I have all the equipment but haven't made any in years. I actually made some very good stouts when I was into it. If I ever get my garage cleaned out I may start again.
It takes a considerable amount of ice to start with ice water from the beginning using an immersion chiller. I tried it once and we used almost 10lbs of ice trying to get to pitching temp. Doing it my way takes advantage of the ambient water temp until it's no longer efficient and only then uses ice. Doing this I can just dump the ice tray from my freezer into a bucket w/ a gallon of water and recirculate. I've found that starting around 100F will end up equalizing in the mid 60's.
For reference, my tap water in the summer comes out around 80F.
For chilling I've always done the opposite of what most of the kits have you do. Granted, if my tap water was as hot as yours it would be impossible. Rather than using copper tubing to pump the wort through an ice bath, I bought my own copper tubing and got a hose connector and I pump cold tap water from outside through that.
I felt this was more sanitary as I do not have to worry about any contamination from the inside of the tubing. In addition to this I usually manage to chill the wort to the correct temperature in under 15 minutes because of both the ambient water temperature in my area as well as the pressure that I get through the hose.
Your local brew supply store will sell a kit to get you started. If there's no one local, try brewyourownbrew Home brewing is an excellent hobby but, you don't save any money over buying good beers in the store. The thing I like is learning about techniques and the amazing variety you can create from 4 ingredients. Once you've had a good home brew, you can never go back to mass produced crap. Your tastes will also change with regards to malt and hops because as with any food, it's a learned experience.
That's exactly what an immersion chiller does. I just drop the copper coil in the boil for the last 15 minutes to sanitize it.
I don't use a counterflow chiller, which would pipe the hot wort through a copper tube surrounded by a hose pumping cold water.
Erm, you're right, I don't know how I got confused on that one. It seems to be that immersion is more popular than it used to be, but the pricing seems far more expensive than I remember it being. Has the price of copper gone up or something?
Erm, you're right, I don't know how I got confused on that one. It seems to be that immersion is more popular than it used to be, but the pricing seems far more expensive than I remember it being. Has the price of copper gone up or something?
Might start as a hobby soon. I've looked into it before but never did it.
Go to your local brew shop supplier and check for classes. Most offer classes on different brewing techniques at least once a month. It's an easy way to see what's needed, time involved and, the chance to talk to other new and experienced brewers.
Sidenote: Karbach brewery down here has put out the first of two Christmas Ales, the first being 'Yule Shoot Your Eye Out'. Very crisp, with hints of nutmeg and other seasonal spices.
Keep an eye out for 'Fragil-e', which will be coming out in the next couple weeks
Sidenote: Karbach brewery down here has put out the first of two Christmas Ales, the first being 'Yule Shoot Your Eye Out'. Very crisp, with hints of nutmeg and other seasonal spices.
Keep an eye out for 'Fragil-e', which will be coming out in the next couple weeks