# home brewer



## tbriggs (Jun 13, 2014)

hello from central il.

New member and was glad to see a home brew forum!

Brewed several batches from Mr. Beer and have just purchased all equipment to start extracting in 5 gal. batches. I will most likely switch to all grain after a few extracts are under my belt.

What's better than a day of smoking meat and sipping on a good IPA home brew!!

Let me hear back,


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## atio (Jun 18, 2014)

Tbriggs said:


> hello from central il.
> 
> New member and was glad to see a home brew forum!
> 
> ...


Glad to have a new homebrewer in the forums!  And can't agree more about the smoking and drinking... I finally broke out the smoker again (after a year of it sitting in the corner) and did 4 racks of ribs while drinking homebrews... couldn't have asked for a better day!  Went out the next day and bought 8 more racks of ribs and 2 boston butts.  Now I just need my beer supply to keep up with my meat supply!


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## tbriggs (Jun 18, 2014)

AGREED! You cant go wrong with any home brew (good or bad) while chucking chips into your smoker thinking what time did I put this on:) or honey you think its done...

How long you brewed? I am just a beginner  but the type to just jump ahole deep into it!! look out...

thanks for the line and smoke on brother,


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## atio (Jun 19, 2014)

I've been brewing for only about 2 years.  I still do extract kits and have done maybe 30 or so.  I do massive brew days where I'll do 3 kits in a day and it'll take 12-15 hours, so adding the extra time needed for AG isn't something I want to do right now.  Plus I'm still having fun and I've got my process down to where I don't panic anymore... and that's what it's all about in the end!


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## tbriggs (Jun 19, 2014)

I have to bottle my last 4 gal from 2 mr beer kits then its all in with the new setup my wife purchased for b-day. am supper stoked to get started and wish I had the process all figured out like you, need to learn to relax and sure it will be fine.

Do you bottle or keg batches? Thinking of a kegarator once I get settled into it? Thoughts?

Yes on the extract but will have to someday try the all grain and thinking of making a grain pot from a keg, saw a how-to and it looked freaking awesome.


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## atio (Jun 22, 2014)

Tbriggs said:


> I have to bottle my last 4 gal from 2 mr beer kits then its all in with the new setup my wife purchased for b-day. am supper stoked to get started and wish I had the process all figured out like you, need to learn to relax and sure it will be fine.
> 
> Do you bottle or keg batches? Thinking of a kegarator once I get settled into it? Thoughts?
> 
> Yes on the extract but will have to someday try the all grain and thinking of making a grain pot from a keg, saw a how-to and it looked freaking awesome.


I bottle and the only reason I do is purely financial.  If I had the extra cash right now, I'd keg.  I'm in Connecticut and keep my brewed beer in the basement, so during the winter it's cold and hard to ferment/bottle condition and same when it gets ultra-hot in the summer.  I had a couple bottles I opened pop so violently I've had to replace ceiling tiles.  Luckily no breakage.  I've already told my wife that if I come into and extra grand, I'm going to buy a kegging system.


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## hangin1 (Sep 4, 2014)

I would love to learn more about making my own beer as I think it would be fun to be able to make different types of beers. I just do not really know where to start and at the moment I do not really have the space to store all the stuff needed to do it correctly. Any recommendations on a good starter kit are appreciated and I am also located in Central Illinois Tbriggs so you might suggest somewhere where I can pick a good kit up. Hope all have a great weekend!


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## tbriggs (Sep 4, 2014)

Welcome... From peoria area!!!!
I would get on amazon and order the mr. Beer kit for starters, ya I know (why would I start with that) yep said the same thing!!!!! These kits will brew 2gallon batches or about 24 or so 12. Oz. bottles. They also offer a ton of variety which is great!!! He'll I had 4 separate mr beer kits fermenting at once, at that point was when I decided to buy all the equipment for 5 gallon batches. 
If you decide to enter the world of home brewing hang on it's addicting and fun!!!!!!! Like I said in last post, what's better than meat on the smoker and wort in the brew kettle...

Happy smoking and soon to be happy brewing too,


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## hangin1 (Sep 5, 2014)

Thanks for the advice Tbriggs, I guess the mr beer kit would be the best way and cheapest way to experiment with beer making to just see if I really even would want to put the time and effort into doing it. I look forward to hearing more about your new beer making endeavors and have a great weekend! I am smoking a boneless pork loin as I type this just wish I could make up a nice stout or porter beer to get with it lol Thanks again!


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## rgautheir20420 (Sep 5, 2014)

Tbriggs, I'm a homebrewer also and it's funny your in Peoria. The wife goes there a few times a month it seems to visit one of her company's plants. 

hangin1, I'd go get a starter homebrew kit if I were you. If it turns into something you enjoy, you're already able to do normal extract kit capacity. Plus the kit and equipment will turn out much better quality beer in the end. There's nothing worse than putting time, money, and energy into something and then having it turn out bad (not saying it would). It could really sour the whole thing for you. The usual progression of homebrewers is you end up going bigger and bigger. Either way, you'll enjoy it. I think we should coin Brew-View for the homebrewers on here!


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## hangin1 (Sep 5, 2014)

Brew-view sounds like a great idea as I would love to see what people are brewing and learn how to do it rgautheir, I am undecided really on what to do as far as getting a starter kit or going with a mr beer kit , the main advantage I can see to getting a mr beer kit is the cost as they are fairly cheap to get and it would let me at least have an experience with doing it but I also understand totally with what you are saying because If I do decide to start making bigger batches then I would have no use for the mr beer kit anymore and I would be back to buying all new equipment. We shall see either way thanks for the comment and have a great weekend!


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## rgautheir20420 (Sep 5, 2014)

You'd have no problem unloading used homebrew equipment on the home brew talk site either. Cheers!


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## hangin1 (Sep 5, 2014)

Yea great point! Cheers to you as well!


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