New brewer questions

[Pal]

Hi all,

As I'm starting my brewing journey I'm looking at the kit that I need. My plan is to start with some beer kits and once I'm familiar with sanitation, fermentation and bottling start stepping up my game to do all grain brews.

I have few questions now that I'm looking to get my first starter kit:

-Is a 30L fermenter too big to start with? I see most of the kits are 40 pints so I guess this is the most standard but looking at the amount of beer I drink, it will take me quite some time to drink those 40 pints. The other logistic problem I see is that when I step up into all grain I will need a huge pot to make the beer wort.

-Will fermenting a small batch, let's say 12L in a fermenter of around 30L be detrimental to the beer? Or I can confortably brew there small batches?

-One of my favourite starter kits has a brew belt, is it necessary at this point? I'm planning to place the fermenter in the garage (I have a toddler in the house and a wife that is obsessed with things being tidy so having the fermenter at the house is a no) and that makes me think that some temperature control will be good as it can still get cold in Yorkshire (even in the summer!).

thanks!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

-Will fermenting a small batch, let's say 12L in a fermenter of around 30L be detrimental to the beer? Or I can confortably brew there small batches?

Headspace - https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...space-is-too-much-headspace.86031/post-886842

 

[An Ankoù]

Hi Opal.
Not everybody knocks out 40 pints at a time. Here's an organisation dedicated to 5 litre brews. It's one of my favourite websites.
https://smallbatchbrew.com.au

I make 6 and 12 litre brews, but most of my beer is in 20L batches. I ferment these in 25L fermenters.

 

[jof]

Nothing stopping you brewing in smaller batches.
Some people on here use 2 can kits that way with 1 can per batch.
I think it will really depend on how much space you are allowed.

Also look to brew seasonally if you don't have temperature control, so cold fermenting lagers in the winter, ales in the summer. You might need those 40 pint batches as stock to see you through the winter when it's too cold to ferment.
And different yeasts are happy with different temperature ranges.

 

[An Ankoù]

Also look to brew seasonally if you don't have temperature control, so cold fermenting lagers in the winter, ales in the summer. You might need those 40 pint batches as stock to see you through the winter when it's too cold to ferment.
And different yeasts are happy with different temperature ranges.

Excellent advice. Back in the day (a long time ago) we had to brew our lagers during winter and during the summer months the beer could be cráp because it was too hot for the yeast. Nowadays we can brew with Novalager into the low 20s and brew IPA up to 30C with some of the kveik isolates. Nothing beat brewing a proper cold lager and a proper ale at its proper temperature, though. Although we're all grateful for this new-found freedom.