Book recommendation

[jfmorris]

Richard Chrz I would not use extract kit ingredients - hops, yeast or grain - that is old. Hops should always be stored in the freezer to prevent decay/degradation (the alpha acids for bitterness have a half life), and yeast should be stored in the fridge. Only dry malt extract would still be usable at this point. Obviously the equipment is fine.

[Richard Chrz]

I am hoping I can figure out some 1-2 gallon batches (although, I assume the measurements are not just linear and dividable, or take a 5 gallon batch into (5) 1 gallon carboys. I think I have most of the equipment for the extract as my wife bought me a kit for a bourbon barrel stout a few years ago, I put it in a closet and have not touched it since. I did not see any dates on anything that said, "use by" on them. Keep the advice coming!!!

[jfmorris]

Richard Chrz Don't get intimidated!

I second ComfortablyNumb in recommending morebeer.com for purchasing equipment and ingredients. Northern Brewer is where I started, and once I did maybe 2 extract kits, I went ahead and built a mash tun, and got into all-grain brewing once I had the basics of sanitizing and fermenting down pat. northernbrewer.com offers a LOT of extract kits and easy to follow directions.

I would go to morebeer.com or northernbrewer.com and start with one of their "starter" kits if you have nothing, which will include some basic equipment. If you have a turkey fryer burner and pot, you can start with that. If you don't have anything, I recommend at least a 10 gallon pot, as it will grow with you from extract to all grain brewing.

Here is what I mean by a starter kit:

https://www.morebeer.com/category/home-brewing-kits.html

https://www.northernbrewer.com/collections/5-gallon-homebrew-kits

Those will give you some basic fermenters and bottling equipment. Some of the kits have a 5 gallon pot - useful only for partial volume extract brewing, where you brew less than 5 gallons - usually 3 - and add water at the end to the fermenter. I started with a 7 gallon turkey fryer pot, and then moved to a 15.5 gallon keggle. 10 gallons would be a great all around size.

[Richard Chrz]

So, you nailed it! I am hyper sensitive to the sanitation part of this. Like you said, it can be intimidating. And it does intimidate it,

[Richard Chrz]

Thankfully I do have two friends that own a micro brewery, fairly decent size one. They actually offered to have me come to the brewery and they would help me make a 12 keg batch and send it out to area bars. But, I declined for now, and just asked if I needed some help, would they. I will definitely start out with Extracts, while I learn more, and how far I want to go down this rabbit hole. lol (I am trying to do this without bothering them).

[mnavarre]

Agreed, "How to Brew" is pretty much the best book for homebrewers from a science standpoint. "Designing Great Beers" is another book that's pretty much a go to when I'm making up a new recipe.

[jfmorris]

Something I will add, 150+ kegs of beer into this hobby, is that it can seem intimidating at first, but it really isn't. The foremost principle I will stress is that sanitation and cleaning are fundamental. ANYTHING, and I mean anything, that touches the wort once you turn off the flame for the boil (or turn off the element in an electric brewery setup) MUST be sanitized properly. This includes your fermenter, any siphons, hoses, funnels, and so on that touch the wort (which is what we call the boiled "barley syrup sugar water" before it is fermented into beer). This is easy with modern food grade no rinse sanitizers such as StarSan (which I buy by the gallon jug).

Second only to sanitization is fermentation temperature control. You need to be aware of the temperatures the yeast you choose can tolerate, and what they perform best at. Most general purpose ale yeasts ferment best in the mid to upper 60's - I keep my fermentation chamber (an old mini-fridge modified to hold a fermenter) set to 68F for most ale ferments. Lager yeasts need to ferment in the mid to upper 40's to do their best. Some yeast likes it at other temperatures (I do my hefeweizen's at 63F), and some Belgian yeast can tolerate mid 70's. Fermenting outside the temperature range of the yeast will lead to flawed beer with off flavors.

Third, do not, I repeat DO NOT, cover your boil kettle during the boil. There are volatile compounds that NEED to off gas during the boil, and covering the kettle prevents this. You need stuff to boil off, to prevent formation of DMS (Dimethyl sulfides). And be sure to boil at least 60 minutes, sometimes 90 is required depending on the grain bill used. I caught the 20-something kid that used to live next door to me out on his patio brewing in covered kettles, and had previously sampled some of his proudly presented home brew - it was awful stuff with creamed corn flavors (DMS) and a nice rotten egg surfur aroma. You don't want to be that guy. I politely swallowed what I could, and gave him a few pointers.

