heat source for a stock pot...

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 9:07 pm
by WTDist
if i was to get a 50L pot, would a $50 keg with the top cut off do the job? and an FSD element? just thinking at the moment. the reason i mentioned a 30l pot was from a you tube vid i watched. my fermenter is 30L so it will have to be only big enough to fill that to a reasonable capacity. thought a 30L might fit on the stove? :))

reason i wanted a chiller was i saw on a few vids that after boiling it you need to get it down to a good temp faster the better to avoid infection. just something to chill it to yeast pitching temp. like this
Image

but just enough for what i need. can make it myself dont need to buy it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

would it really be hard to bring it down to temp? But yes im a little concerned about my brewing process. my hygiene with distilling was a hose spraying out the fermenters :))

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 9:18 pm
by Sam.
check this out :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 9:22 pm
by Wobblyboot
Just watch out for the handy pot lid tho :teasing-tease:

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 11:03 pm
by Sam.
Wobblyboot wrote:Just watch out for the handy pot lid tho :teasing-tease:


:laughing-rolling: I still don't think the extra tannins will make the whisky undrinkable :D

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 11:19 pm
by warramungas
Google robobrew. Not sure if the site owners are okay with links to other brewshops.
Cheapest semi automated grain brewer I've seen and a great thing to do with the money you get for your gear that's if you want to go all grain that is.
Me for the most part I brew my beer cheap with coopers extract which is still pretty good, needs minimum equipment and stuff all fiddling around and only done a couple of partial mashes in my boiler to make a couple of Belgian tripels for shits and giggles (expensive giggles).
Something I found useful are those wide plastic bread crates. The holes are perfect size to put your bottles in upside down to drain after a tub and to store upside down on a shelf in the shed. Like a makeshift bottle tree that can hold 40 or 50 bottles (big ones).
Also stick with glass bottles. Don't go plastic. More durable, less porous, will last forever and if twist top still seal fine and easier to undo. Prefer the 750s as less mucking around than the smaller ones and seriously, who ever has just one beer?

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:01 pm
by WTDist
thanks guys.
the robobrew might be out of my price range. if i sell it to my mate (still and everything i own for distilling including bottles jars... everything) it will most likely be $300 as i may be able to use it still with him, on rare occasions :)) plus he is a tight arse :? but i am thinking around 500 for the lot of my stuff maybe 450. ill see. the still and controller alone cost me 400$ in just parts in the last year to make myself so with everything im thinking 500 may be my budget. or 300 if my mate gets it.

Thx for the link Sam. got me rolling on the idea of getting a gas burner and keg since i have gas bottles laying around i dont use. plus a keg is same price as a cheap 20L ss pot .

What do people think of this burner.. 3.3333 kW/h single burner on stand. $54 (including delivery) might be slow heat up but is within budget i think.

list im thinking up so far is

keg $50
above burner $54
Grain mill $28
Hopsock Large (500 micron) $20
bottle brush $5
heat belt under $20
siphon and bottling wand, cane too. $25?
bottle capper $27.95
bottles :think: looks cheaper/better/funner to buy a few cartons of beer and reuse them :)) maybe $80
sanitiser $14
colander from the kitchen :whistle:
decent thermometer, or reuse my T500 one with the cord on it. most likely
hydrometer (mine will go with still) and tube $16
blankets n stuff to wrap the keg to keep heat in when needed.... i have about 5 sleeping bags here that never get used
25L blue bunnings water drum for bottling day $22
I guess i can freeze 1.25L soda bottles and use them to cool in beginning but a wort chiller would be good maybe.

above comes to $362. I guess that works in with my super mates rate. wont have to outlay much but i would rather sell it on here for closer to what its worth. havent considered grain/recipe packs n stuff yet and im sure that will be a decent cost.

can any beer brewers see something i missed that is vital in beginning? burner to big/small? do i need a grain mill for brewing beer either AG or not AG?? im sure i could maybe get that mill to work on a drill???
ill start with a few easy packs of beer to make then move into AG

been working on this actual post for what seems hours. glad its finished :))

PS even though i wont be distilling ill still be on the forum :laughing-rolling:
might work in with my mate with AG. ill brew it he distills it :think:

Cheers
WTD

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:14 pm
by Adam007
Craftbrewer will mill anything above 500g when you purchase it from them.

Re: Beer Brewing Essentials - Equipment Advice

PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:33 pm
by WTDist
Adam007 wrote:Craftbrewer will mill anything above 500g when you purchase it from them.


Thats good. i plan on dealing with a decent HBS that does a lot of beers. Annerly i think is in more sales of essenses n T500's.. logan has a low selection of grains looking on their website.

Guess i can wipe mill of my list

Cheers