Brews and Blues Beer and Smokin’ Blues

The Home Brewing Kit

I made a trip to Advantage Beer & Wine Supplies this afternoon to get the rest of the eqipment I need to start making beer again. Here's what I bought and what I had already (from left):

• Carboy brush for cleaning out the 5-gallon glass carboy
• Bottle brush for cleaning the inside of bottles for re-use
• 5-gallon glass carboy as a secondary fermenter (had this already)
• Carboy carrier for moving the 5-gallon carboy when it's full
• Stopper and 3-piece airlock for 5-gallon carboy
• 1/2 gallon glass jug with stopper for yeast starters
• Fermtech auto siphon for transferring wort from fermenter to fermenter or into the bottling bucket
• Floating thermometer for cooking
• Hydrometer jar
• Hydrometer (had this already)
• Spring-loaded bottle filler (had this already)
• Stirring paddle for cooking (had this already)
• Bottle capper (had this already)
• 1 gross of bottle caps (had this already)
• B-Brite sanitizing powder for sanitizing equipment before use
• Nylon grain bag for steeping grains
• Hose tube for use with the auto-siphon and the bottle filler
• 6.5 gallon bucket with drain tap and drilled lid with 3-piece airlock (doubles as primary fermenter and bottling bucket)
• Two plastic funnels, one with screen for use with carboy and/or yeast starter jug

My brew kettle is not pictured.  I haven't completely solved this problem yet, but in the beginning, I'm going to be cooking on the stove top.  I'll be cooking half the volume and then transferring it into the primary fermenter with the rest of the water volume in the bucket.  Ultimately I'll move the cooking process outside.  I still have my propane burner but I don't have an adequate brew kettle for cooking the entire 5-gallon batches yet.  I have another burner and stainless steel kettle that was originally a turkey deep-fryer that I might convert into a beer cooker.  The kettle that came with that is definitely large enough for 5-gallons of beer.  I'm also going to build an immersion chiller when the time and funds permit.  Since I don't have the chiller ready to go at the moment, it's easier to cool the hot wort in an ice bath in the sink.

I will eventually replace the plastic bucket with a 6-gallon glass carboy as my primary fermenter.  I prefer fermenting in glass, but I'm going to have to rebuild my ultimate beer brewing kit slowly. 

I also purchased some of the ingredients I need for my first batch of beer.  I purchased the liquid malt extract and some irish moss.  The supply shop didn't have the exact yeast strain I wanted, but he was making an order and added what I wanted to it.   I'm not sure if that will arrive in time to brew this weekend, so I'm scheduling my first brewing session for January 17th or 18th, whichever suits my schedule best.  They had the crystal and chocolate malt I wanted, but I decided to wait until closer to brew time to buy that so it will stay fresh.  I'm brewing a Märzen/Oktoberfest as my first brew as I get back into this hobby.  It's a recipe straight out of Charlie Papazian's Complete Joy of Home Brewing book.  I'll post the recipe when I make my brew-day blog post, along with some photos of the experience...