There are a million and one flaws that can occur in beer, and its not just home brewers - I've had some horrible examples of commercial "craft" beer that was flawed. But you can avoid most of the notable flaws through proper sanitation, temperature control, and process.

[jfmorris]

ComfortablyNumb - yes, a chiller is key, and I made mine by wrapping 75+ feet of copper around a keg, and soldering some fitting to it. If you start with extract kits, and partial volume boils, you can get by without a chiller to start - just pre-chill 2-3 gallon jugs of spring/distilled water in the fridge, and add that to the fermenter, once you've chilled the boil pot in a sink of ice water or something similar.

[Richard Chrz]

thank you, yes I want the science end of it first.

[jfmorris]

Richard Chrz this is based on an older version of the book How to Brew, but is a free online resource where you can read most of the text from one of the earlier editions:

http://www.howtobrew.com

Your basic equipment for brewing consists of:

1. Kettle large enough to heat water in (for mash with all-grain), and for boiling the wort. I started with a 7 gallon turkey fryer pot, and now use a "keggle" - a 15.5 gallon keg with the top cut out to serve as a kettle. The minimum size would be a 5 gallon pot for partial volume boils with an extract kit. I recommend 10+ gallons, to help avoid boiling over, as you boil about 7 gallons for a 5 gallon batch of beer.

2. Burner - you really don't want to be doing this on the stove with a 12,000 BTU burner. I use a 60,000 BTU Bayou Classic SQ14 burner.

3. Mash tun - basically a cooler with a CPVC manifold and ball valve. This lets you mash the grains (steep them in hot water) for the all grain mash step. You can skip this if doing extract brewing.

4. Fermentation vessel. This can be a plastic bucket with a lid with 0-ring, and an air lock, a glass carboy, or one of the newer plastic carboy style fermenters. My current favorite is a Speidel 30L fermenter, due to ease of cleaning compared to my glass carboys. https://www.morebeer.com/products/sp...0l-79-gal.html

5. Bottling or kegging equipment.

I first got into brewing with a bunch of brown bottles and a cheap bottle capper, a plastic fermenting bucket (7 gallons I think it was), a used turkey fryer pot and burner off the side of the road, and an old 40 quart cooler. Probably under $50 actual cash outlay. Now I use a bigger cooler for mashing (60 quart), have a grain mill for crushing the barley, thermostatic controllers to keep fermentation temperatures controlled, and at least 10 5 gallon Cornelius (Pepsi) kegs.

[jfmorris]

If you want to understand how home brewing works, and the science behind it, I would recommend one of the more recent editions of "How To Brew" by John Palmer as a general purpose introduction to home brewing.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Great-Every/dp/1938469356/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=how+to+brew&qid=1561999737&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

The other book I would have in my library (and do) is Brewing Classic Styles:

https://www.amazon.com/Brewing-Classic-Styles-Winning-Recipes-ebook/dp/B002C1AJX8/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=brewing+classic+styles&qid=1561999955&s=gateway&sr=8-2

That has a good recipe for all 80 of the styles in the 2008 BJCP beer style guidelines. I imagine it will be updated eventually, but lets face it - the 2015 BJCP style guides suck rocks. They eliminated a lot of styles I and my home-brew club members brew (robust porter! Southern/Northern English Browns!), and created some styles for no good reason.

I would hesitate to get a book from the 80's or 90's, that has no edition created in this decade, as things have changed a LOT since then. Ingredients, both malt and yeast, are much better than what was available back then. For example, all the old books recommend, rightly for the times, doing a primary and a secondary fermentation. Secondaries are now no longer needed or recommended except for the biggest of beers, or maybe a fruit addition.

Anyway, enjoy getting into home brewing. You can spend as much or as little as you want on equipment, but I do highly recommend getting into all-grain brewing versus extract brewing when you can. I received 3 Northern Brewer extract kits last November, due to a shipping error by Northern Brewer (I had ordered some grain and hops!). They told me to keep them, and made it right by getting me the stuff I did order, and I decided to make one of the kits over the winter. While not BAD beer, it certainly was not great beer by any means.

[Brewmaster]

Byron Burch’s seminal 1986 book: "Brewing Quality Beers: The Home Brewer’s Essential Guidebook."

[Attjack]

jfmorris

[MBMorgan]

"The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie Papazian is a great place to start.

[Richard Chrz]

For Homebrewing, thank you in advance. P.s. I prefer something that will explain some of the science.