On Fri, Mar 11, 2005 at 12:28:56PM +0100, Brian Søndergaard wrote:
> Hvad vil i anbefale at jeg skal købe af udstyr inden jeg går igang med
> at brygge? Jeg har været ved at kigge lidt rundt omkring, men synes
> det er en jungle at finde rundt i, så derfor: Hvad anbefaler i?
When I started, I kept track of my expenses, and managed to get my first
brew for under 1000 kr. Here is how:
* I found a 18 liters pot for 400, and got it for 350 because of a
little dent in the handle in the lid.
* I bought two food-grade plastic buckets, and made a mash tun out of
them, a ballofix valve, and a gazillion little holes.
* I bought the most necessary tools: Thermometer, Hydrometer, a piece of
tubing. And some iodophor for sanitizing.
* For the first (real) brew, I bought my malts crushed, so I didn't need
a mill.
* I salvaged a plastic 5-gallon water bottle for a fermenter. Today I
would not hesitate to recommend those plastic buckets you can buy.
* I did have some problems with cooling, for my second brew I had bought
a large plastic barrel that I could cool my pot in. Goes *much* faster
if you let a bit of water run into it all the time, so that it forces
a circulating movement of the cold water.
I don't think there is much of a difference between all-grain and
extract brewing. Of course, if you go for extract you don't need the
mash tun, and save a bit of time on the brewing day, but the rest of the
process is the same.
In my humble opinion the most important thing in the first few batches
is to get a fairly decent result, experiment, and get to know the
process. Only after batch 5 (or so) will it make much sense to get
overly scientific about it, if ever.
Like I use to say:
It will be beer anyway
-H
P.S. Even now, several years into the hobby, my equipment is almost the
same. I have a second pot, a larger mash tun (but of the same
principle), kegs and a fridge for them, with two taps, a malt mill, and
most of all, a fair pile of malts and hops and yeasts waiting for the
day when inspiration strikes.
--
Heikki Levanto "In Murphy We Turst" heikki (at) lsd (dot) dk
