More Supplies

Today, I bought more supplies from Brewer's Direct. It's a Manitoban run business so I figured I would give them my patronage. Here's what I purchased:

Bucket Fermentor (I was told I didn't need an airlock for the primary - just put the lid on loosely)
Plastic Carboy
Air lock and bung for Carboy
Syphon combo (which I still have to figure out how to use)
Spoon
Hydrometer
Floating Thermometer
100 bottle caps
Hand capper
Sanitizer
Dextrose
Dry Malt Extract

That came to a total of $95

Stefanie (my wife) bought me a propane burner for my birthday that was $65. I still need a couple boil pots but I'm waiting on more Airmiles gift certificates so I can get a big boil pot. I will probably borrow the smaller ones from my friend.
After that, a cooler to modify into a mash would be my next purchase. So far it looks like the gear is going to cost about $200. I think the cost per beer at first will be about $4.50. Fairly pricey but I need to stay committed to make it worthwhile.

Making a Wort Chiller

I recently cashed in some of my Airmiles and ordered a $40 gift certificate from Rona.

Off I went to purchase supplies:

10 ft of 1/2 inch copper tubing - 23.98
sink adapter - 5.98
hose coupling - 3.99
3 hose clamps - 2.94
8 ft vinyl tubing 1/2" Inner dia- 4.64
tax - 41.53
Total - 46.51
Total minus Airmiles - 6.51

Make sure the inner diameter of the vinyl hose is the same as the the outer diameter of the copper tubing so it would be able to fit over top. I shimmied it down a couple of inches. It doesn't need to be too far down because the vinyl tubing should not be placed in the boiling water.

Find a cylindrical object to twist the copper tubing around. It will be easier to shape that way.

It was pretty easy to make. It took about ten minutes to twist and clamp and another ten minutes to tweak it while water was spraying everywhere. You want all the clamps as tight as possible because you don't want tap water dripping into the wort. That would be awful. There was some crimping of the copper tube as I brought the bottom end to the top, but water was still able to flow freely through the unit.

Equipment

I feel that the start-up may initially jack the price of the beer to probably 3 dollars a beer. This means I have to stay committed and make at least 3 or four batches to make it worth the money.
I will find out soon enough.
Here is the list of equipment that I need - I will include the prices once I buy the stuff. I have a chef friend that is willing to loan me some equipment at no cost so that will be a big help.
-One - 6 to 7 gallon stainless steel boil pot
-One - 3 or 4 gallon stainless steel boil pot
-Mash tun (converted camping cooler)
-Growler or large mason jar for yeast starter
-Plastic or Stainless Steel stirrers
-Food grade tubing
-2 quart juice jug
-Propane burner (people use turkey fryers but they can be pretty expensive in Canada)
-Wort Chiller (W/O a wort chiller, you're looking at an hour or so cool down time - w/ about 15 minutes)
-Two or more 6 gallon carboys
-Fermentation locks
-Siphon tubes (wine thief)
-Hydrometer
-Thermometers
-Bottles (not going down the keg route right now)
-Bottle caps
-Bottle capper

The Beginning

I am a stay at home dad taking care of 1 1/2 year old twin boys.  They are awesome little guys, but I need a hobby or I feel I will go crazy.  So, at the beginning of 2011, I decided to accomplish two things before the year's end:  learn how to juggle and learn how to brew good all-grain beer.  I won't be blogging about my juggling prowess (which doesn't exist), but I will be writing about beer.

I have a notebook that I will be writing everything down in as backup.  Actually, this blog is more of a backup than the notebook.  I can't take my computer to the home brewing store and it would be harder to do a quick reference in regards to recipes and such.  So, the notebook is my beer bible and this blog is to help me reinforce what I've learned. 

I plan to cook my first batch in early to mid-March and I will update this blog before that date as much as possible.  I am also going to try to do this as cheaply as I can. A 12 pack of decent beer is about $22.00 here in Manitoba, breaking it down to about $1.85 per beer.  I know there is cheaper stuff out there but me and my wife enjoy good beer.  We like to have a beer after the boys go to sleep for the night.  Unfortunately, that's starting to get very expensive.  I will be writing down how much money I am spending on equipment and ingredients to see if this is actually worth the effort.  However, I am learning a lot, so right now, it is worth the effort.

Comments will be greatly appreciated.