Clearly, I came to the right place. Yeah, I'm wanting to do an extract kit (preferably with specialty grains) and not a partial mash kit. I think I'm going to get an Northern Brewer kit, they all seem highly reviewed on their site and I have to order a couple more things from them before we are ready to brew anyway.
I'm going to start brewing with my dad. We are splitting the costs of the equipment and we found a sweet deal locally on craigslist from someone selling their equipment. I've heard that extract kits do better with a full water volume boil so we are going to get a 6 gallon stainless pot, which will help us transition to all grain. It's kinda the standard starter/bucket-brew/bottling kit; 6 gallon primary bucket, 5 gallon glass secondary, 6.5 gallon bottling bucket.
Any tips that may help out with shoddy instructions?
Hello,
I am also a newbie. I pitched the yeast on my first batch 24 days ago, fermented for 12 days, and has been in bottles since. I am currently drinking one of my brews and it is quite good - way better then I expected.
This was a kit with 5 lbs. of Light Pilsner extract, bag of grains for steeping, 4 different hops ( this is an American Pale Ale recipe) and the priming sugar. It has turned out pretty darn good. Slight flaws but from the advice here i Know why. However, it is actually quite good and I drinking the hell out of it!
Santoch recommended a 5 gallon pot and I do not disagree. I live in an apt however with a coil rangetop and this was not going to work for me. So I have a 16 quart pot and can only do partial boil. But you can get good results.
You will hear it here over and over again about the next point. Forget the secondary. Really, put it aside. I also have a 5 gallon glass carboy from years ago. It is not needed and may do more harm then good. It\s an old practice and is not needed.
You are correct to not follow kit instructions, at least to a degree. Most call for way too high ferm temps and are vague about boil and yeast. Stick to the advice you hear from these guys here who have been doing this for awhile.