Newer Brewer

[jste99]

Hey everyone,

I'm Josh. I'm new to brewing. I became interested after seeing my brother brew his first batch. I am currently in the secondary fermentation of my second brew. The first came with the kit the wife bought me for Christmas from Northern Brewer. I brewed the Chinook IPA. It turned out to be a successful brew. My current brew is also a LME Kit from Northern Brewer called John Q. Adams Marblehead Lager. I wanted something good for the summer that wasn't too bitter. I will be bottling this weekend. I'm looking forward to expanding my brewing to more complex recipes and such. I would like to try BIAB and eventually when I can afford it go to the multi-tier system. My current equipment consists of the Northern Brewer Deluxe Starter Kit with the two glass carboys. I also bought an 8 gallon Tall Boy Kettle from Northern Brewer. Other than that, it's pretty basic. I'm contemplating on buying a wort chiller next. I was looking at the silver serpent or the copperhead. If you have a suggestion for that, I will take any advice. Also, if you have any advice for me as a home brewer, I would gladly take it. Thanks for reading.

Josh

 

[jeffpn]

It's a fun hobby that you can just as deep into as you wish. I'm a BIAB brewer with no plans to "advance" to a 3 vessel system. I am quite happy with the beer I produce, and my beer is just as real as beer made from extract kits, or beer that was made any other way.

As far as chilling, I've done it all. My first chiller was a 5 gallon bucket full of ice water that had a coil of copper tubing in it, that the wort siphoned through. Then I used a short (20 feet or so) homemade immersion chiller, that used the recycled coil from my first chiller. I used that for years. Then I became intrigued by the idea of counterflow chillers. My daughter and I made one. Effective, but hard to clean. Then I found the Hydra online. I was hesitant to buy it, after spending all the money to build the counterflow chiller. The Hydra is downright amazing. My chiller search days are over.

http://jadedbrewing.com/products/the-hydra

 

[jmcnamara]

welcome!

i'd highly suggest going BIAB, sounds like you've got everything you need but the bag

i use a copper immersion chiller, not sure of the brand though. it has 2 coils, one inside the other, so i feel it cools a bit faster, especially when i separated them a bit to allow the wort to flow through more easily. super easy to clean too.

one suggestion though, is to think about how big your kettle will be, not necessarily what it is now. you don't want to get a little 25' chiller if you intend to be making big 10 gallon batches at some point in the near future. it won't be as efficient in the big batch, and you'll end up spending more in the long run