I be a newbie. In fact, I’ve never brewed beer. Drank a lot of it, for sure, but never brewed. Been doing a lot of reading though.
Today I took the first step. I bought a fridge.I know, first thing you need to do is buy a kit, but I figured I need a place to put that beer and from what I’ve been reading, bottling is a royal rectal discomfort, and I ain’t doin’ it. Straight to kegs, yessir. So, today I Craigslisted my way into a $50 Sears fridge. It’s an up/down with the freezer down. The upstairs measures 18D, 28W, 33H and according to my calculations that should fit 3 on tap, two backups and a CO2 bottle quite comfortably. The downstairs looks like it’ll hold 50 lbs of ice for the jockey box.
It’l sit right off the kitchen in the mud room with three taps on the door. A little further down the road there’s room for another one next to it as a lagering fridge. SF1 and LF1…lol.
OK, step 2. Build a room for the fridge. Garage off the kitchen, wife’s been wanting a mud room for a while. Coats, shoes, paper towels and, the beer fridge. Perfect. Garage gets too cold in winter and too hot in summer. Good news, beer fridge is allowed in mud room. I haven’t mentioned the lagering fridge though… :o
lol good luck! Sounds like you could use a nice homebrew during all that construction and negotiation :P I’ve decided I just need to win the lottery so I can build the ultimate homebrew shed/building in the back yard
Welcome to homebrewing. You’ll find it extremely rewarding and frustrating at times too.
I did something similar and went straight to kegs after a 14 year hiatus. It does make it easier. As far as your “kegerator” not sure what you’d need a jockey box for since the beer will be already cold but maybe I’m not aware of something in your plans.
Are you planning on doing all grain brewing right out of the gate? Some do you know. Otherwise extract brewing is quick and easy. There’s no shame in it. ;D
You will get quick and good answers here at the AHA. Don’t hesitate to ask.
May do a hybrid if I can find the recipe. My desire is to brew Belgian style ales… I’m still looking for a clone recipe for Goose Island’s “Matilda”. For me, that is probably one of the best beers in the world… Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale is helping me out in the mean time.
We (A friend who’s been brewing for a while and a bunch of us lookers on/helpers) brewed a Sahti the other day, it was all grain.
Meanwhile, the framing is done and the electric roughed in. On to drywall.
Use the freezer to store your bulk hops purchases. Welcome to the addiction. One of the first things you should brew is something your wife enjoys so you can hook her on your new obsession.
And I also recommend a simple mead, they’re pretty easy and very tasty.
Why am I not surprised to find Scadians on a brew forum… Lol. My inspiration is a Mistress who has 13 or so Cornies floating around her basement and makes substantial contributions to melée morale.
Yes the wife will be catered to. Unfortunately she has simple beer tastes. Fortunately she has simple beer taste. A Yuengling clone is # 2 on the list.
Electric finished, insulation in, drywall up, first layer of mud on the seams. Fridgies home is almost done…
Getting the final list of keg parts and pieces done. I got my mitts on a pair of pin connect cornies… Since I want a ball system (alll my brew friends are pin, and I want to be able to connect to their jockey boxes, I’ll need to order the Foxx Equipment converter pieces (pin to ball). Anyone have experience with these? Good? Bad?
Allrighty then… phase one of “Operation Fermentation” is complete. Mudroom done. Momma has her carpeted, insulated, heated coat rack and 37 pair shoe storage, not to mention the pantry space and so on… But, Fridgie snuck in and has a home, complete with mood lighting and a stuffed parrot watching over him… ;D
Tomorrow we go to the brew supply and install keggeration…
