Hello from Tacoma!

[Eric_Williams]

Hello everyone. I'm new to it all! New to the forums, new to brewing. I haven't actually brewed my own beer yet, but I loosely "co-brewed" with a friend a couple of times. I've watched just about every beer brewing video available on Youtube. I'm naturally gifted in the kitchen, and a lot of techniques and ideologies in brewing translate over to the kitchen, and therefor, I fee like I have an additional advantage going forward. I'm skipping extract. It doesn't appeal to me in the slightest.. It just feels like a shortcut method. I have no problem investing the time in an all-grain brew. I'm in the process of obtaining all my equipment. I'm planning on sticking to 5 gallon batches for quite a while, but I'll likely bump it up to 10 eventually. As such, I currently own an SS Brewtech 15 gallon brew kettle, and a basic bayou classic outdoor burner (55,000 BTU). I'm hoping to receive the Catalyst fermenter as a christmas gift, and will either pick up the Fermenter's Favorites 10 gallon mash tun/HLT, or just buy the coolers and convert them myself.

I'm excited to dive into this hobby, and look forward to sharing my adventures. Are there by any chance any "tutorials" on how to use this software, that run you through the process step by step for a hypothetical brew? Any and all advice is welcomed. I opted for this software over Beersmith 2, mainly based on the UI, and cloud support.

Cheers!
Eric

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Hi, welcome to the site and brewing, unfortunately there is no start to finish tutorial on how to use brewers friend, most people just dig into it and ask when they get stuck, I personally think its a good idea to at least have a blog post on the basics with pictures, maybe Ill bring that up with the crew, good luck with your first brew

 

[GFHomebrew]

Brew steps in the brew setting helps im sure. Step by step advise for beginners maybe i should read them from time to time lol.

 

[chub1]

Watcha

 

[Leglesswondercat]

With that kit I'll bet you will make wonderful beer On a shoestring myself but still making better than I can buy, take a look at brulosophy.com lots of interesting beersperiments.

 

[Group W]

Welcome Eric!

I went down the same path about a year ago. I had brewed extract many times prior; but with all grain, the recipe tool and water requirements calculator, I started getting the hang of it on equipment similar to what you described. Find a basic recipe to play with and go for it. Many here can help. Have you thought about bottling or kegging?

Have fun with the addiction!

 

[Eric_Williams]

Welcome Eric!

I went down the same path about a year ago. I had brewed extract many times prior; but with all grain, the recipe tool and water requirements calculator, I started getting the hang of it on equipment similar to what you described. Find a basic recipe to play with and go for it. Many here can help. Have you thought about bottling or kegging?

Have fun with the addiction!

I'll probably bottle at first (I spent a while saving up bottles) but I'm definitely planning on kegging, and building a keezer.

 

[Mase]

Be careful if Santa does bring you a Catalyst Fermenter. Be extremely careful with cleaning your fermenter. Any scratches (no matter how small), can be a haven for bacteria/infections.

And you won't be disappointed with the Fermenters Favorite mash tun. We've used ours for nearly a year now and it does great at holding temperatures for an hour. However, we brew in the outdoors (in the garage) which requires covering the mash tun with old blankets and comforters during the winter months.

Welcome aboard!