I bought a dual tap kegerator a few weeks ago. Probably heading to the homebrew store later this afternoon. Just cleaned the carboys, this will be my first attempt at beer, I've made wine before. Probably going to use a kit, are there types of beer that are harder to screw up or is it pretty much the same?

Thinking I may go with a stout for my first beer.
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Just make sure to sanitize everything thoroughly.
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Went with an oatmeal stout. Started last Saturday, this picture was taken on Sunday. The bubbling has died down considerably. I think it will be ready to keg this weekend. Not sure how long it will take to force carbonate to where I want it.


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Don't be in a hurry.
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Started this last weekend...

http://www.boomchugalug.com/product/...eakfast-stout/

...I've used ~8oz of chocolate in the past with good results and this called for 24oz. I used 4-6oz of bourbon in the past and was going to maybe double that, and this one calls for a whole ~25oz/750ml bottle. :-)

An expensive batch with the bourbon, but I'm excited to try it little by little over the next several months.
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Nice, be interested to hear how it turns out.
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I would give it a little more time than a week to ferment. The initial fermentation might be done, but you want to give the yeast a little more time to clean up after themselves and to let the beer develop, especially with a stout. I would wait until at least next weekend to keg it (for me personally I would wait at least 2 1/2-3 weeks).

As for carbonating, it can take as little or as much time as you want depending on the method you choose. You can do the shake method where you basically hook it up to your gas, purge the air that was left and then just start shaking it. This forces the gas into the beer. It's hard to get exactly right and can be tough to get the head down, but it will get the job done quickly. Second method, you can set your gas up really high for a couple days (35psi+) to get it to where you want it and then turn in down to serving psi. Again, this method is hard to get it perfect, but you won't have as tough a time with the head. Third, just set it to the desired psi (probably somewhere between 8-12psi depending on your preference) and let it sit, in around a week it will be where you want it to be.

Now same with fermentation, the longer you let it hang in the keg, the better it probably will be. If you do the quick carb method, you might have a little co2 bite that is less than desirable (kind of a metallic flavor).

Anyway, hope that helps.
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The kit said 6 days but letting the yeast settle makes sense, I've made wine before and that's the longest part after fermentation ends.
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After the advice here and a little reading, I think I'll let it sit for 2 more weeks making 3 weeks in the primary. Then keg and let it set for another week. I don't think I want to do the shake method because that would just mix any yeast back in most likely making it take longer to settle in the keg.
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Nice.

Earlier this year I made a strong Porter starting at 7%.

Added 1/5th of JD American Honey and some oak blocks from JD barrels to the secondary.

Then added cocoa and some dry hops (just a tad to counter the sweetness of the American honey).

I have some bottled and some kegged. I call it Big Drunk Chocolate Bitch. There is actual story behind the name but who cares.

That being said I used 4oz of cocoa nibs and should have used a little more.

I have that and a Saison on tap right now.

Bottle conditioning I have a Saison with Brett that should be getting close.

I also have 10gal of bohemian style pilsner in fermentation.

And I am brewing a big IPA this weekend that I change up a bit here and there each time I brew it.
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I haven't had the balls to do anything with Brett yet, but I absolutely love sour beers and saisons. If you don't mind, let me know your method and how it works out for you.
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My buddy and I Bretted a flawed 90 Minute IPA clone early last year and it's about ready to rack into the keg. It smells very funky, in a good way. Stoked to try it. I think we ended up using Lambicus or Bruxellensis, can't remember. We also have a couple 5 gallon carboys of Oud Bruin that have been going for almost 6 months each. They're WAY funky.
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Did you get much oak out of the blocks? I have some oak blocks soaking in the bourbon at the moment. I've used chips in the past and didn't notice it at all, but might not have let it sit long enough.

I've thought about buying a barrel... you can also buy 55 gallon used bourbon barrels, so if we could get 11 people to contribute a stout.... :-)
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My very first brew day! Small 2 gallon batch of an Irish Red.

Just a first test of gear thrown together from Home Depot. Going cheap! Need to add a few more milk crates, bolt 'em all together, and add some wheels.

Had fun and enjoyed a couple cigars, pizza, and beer for a few hours. Seems like an awesome hobby!


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I moved from a glass carboy to a Speidel plastic fermenter for my IPAs and couldn't be happier. It's well made. It has a wide, screw off lid making hopping in primary much easier as well as cleaning. It's got a spigot on the bottom making gravity readings and transferring to the keg much easier. It's pretty much solved any oxidation problems I was running into with transferring IPA.

I use the 20L with 4 gallons of beer and the trub typically settles right below the spigot. The 20L is also small enough to fit into my temp controled dorm fridge. Really the only drawback is that its opaque and you can't see into like glass.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/sp...fywaArtF8P8HAQ
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