Home of the BrewNosers

Hi all,
I'm a complete newborn to brewing. I'm getting some used equipment from a friend who's getting out. Excited to begin, and to learn...

Welcome Shawn.

Welcome, I'm still sporting pampers myself!

Welcome.

What equipment are you picking up from your friend?

ethier.sc wrote:Welcome, I'm still sporting pampers myself!

TMI

Are you in Halifax?

Jimmy wrote:Welcome.

What equipment are you picking up from your friend?

Not sure yet. His BIL gets first pick, but is pretty well set up. It will be a pretty barebones setup I think. I'll top it up with whatever else is needed, and presumably will upgrade as I go, if I like it.

Graham.C wrote: Are you in Halifax?

Yup, happy to see there's such an active local forum!

Shawn, it's Chris from the CFI group. Cool to see you on here! Welcome, and look forward to brewing some beer with you. I believe Jesse has tried his hand at brewing too. Maybe we need a Skeptics in the Home Pub meeting.

Hi Chris,
Nice to hear from you. I thought I might run into you here. Skeptics in the Home Pub sounds like a winner. Followed by Skeptics under the Table.

Yay! Finally picked up my friend's gear. Just picked up a Piccadilly Porter from Noble Grape. I wasn't sure whether to go with a kit from grain or from wort, but really wanted a porter. Any tips for a complete newb? I think I've got everything I need (might need a few more bottles, but we'll see).

Also, my friend didn't charge me for the gear. He's gluten free. I thought I might try a gluten free next and drop him off a bunch. Any idea what I'd look for?

glassgiant wrote:Yay! Finally picked up my friend's gear. Just picked up a Piccadilly Porter from Noble Grape. I wasn't sure whether to go with a kit from grain or from wort, but really wanted a porter. Any tips for a complete newb? I think I've got everything I need (might need a few more bottles, but we'll see).

Also, my friend didn't charge me for the gear. He's gluten free. I thought I might try a gluten free next and drop him off a bunch. Any idea what I'd look for?

I think the NG directions that come with their recipes are pretty good so just follow them and you'll make out just fine. Once you've brewed the beer try and keep your fermentation temperature fairly even and in an appropriate range. My suggestion for a gluten free beer is to make him some cider

LiverDance wrote: I think the NG directions that come with their recipes are pretty good so just follow them and you'll make out just fine. Once you've brewed the beer try and keep your fermentation temperature fairly even and in an appropriate range. My suggestion for a gluten free beer is to make him some cider

I was gonna suggest wine

He's got cider bottled now. I'm not so sure about wine... Can you make good wine? I'm not a wine drinker, but most people I've heard from say it's really rare to get good homemade wine?

Good homemade wine isn't too hard AFAIAC, but I'm not a wine sommolioer/snob either.

Noble Grape actually has a gluten free kit called "Silly Yak". Haven't tries it so I can't vouch for it.


http://noblegrape.ca/beer/silly-yak-glutenless-beer/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Steve

glassgiant wrote:He's got cider bottled now. I'm not so sure about wine... Can you make good wine? I'm not a wine drinker, but most people I've heard from say it's really rare to get good homemade wine?

Kit wines are easy to make and reasonably good. Some are better than others. Much better wine (IMHO) can be made from grapes sourced locally or from California. It is a fair bit of work and needs some special equipment...kind of like moving from extract to all-grain brewing.

mr x wrote:Good homemade wine isn't too hard AFAIAC, but I'm not a wine sommolioer/snob either.

I'm not a sommelier, either, though I am a member of the local sommelier's association. I'd probably be considered a snob

Marta's the winemaker, here, and she's got two kits on the go right now. It's basically the same deal as making beer - keep everything clean! Normally, she doesn't make ordinary wine from kits, but we didn't go picking this fall. She does, however, make Sherry from kits every year, and won a silver medal at the Canadian Amateur Winemaker's competition this year.

Kit wines are just like kit beers - you can make cheap, drinkable, but not very interesting ones (like beer kits from cans), or you can make more expensive, more interesting ones (like Festa Brews), but to make really good ones you usually need to start with grapes. There's less work in making wine than beer, though - I always say grapes want to be wine, but beer needs help. Imagine: we routinely pick, crush, press and ferment grapes; now try harvesting the barley, malting it, harvesting the hops, ... When we make beer, somebody's always done the really hard part and we start with malt, but even milling, mashing and boiling is more than you need to do with the grapes.