From: jdecarlo@mitre.org (John DeCarlo)
Subject: Re: Yet another newbie with questions
Organization: MITRE Corporation, McLean  VA
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 15:12:04 GMT

In article <1992Aug17.163342.3774@brtph560.bnr.ca>
 bcronk@bnr.ca (Bryan Cronk P125) writes:

>For $44.00, you get:

This seems to be a fairly reasonable deal to me.  Have seen it slighltly 
cheaper, but not much.  I have bought this type for others to get them 
started.

>"Brewing Quality Beers" book (I think the author is Byrun?)

Byron Burch.  A surprisingly good, short book with all the essentials in 
there, IMHO.

>Question #2:  I've heard a lot about 1 and 2 stage fermenting, and 
>I'm still foggy on one thing - if I were to do a 2 stage fermentation 
>and use a pail (as in the above kit) for my first stage, would I still 
>attach the fermentation lock for that stage?  If not, do I plug up the 
>hole?  I was thinking that I'd buy the kit above and buy an 
>additional glass carboy for the second fermentation.

You would still use the airlock on the bucket.  Primary fermentation 
creates *lots* of CO2--if you plug up the lid, it might pop off anyway.

>Question #3:  I assumed that I only needed a wort chiller if I was 
>doing all-grain brews, since you need to boil all of your wort, rather 
>than just part of it.  Am I right?  I know that it is important to cool 
>the wort quickly, but Charlie suggests that you just pour it into the 
>cool water in the fermenter and wait (he also says not to use ice in 
>the water - is there a reason for this?).

If you use a very small pot (3 gallons) that you say you plan to, a wort 
chiller is probably not all that useful.  BUT!  You don't want to pour hot 
wort through the air--it will oxidize quickly.  Better to put your brewpot 
in a sink of cold water and ice to cool it down before mixing with cold 
water.  As for using ice, it is very likely to be contaminated (most 
people's freezers have nasty things in them).  But I mix in ice all the 
time, by taking the precaution of boiling the water first, and putting this 
water in air-tight containers before placing them in the freezer.

>Question #4:  I planned to do my first batch from a kit, but it seems 
>easy to use non-hopped extract and add the hops yourself.  Should I 
>try it on my first time out?

I don't see why not--the only hard part is straining them out before they 
get in the fermenter.  You might try experimenting a little beforehand.

>Question #5:  My brew shop suggests adding priming sugar in each 
>bottle, but Charlie suggests batch priming by adding the sweetener in 
>a pail (I thought I could use my first stage fermenter) and siphoning 
>the wort into it.  The reasons I was given for the bottle method was 
>risk of oxidation of transferring the beer.  Should I be concerned?

Well, IMHO you should be concerned--which will lead to being careful when 
racking from one container to another.  I would also *boil* the priming 
sugar in a pint of water first, then let it cool.  I put my priming syrup in 
the bottling bucket first, then carefully siphon the beer in there, getting 
a swirling action that mixes everything nicely.


John DeCarlo, MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA--My views are my own
Fidonet:  1:109/131  Internet:  jdecarlo@mitre.org
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing