Bruce G wrote:Long time lurker, second time poster. I have listened to many of the archive podcasts and read How to Brew cover to cover a couple of times. Background on me - I expect that I will get swept away in this new endeavor, I would like to buy equipment that won't be shoved to the back shelf after a few months, but I don't want to go out and buy a $2k brewery to start either. I would like to buy the right stuff the first time, and start with a setup that will allow me to do extract brews. I have two major projects in the works, building a wood fired pizza oven and remodeling a bathroom. Brewing is the carrot to get me through the chores.
Three questions for now, undoubtedly more later.
1. The nice boil kettles at my LHBS have sight glasses and ball valves (Blichmann). It seems like these might be hard to sanitize and may not be worth the trouble. A year down the road will I wish I had these features or be tired of scrubbing them and wish I had a plain kettle?
2. I will be drinking most of my beer myself, so 5 gallon batches is probably where I will stay. That means 7 gallon boils. Is a 10 gallon kettle really big enough? It does not seem like it would leave a lot of freeboard. On the other hand 15 seems too big, and I may not be able to even submerge a chiller all the way. Again, what size will I want a year down the road assuming I am still brewing 5 gallon batches?
3. Everyone who talks about brewing talks about sanitization, but I never hear mention of sanitizing my hands or wearing gloves. It seems like cleaning a racking tube and then picking it up with my hands is a bit of a contradiction. Do I need to worry about that?
Thanks for your time. Now back to hammering...
Bruce G
1 - If you are doing 5 gallon full boil extract batches and you have a strong back and don't want to drop too much $ on a kettle, skip the blichmann with the fancy sight glass and ball valve and get an inexpensive 34 quart enamelware canning kettle and an immersion chiller. Use the money you save to buy a kegging setup. 34 quart is plenty big for a 5 gallon batch, and if you want to do all grain, all you need is a cooler or insulated bottling bucket and a false bottom. If you want to start by doing partial boil extract batches you can use a 5 gallon pot.
2 - If your friends discover your beer, you will need to upgrade to 10 gallon batches. You can get a nice 15 gallon kettle or converted keg since you are going to spend a lot anyway - 10 gallons is a bit heavy to lift, so you will probably have to pump and then you will need the ball valve, 10 gallons will take forever to boil on a stovetop, so you will need to use propane, 10 gallons would take forever to bottle, so you would need a kegging setup... And an extra fridge... An an extra carboy or a large conical...
3- I tend to wear gloves when I brew or bottle (mainly because I have scalded myself and that's no fun) - I dip them in sanitizer after cleaning them with unscented dish soap.
