Home Brewing Advice

Find your local homebrew shop (or homebrew club) and get involved.

I know here in BR we have an excellent local shop that brews pretty much every Saturday so you can go see how it works, see what equipment they use, what you might need, and they'll be happy to give you advice and help you out.

There are also multiple clubs in town with people that would be happy to help you get started.

When you are getting started, another thing to consider is searching Craigslist or FB Marketplace... people get out of the hobby all the time and you can sometimes find excellent deals on everything you'll need to get started.

I used this book Free Online Editionto learn. I will say to research the size pots you need/want. In this book I think he recommends a 7.5 gallon brew kettle which is ok but 10 gallons is was better and will make like easier. For a Mash Tun, most people start with a retrofitted 5 gallon igloo type water cooler. And then you will need a Hot Liquor (water) kettle of at least 5 gallon size but 7-8 gallons is even better. Then a carboy (5 gallon), 5 gallon bottling bucket and a couple of 5 gallon home depot buckets for sanitizing, etc. Then a bunch of empty beer bottles and a capper.

John Palmer's How to Brew book, and run by LA Homebrew, if you live in Baton Rouge, on a Saturday. The book will give you a crash course on how to brew, while you are brewing. It basically gives you directions, then explains why you did what you did the next chapter. Very hands on learning.

And go to LA Homebrew, like others have said, for your materials. They will help you out with anything you need.

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Barracuda

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Also, we have an ongoing homebrew thread. Some good info from the resident homebrewers.

LINK

That garage floor is too clean....would not want.

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I would like someone who has laid it out clearly and organized

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Best bet is to buy two 10 gallon stainless pots from a restaurant supply store, a 10 gallon round cooler from walmart, and then go to Bargainfittings.com and get their kits. That's a relatively economical route. The pre-drilled kettles that come with spigots cost a lot.

Then you need fermenting equipment.

Then you need packaging equipment.

Then you need measuring equipment.

Then you need boiling equipment.

Then you need a beer because your bank account is starting to feel the squeeze.

Youtube is your friend.

You'll have a gravity fed system or are you going to put pumps in line with each other? Either way, one burner should be enough to keep your mash a consistent temp. Actually doing it may be another challenge.

You're going straight for the juggler with the three kettle system. Not going to talk you out of what you're doing but we were debating on moving from the cooler setup to a similar RIMS system. The cost of upgrading didn't really make sense to us. Our beer turns out great, we have an 80% efficiency and based on the reviews of step mashing, I'm not sold that it would make any discernible difference in flavor.

Our mash tun is a 48 quart cooler and we have a 10 gallon hot water tank and 15 gallon kettle. 48 quarts can hold 32 pounds of grain. 32 pounds is enough to do a 5 gallon stout at 16.4% beer. I routinely do 10 gallons of 8% beer. Obviously the lower gravities, the more you can do until your kettle is maxed out.

Just food for thought.

Yea I plan on using pumps and the kettles in line with each other. I have found relatively inexpensive 15 gallon kettles online (90 bucks a piece with two 1/2" Npt holes in each). I wanted to do electric brewing for better temperature control, but hiring an electrician to put in a new 30 amp circuit is not happening right now.

I am wondering how well people control the temperature of their strike water and mash with propane burners? Seems like it would be pretty difficult.