Just got the deluxe kit

If you were starting over and new to brewing, what size pot?

which extract kit? I have the Caribou SLobber kit.

My worries about the whole thing is that I still have to get a pot and a propane burner. I am reading How to Brew by Palmer so I understand the importance of sanitizing.

Anyway, my question is…how big of a mess is this? Can I brew a decent beer right off the bat assuming I follow the instructions?

Also, when racking to the secondary, how much yeast should transfer to the secondary - a little, 25%, or close to half?

Thank you and Merry Christmas!

For the pot, get the biggest one you can. 7-10 gallons. More than likely you will not be able to find one that big in a turkey fryer set. If you want to start with a turkey fryer set, look for one with a flat base. Mine has a ridge so only a pot the same diameter will fit in it.

For the pot, I would go with tall and narrow vs. short and wide. Boil off rate increase with surface area.

Which kit? Personal preference. I’ve never been a big fan of Brown ales. So the Caribou Slobber doesn’t interest me.

How big of a mess? Not any more than any other cooking project. Your beer will turn out great. Try to keep it cool. Close to 60*. Fermentation creates heat so the beer will actually be in the mid to upper 60*. Here are some ideas.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=103505&p=917359&hilit=swamp+cooler#p917359

Personally, if I was near the store, I would return the 5g secondary and get another 6 gallon carboy. Then you will have 2 carboys to have 2 beers going at the same time. If you really want to, because of dry hopping or adding fruit, you can use the larger carboy to “secondary” in.

I would leave the beer in the primary for 2-3 weeks and then go to the bottling bucket. Try to keep as much yeast in the fermenter. There will be plenty still in suspension to take care of carbonation.

I just brewed with my new deluxe kit for the first time today and did it on the stove top and there is not much mess at all. I did the CS as well as it’s the kit I was given so I hope I like it. I have an EPA I will brew in 2 weeks when my 6 gal carboy is available again. I plan on getting another 6 gal so I can have 2 at a time going and then I will have 4 carboys.

Have fun with the kit and happy brewing !

Blake and Garret, let me know how things go. I just got my kit and hopefully will brew very soon. I’m brewing the Dry Irish Stout.

I think the pot size should be based on how you are planning to brew. If you are going to use your stove top, then you probably only want to do partial boils (where you only boil around 3 gallons and add water to the cooled wort to achieve the full 5 gallons), and therefore a 4-5 gallon pot would work. If you are going to buy an outdoor burner, then go ahead a buy a bigger pot 7+ gallons so you can do full boils (boil the full batch).

Full boils require more equipment though. You are going to need a wort chiller, and maybe an aeration system in addition to the burner and larger pot.

So it just depends on how much money you want to spend. You can definitely make good beer from partial boil extract, but the best beer is all grain full boils. One thing is that once you get into brewing, you will always want to upgrade your equipment and add new things to improve your beer. I currently brew partial boils with extract and am saving up to do full boils and then all grain (just ordered my wort chiller).

As for the kit, I would probably pick something with a short fermentation time, like the nut brown ale (only takes 4 weeks from start to finish), since this is your first brew. When I started I couldn’t wait to try it.

You should leave as much yeast as you can in the primary and secondary. Keeps the beer clean. I am bad at this cause I want as much beer as possible.

+1 to the turkey fryer and burner. if i did it all over again i would start with partial boils to help chill my wort (top off with cool water). but once you get a good way to chill your wort i would do full boils. (other ways to cool down wort = ice bath, immersion chiller, counter flow chiller). this is important because you do NOT want to pitch or ferment your beer too hot. also +1 to the swamp cooler (you can search the forum for ‘swamp cooler’ and find great info)

something like this is cheap and easy for a burner/kettle http://www.google.com/products/catalog? … CGIQ8wIwAQ

30 qts is 7.5 gallons.

you dont need to transfer to a secondary, a prolonged primary will do fine (and relieve some santitation stress). leave all the yeast/sediment behind when you transfer to your bottling bucket (although a little wont hurt, but wont necessarily help either.)

when all is said and done. relax dont worry have a beer. you will learn as you go along, the more you brew the more you will know.

welcome to the forum guys, :cheers:

Thanks S. Scoggin.

I just purchased the turkey fryer set with burner and pot from Walmart. Free shipping site to store. It was like $53 w/ tax.

Here is link if anyone else is interested -

http://www.walmart.com/ip/30-Quart-Turk ... thod=rr#rr

nice, that kettle and burner look good and for a great price.

good luck! :cheers:

There’s a great Bayou Classic burner on sale on Amazon.com right now for $45.

{url]http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP10-High-Pressure-Outdoor/dp/B000291GBQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325007451&sr=8-1[/url]