New guy

[Mad Dog]

Greetings all. 49 year old red neck from Washington State, the Gorge area. Dad brewed beer and made wine when I was a kid. It's time to keep the tradition rolling.

To start I found this forum, and followed the advice by printing off the book from howtobrew.com.

Next step is to gather my hardware. Then I plan to start with a stout kit from morebeer.

Long term goal is to be totally self reliant with all grain, do my own malting from barley off the neighbors farm, home grown hops, etc.

Meanwhile, baby steps. Thanks in advance for all the info

[Guru]

Welcome Mad Dog, you will find a pretty friendly and informative mob here. Don't be afraid to ask questions, we all have to start somewhere. I am still a relative newcomer and find this place a valuable source of info.

[warra48]

Welcome to a great hobby! We're more than willing to help with any question, if we can.

John Palmer's book How to Brew on line version is the first edition. The latest print version is the 3rd edition, published back in about 2006. Should be available really cheaply now in the USA.

[Mad Dog]

Picked up two nice clear plastic 6 gal buckets today. They are marked like a measuring cup with lines at four quart intervals. Nice tight sealing lids. They have good handles formed into the side. I'm going to install spiggots. Will drill a hole for bung in the lid of the fermentor. The other bucket I'll use for aeration priming and bottling.

And just ordered all the rest of my equipment from morebeer, along with a stout kit. Woo hoo here we go!

[earle]

Instead of drilling a hole in the lid for an airlock you could replace the lid with clingwrap, maybe you know it as cling film over there. Thats what I and quite a few other brewers use, just hold it on with a big rubber band. The fermenters we have over here have screw on lids with a big rubber o-ring to seal. The o-ring is perfect for holding the cling wrap on.

[Mad Dog]

It just bubbles out under the rubber band?

[Mad Dog]

It just bubbles out under the rubber band?

[warra48]

It finds its own way out. No need to be concerned about this, it's just not an issue!

And for me, an added benefit is that my fermenting fridge won't take the fermenter with an airlock fitted, but it takes the gladwrap one just fine, because of the reduced height.

[Mad Dog]

Thanks. I will try it out