New B Full of Questions

[Bruce G]

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

[Stinkfist]

1. No you will not get tired of ball valves and sight glasses

2. A 10 gallon pot is plenty big enough for 5 gallon batches...you do not need anything bigger.

3. where were your hands before you picked up the racking cane? Where they in the sanitizer as well? or were they scratching your butt? if the ladder then maybe you should put them back in the sanitizer and relax don't worry drink a MicroBrew till you make your own

[TheDarkSide]

I'm not sure the sight glass is necessary but a ball valve comes in very handy when transferring or whirlpooling with a pump.

If you are going to do full wort boils, for 5 gallons you should probably have a kettle that can handle at least 8 gallons of wort. I have a 7.5 gallon kettle now and I fill it to 1/2" from the top and stress about boilovers. I constantly come in lower than 5 gallons when transferring to the carboy due to loses in the trub or when a recipe calls for a 90 minute boil. I'm going to be getting a 10 gallon kettle soon.

Sanitation on the hot side is not much of an issue. It's after the boil you got to worry about sanitization. I don't wear gloves because my hands are contantly in and out of Star San when I doing the cold side stuff anyways. That said, I don't stick my thumb in the wort to see if it's cooled enough to pitch yeast either.

[bcmaui]

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?

I use a 8 gallon brewpot for my 5 gallon batches (which are about 6 1/2 gallons when they start off) - my ideal size would be a little bigger at 10 gallons - but using anti-foam each time makes it manageable.

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?

You end up sanitizing your hands as you grab hoses out of the buckets, etc. Also you are touching the outside of the hose and it is the inside that touches most of the material. I try not to touch the outside of a hose that will come in contact with the beer (i.e. the end that sits in the keg during transfer).

I have recently finished a bathroom remodel. My wife can sit in the tub and look at the brewhouse through the window next to the tub.

I too have a wood fired oven in my future - this book is excellent:

http://www.amazon.com/Bread-Builders-He ... 890132055/

this one deals mostly with the prefab one but does have a few design ideas.

http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Wood-Fir ... 764329162/

BBQ, wood fired baking and brewing all are great ways to spend an afternoon and they compliment each other - you can smoke meat, bake and brew all at the same time as none requires 100% attention the entire time.

[thatguy314]

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. Your boil kettle will sanitize itself (and anything connected to it) by boiling. Pre-boil, nothing needs to be sanitary. Sanitizing pieces of equipment with sanitizer is only necessary once boiled wort is cooled down.

2. 5 gallons probably means about a 6.5 gallon boil. That said, Jamil has convinced many of us that a 6 gallon boil is the way to go, so you can leave the gunk in the bottom of your pot and transfer to a fermenter. I would recommend at least 8 gallons. 10 seems excessive to me, but a little too much is always better than too little. Especially if you ever brew a double IPA or something that leaves a lot of gunk in the bottom you can always make a slightly larger batch.

3. I would recommend in addition to the fact that you get your hands wet with sanitizer, that you ALWAYS wash your hands before doing sanitary work. Preferably with a non-perfumed soap. Dirt on your hands can carry bacteria just like dirt in a carboy. Sanitizing doesn't get around it.

[dags]

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. Your boil kettle will sanitize itself (and anything connected to it) by boiling. Pre-boil, nothing needs to be sanitary. Sanitizing pieces of equipment with sanitizer is only necessary once boiled wort is cooled down.

2. 5 gallons probably means about a 6.5 gallon boil. That said, Jamil has convinced many of us that a 6 gallon boil is the way to go, so you can leave the gunk in the bottom of your pot and transfer to a fermenter. I would recommend at least 8 gallons. 10 seems excessive to me, but a little too much is always better than too little. Especially if you ever brew a double IPA or something that leaves a lot of gunk in the bottom you can always make a slightly larger batch.

3. I would recommend in addition to the fact that you get your hands wet with sanitizer, that you ALWAYS wash your hands before doing sanitary work. Preferably with a non-perfumed soap. Dirt on your hands can carry bacteria just like dirt in a carboy. Sanitizing doesn't get around it.

In relation to point 3, as I will assume that you are brewing without pants on, the sanitising of the hands is a good idea, and if you like splash a little sanitiser on your junk just to be safe.

[Crackin]

Not mentioned in your post, but I bought 2 5 gallon glass carboys for secondary fermentation, which I no longer use. I now just primary only, in 6.5 gallon glass carboys. Also, don't rule out 10 gallon batches. Depending on how often you want to brew. Remember that if you drink 4 beers a day, your 5 gallon batch only last about 12 days. Not that I know anybody who drinks every day ... just sayin'

[Bruce G]

Thanks for all the helpful tips.

Another good book on wood fired ovens is "Build Your Own Earth Oven" by Kikko Denzer. It is an easier and cheaper way to go than the method in "Bread Builders", though the ovens in the latter book are really cool and I read both books before diving in. My goal with the earth oven is to fire it to pizza temperature, bake a few pies, and have the sourdough ready to go in when the pizzas are out and the oven has cooled a bit. By fall I hope to have some friends over for pizza from the wood fired oven and beer brewed at home.

Until then, I guess I will have to continue to make do with store bought beer. Southern Tier Oak Aged IPA is my current favorite. Try some, you'll like it.

Thanks again.

Bruce G