Good Bad & The Monkey
Grain bags
Lauter tun (nesting plastic buckets with holes in one)
You may want a 6-7 gallon plastic bucket instead of a 5er.
Your brew bubbling yet? Where are the updted pics?
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
Prince of Fatness
The two 5 gallon buckets and the spigot are for the lauter tun. 5 gallon is not large enough for that purpose? I can ask the kid to try to get bigger ones. There is a bakery at the store so he should be able to score the buckets.
My homebrew shop will have the grain bags. Do I need to line the bottom of the inner bucket with anything, or is that what the grain bag is for?
As for pictures, just boring bubbling going on now. They were about 5 - 6 seconds apart yesterday evening, so definitely slowing down. I'll get some when I bottle, and when I crack open my first brew.
Not at it at all.
Former runner
a bunch of steel cut oats
Do you plan on doing anything special with the oats before adding them to the mash? Just curious if you need to do anything different compared to the flaked oats.
Ross
OK, you talked me into it. The next batch will be all grain. It just may take me a little longer to get the equipment ready for it. I'm thinking 3 weeks or so I'll be ready. Since this is all your fault, what should I brew? I want something simple for the first batch. And think summertime.
What I want done before I start....
Assemble lauter tun.
Buy 5 gallon carboy.
Buy grain bags.
Buy larger pot (I know it's not absolutely necessary but I want to do full boils. There is a SS 9 gallon pot on Amazon for $75 w/ free shipping).
There is a restaurant supply store nearby. I'll check there before buying anything.
Mrs PH is not going to like this.
Since this is all your fault, what should I brew?
Do you have a cool basement? A stable 60 degrees or cooler?
Not sure. It is cooler than the rest of the house but there is a heating vent or two down there so it probably gets above 60 on occasion. It probably stays below 65. I may be able to find a cool corner.
I ask cuz I'm thinking that a nice pilsner styled lager (lots of pale malt, saaz hops, czech lager yeast) is a great way to start and hard to mess up. In my experience, these can tolerate warmer environments than the classical icy cave where these were historically brewed. 60-65 might be okay.
Don't you need to ferment lagers longer? I'll be impatient this first batch. Think summery ale. Like maybe a Belgian Pale Ale. How complicated would that be?
Can you equate the taste of the lager to something on the market that I am familiar with? I'd prefer that over something hoppy. Also I heard that bitters are relatively simple. True?
I figure I'll be cracking the first one mid to late May.
The classic Czech Lager is Pilsner Urquell. If you have not tasted it, you will need to go out and pick one up today and drink it tonight lest you continue to live without any real meaning.
MTA: