Too Many Hobbies, Not Enough Time

[ryzaa]

Hi all,

I have been toying with making my own brew for a number of years now, and have decided it is about time to get started.

I am 21, live in Adelaide, and study Electrical and Electronic Engineering combined with Physics at Adelaide Uni.

My main hobby is the design and construction of speakers and amplifiers.

I enjoy pretty well all beers, except for VB and Coopers Pale Ale. There are a number of local micro breweries and other small time craft beer operations that I visit regularly when my fridge is running low [More often than not!] My brother and I are pooling our resources together, and plan on setting up a bit of an operation at my parents farm, so that we are able to create our own brews, and enjoy them with our friends and family.

At this point in time, we have no idea where we are going to start, or what equipment we need, but we are of the 'do it right the first time' school of thought. So basically we are going to be on the lookout for enough equipment to do a small to mid sized operation [100L+ batches]

I hope that we can gain the information we need from this forum, and perhaps the odd piece of equipment here and there from the classifieds, as we work towards building up our own setup.

Thanks,

Ryan

 

[r055c0]

Welcome aboard ryzaa, you've taken the first step on your way to obsession

100L batches is hardly a small operation, most home brewers are closer to the 20L mark. I would personally reccomend you start a little smaller and scale up once you feel like you are making beer that you want to drink 100L of (I was glad my first few brews were only a couple of cartons worth...)

Have a look at the thread below (a lot of pictures are missing now but the instructions are simple and easy), its a great way to have a go without spending much cash, and you can scale the operation up from there.

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/38674-move-to-all-grain-for-thirty-bucks/

Good luck!

 

[ryzaa]

Thanks for the link, having a read now. Unfortunately it is a bit hard on the eyes with the pictures no longer being hosted.

Did think about starting smaller scale first, but not sure where to start with that... Should we just be looking at one of the 20-30L kits that many brew supply stores sell?

Shall try and see how we go with a few things without the proper tools and the like.

The goal is to try out a few of our own recipes and see how we go with them, and build them up into bigger batches as we go [on the assumption that a larger scale setup can still make smaller batches]

 

[r055c0]

Kits are fine, I used them for 5 years and made some good beers, but if you want real control All Grain is the way to go. I think someone else has redone that thread with pictures, will have a search around and post it if I get the chance.

If you're going to start with kits the Coopers brewing kit has everything you need to get your first brew happening and it can be used for all both kit and all grain brewing in batch sizes of up to 25L, it will set you back about $90 from K-mart or BigW.

Ebay is sometimes a good place to find cheap setups, especially after fathers day or christmas

 

[Yob]

The guy is an electrical engineer?

Go large, control box, automated system..

Have a search for "Dedicated HERMS" and cover the keypad in paper towel because you WILL drool.

Look forward to the build photo's

 

[DU99]

Take a look @ Brew Adealaide Site might some gear going there

 

[Braumoasta]

If you're going to start with kits the Coopers brewing kit has everything you need to get your first brew happening and it can be used for all both kit and all grain brewing in batch sizes of up to 25L, it will set you back about $90 from K-mart or BigW.

Coopers brewing kits (fermenter, hydrometer, bottles, etc) can be picked up cheap from online classifieds, I've often seen unopened kits going for bargain prices.

 

[Logman]

The guy is an electrical engineer?

Go large, control box, automated system..

Ha ha, that's what I thought, straight to a 50 litre Braumeiser, Mathos controller and so on...

 

[fletcher]

yeah i can agree with the sentiment in the thread. if you wanna do it right the first time, the best thing to do is jump straight into all-grain, and forget the kits (in my opinion).

BIAB is really simple and fun and doesn't cost a lot to set up initially. if you've got a big space though then there really isn't anything stopping you from getting bigger systems, so do a bunch of searching and go nuts.

brew-wise, start with simple pale ale recipes; get an idea of the grain and hop and yeast flavours and what each brings to the beer and then you begin the fun of making your own tweaks and changes based on your own tastes and preferences, and the world of beer is your oyster. welcome!

 

[Yob]

Dedicated HERMS thread

 

[flaggycreek]

I'm doing biab. I bought an old malleys crab cooker electric boiler. $50 on gumtree. About 45 l capacity, will do a 30l brew. Easy to hook up a controller, I use a stc1000 and just dangle the probe in the water. I also use a tucker box freezer for temp control about $40 on gumtree. This is all you need apart from some bunnings 30 l fermenters. I suggest you learn some technique doing small brews and gradually upgrade. Also find a good brew shop that has all grain product. Have done some great pale ales, lagers, have a dopplebock in at present and a grolsch clone. Hunt around and for about $200 you can get going with biab. Andrew

 

[jimmyfozzers]

Welcome mate, I'm also in Adelaide and have been brewing for about 10 months now (6 months of that all grain/BIAB). Just to echo what Fletcher and the others said - buy some cheap gear off Gumtree, skip the kits and dive straight in to BIAB. As a fellow engineer I can assure you, you'll be hooked. Plenty of geek bling involved, depending on how far you want to take it.

I would say come and do a brew with me to see what's involved, but I normally brew in my kitchen in the dead of night, as quiet as a mouse so I don't wake the little ones Having said that, if you're interested feel free to PM me and I might be able to sort out a daytime brew.

 

[ryzaa]

Hi guys, thanks for all the tips!

Automated is definitely something that makes me even more excited. I am working on an automated system for my speaker design, so I can do other things while it does all my measurements and calculations, so it is definitely something I am about.

Temperature control is something that I have been wondering about, the few threads that I have been reading from you guys are definitely steering me towards doing just that. Automated pumps and gates coupled with timers on temperature controllers definitely sounds like the go.

As for space, I am just starting the construction of a room at my parents for all my shenanigans, its a 4x6m room that I am building as somewhere to stay when I visit. I can always turn it into a bit of a brew house too.
But there is a 12 car garage [~15x25m] that I could easily utilise most of it for whatever activities I want.

Bunnings' 30L fermenters are just the water storage drums they have with bungs? They are rather cheap indeed.

If any of you didn't realise, what I can do myself, I will, if I could weld stainless, I would be welding stainless to make up drums, however I can't, but there is a lot I can still do. Anything I can do myself to save money, and learn skills along the way is something that I would be interested in doing.

Is there anywhere where I could find secondhand stainless bins and the like to get started? I have a lot of contacts in the wine industry, so could quite possibly hang around looking for bits and pieces from them.

Jimmy, I will shoot you through a PM when I am not at work, but that sounds like a great offer! Thanks.