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senorcafe said:

i have a big alluminum stock pot

should i get a stainless steel? i was thinking 7 galons

will the alluminum work

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Simply stated, YES an aluminum stock pot will work just fine as your boil kettle, mash tun and/or hot liquor tank without incident.  There is some concern that the acidity of the wort can cause issue with aluminum, which is valid if the environment is acid enough... however wort is very rarely below a pH of 5, and for the relatively short time that it is in contact with the aluminum, I would not be concerned. 

The point made about using caustic or highly acidified cleaning solutions on aluminum is definitely important to be aware of... but that stuff really only needs to be used on the cold-side brewing equipment (i.e. fermenter, hoses, pumps, gaskets, airlocks, etc).  For the hot side stuff (brew kettle, mash tun, HLT), I just use a mild detergent and some elbow grease to get 'em clean.  Afterall, sterility is not a concern with hot side equipment since the boiling process will kill any rogue bacteria or organism that may have taken hold during those initial phases of the brewing process.

All that being said, steel is the better choice, and you should ultimately move towards all stainless steel products if you want to make the best, most consistent brew you can make.  But don't let the fact that you only have an aluminum pot presently, deter you from tackling your first few batches while you seek out the perfect steel kettle for your purposes.

Lastly, a 7 gallon kettle will suffice for producing 5 gallon batches of brew, and can be used for mashing light to moderately high gravity all grain brews.  For the biggest of barely wines or if you wanted to start producing 10 gallons of the same wort, you would probably want to step up in size.

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Heffy said:

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LunarEclipse said:

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senorcafe said:


im trying to keep to a code of natural beer as i start out remaining simplicit but still gaining quality beer

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The keys to quality beer

1.  Quality ingredients.  Leaf hops from Puterbaugh farms so cheap by the pound why pay the brewshop by the ounce for stale hops?  Malt = imported is often better look to England Crisp for Maris Otter Pale and the glorious Golden Promise and Germany for Pils.  BestMalz is killer German pils.  Likewise imports often better for specialty malts.  I am not a big Briess or Great Western fan partly because their quality sux partially because the are ConAgra as for GW.  BrewBrothers.biz great source for cheap malts.

2. Water.  Filtered is better.  Do you want chlorine or fluoride or who know what else in your beer?  PS you either get a filter or you are a filter think about it.  Nice to have Reverse Osmosis to fine tune mineral levels to soften if your water is hard for lagers etc. that benefit from soft water.

3.  Sanitation.  Be klean and be sanitized.

4.  Don't use pellet hops, corn sugar, cane sugar, molasses, or brown sugar in your beer in spite of what some idiot posted on a recipe.  Don't do it. 

5.  Get your process right.  Understand what you are really doing so you can fine tune things and improve.  Measure and pay attention.  Don't be all fucked up when you are brewing wait till later.

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I disagree.

Pellet hops are actually better than leaf hops in almost every way.

Imported malt is not consistently better than domestic malt. Malt quality has much more to do with weather and cereal diseases than the region. 2010 was a much better year than 2011 for malt in general. This past year I got some 2011 Marris Otter that was nowhere near as nice as the G&P Canadian 2 row I had left over from 2010.

Also, adjuncts have their place in some beers. I disagree with your attitude of "don't use adjuncts at all, ever!"
Brown sugar for instance can be used when you are brewing a strong beer, but want to avoid having an extremely thick body.

Everything else you said is spot on though. Especially about the water filter. Cannot compromise in this area because chlorine will make your beer smell like a dentists office.

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I recently just started brewing as well, ive just bottled my first batch last week from a straight coopers heritage lager kit (first batch was to keep it simple as possible to get the process right). Its nothing special but it's drinkable but still too young.

I just brewed my second batch the other day (Oatmeal Stout partial mash for St. Patties Day) and the recipe I used had adjuncts like brown sugar and molasses. You said that brown sugar is for stronger beers without adding too much body, wouldn't this be a little counterproductive for an oatmeal stout? Granted its only 250g of brown sugar, not sure if it'll make a huge difference. Does the molasses do anything else to the beer aside from altering its flavour?

Also I read that a great way to start all grain brewing is to do SMaSH beers (Single Malt and Single Hop). That way you can get the process of all grain down really easy because the recipe is so simple and you can learn exactly what effect and flavours certain grains and hops will bring to your beer because it'll be just one variety of each. I'm thinking of making my next batch (and first venture into all grain brewing) like this. I'm guessing they wont be very interesting or complex beers but it sounds like it would be great practice/experience. You can always build on them and add more hops or specialty grains next time around and see how it changes, right?

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senorcafe said:
is it just me or do hops look tasty

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Not sure about taste, but damn do they ever smell good!