It's been awhile since I have been on here but I used to post !lot o- here and now I FINALLY ave my brewing kit on the way! Now I got a few question.
I ordered this kit. http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brewi...e-carboys.html
And this ingredient kit http://www.midwestsupplies.com/octane-ipa.html
Will my kit have everything to brew this to its fullest?
Was I too ambitious with choosing a high gravity for my first batch?
I just got the premium dry yeast will it ferment it fully?
Do I need to make a starter?
Welcome back. It looks like you have pretty much everything but the kettle. Stainless steel is best, but an aluminum pot that comes with a turkey fryer will work fine.
The IPA kit doesn't look too difficult. The only thing I question is the oak chips in secondary. I would probably throw them in the primary vessel after fermentation slows down and skip secondary altogether, especially on a first attempt.
+1 on skipping a secondary. Especially on a first attempt, it's not worth the effort.
The dry yeast should work just fine. I've made some really good beer with dry yeast, and I have to say I generally prefer it to liquid yeasts.
As far as the starter is concerned, I'd suggest just deferring to the instructions in the kit. In all honesty, a starter isn't as big a deal with dry yeast: that kit looks to me like you could just go ahead and throw some dry yeast into it without a starter.
But I'm not the most knowledgeable nor the wisest brewer here.
Thanks for the advice fellas! Can't wait till it gets here. And its good to be back corky where is everyone? Seems they all have went dormant. Vance? Mikegobrew? Nobody? Where's that old crew lol
I'm still here. It's been a crazy couple of months for me. My wife and I bought a new house and decided to rent our previous home. After a ton of work painting and preparing the previous home for rent, I finally have a tenant in there as of the end of November. Now, I have to do a lot of renovating our new house, as we bought a "fixer upper". But it's in an awesome area so I'm ok with that. We bought what we desire to be our last home.
Now as of the beginning of this month I am laid off until March again so I will have plenty of time to brew and fix up the house at the same time. I just have to set up my brewery in the garage and get to it. I've been out of homebrew for about 2 months now and it's killing me so brewing again is a high priority. It's been since March 3, 2012 that I brewed my last batch. I also plan to put a collar on my kegerator and install faucets on it. As of now, I still have to open the lid and pour from the picnic taps. We have a large room where I will be building a bar with my kegerator built in it. My first few brews will have to be simple, quick, non aging ones. Thinking of an Irish Red and a Porter to get things going...
Ah, as winter sets in they must be settling into their caves. Lol, I'm sure they'll be on at some point! Best of luck with your brew day, savor those fresh beer wort smells
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Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world. (I think I may have found her!)
Fermenting: None
bottled: Prototype Porter, ESB, cider experiments 1-7.
Secondary: Zip point squat
Kegged: Nada :( (unless you count lemonade)
I also agree with Clumsy on the dry yeast. Just follow the instructions on the dry yeast when you click on the dry yeast option in the link you provided. Those instructions are SOLID. No starter is necessary with dry yeast. There's actually more viable yeast cells in dry than in a pack of liquid.
4 Oz. of Easy Clean No-Rinse Cleanser. I would get a small bottle of StarSan sanitizer also if you can. I wish I would have used it from day one. I use OxyClean Free and/or PBW (depending on how gunked it is) and StarSan for my cleaning and sanitizing. Good luck!
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On Tap:
Bottled: 4 lonely KBS Clones from '09
Kegged:
Primary: American Pale Ale
Secondary:
Next brew: Something with Chico Yeast
Iodophor is not tasteless, even at recommended non-rinse levels I hate the iodine smell. Starsan is also foamy so I can see that all surfaces are coated. Starsan is phosphoric acid, an ingredient in many foods whereas iodine is toxic except in very small doses.
I have used them both, I still use iodophor but only if I can rinse it out.
Plus, you can put StarSan in a spray bottle for sanitizing items that are too big to soak, like racking canes, bucket lids, outside and rims of carboys, inside bucket walls without having to fill the entire bucket with water/sanitizer solution, etc. Or put your thermometer back in a cup of StarSan for testing the temp of cooling wort without having to rinse it during the chill. I also use StarSan outside of the brewery. I use it in the kitchen to sanitize countertops, the stove top and sinks. I also started soaking our families tooth brushes in it and since I've done that the colds/coughs/flu/illnesses have been drastically diminished. And I have two different friends that both have daughters who are allergic to antibiotics of all forms and have to be EXTRA clean around the house. I gave them some StarSan to try and they now use it for general cleaning as well when they want a no odor sanitizer.
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On Tap:
Bottled: 4 lonely KBS Clones from '09
Kegged:
Primary: American Pale Ale
Secondary:
Next brew: Something with Chico Yeast
Thanks for the advice fellas! Can't wait till it gets here. And its good to be back corky where is everyone? Seems they all have went dormant. Vance? Mikegobrew? Nobody? Where's that old crew lol
A lot of the people who used to be on here a lot are still friends but post mostly on Facebook
so I will have plenty of time to brew and fix up the house at the same time. I just have to set up my brewery in the garage and get to it. I've been out of homebrew for about 2 months now and it's killing me so brewing again is a high priority. It's been since March 3, 2012 that I brewed my last batch. 
I also plan to put a collar on my kegerator and install faucets on it. As of now, I still have to open the lid and pour from the picnic taps. We have a large room where I will be building a bar with my kegerator built in it. My first few brews will have to be simple, quick, non aging ones. Thinking of an Irish Red and a Porter to get things going...
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