First brew tonight!

[callmeishmael]

Did my first brew in 15 years tonight, Festa Brew Cream ale. I'd forgotten what a production the logistics can be. Used Oxiclean on my carboy, and mixed up a bunch of Iodophor to sanitize all of the bits and pieces as well as the carboy. It was an old glass 6.5 gallon carboy that I used to use as a secondary back in the day, all of my plastic buckets look pretty suspect so I thought I'd just use the glass carboy and not bother to secondary.

Anyhow, I figured that the Festa Brew 23l wort sack would have a valve on it and I could just slowly pour it into a funnel in the carboy but that wasn't the case. Clearly you are supposed to dump the whole mess into a 7 imperial gallon bucket. I'm not waiting to get a new bucket though, I'll just carefully pour it in.

Actually, that doesn't work at all, I'm spilling it everywhere (lost 250ml or so, I'd guess). Crap. So I siphon it out of the bag into the carboy, that works great and really aerates it well if you drop the wort in from the top of the carboy. There's about 4 inches of aerated foam produced on top, which sounds great until I realize that the 6.5gal carboy is probably 6.5 us gallons, or about 5.4 Imperial gallons or 24.5 liters. Tight fit for a 23l kit. I lose a bit of foam out the top , but eventually I get all of the wort into the jug, what a mess. Only a couple of inches of headspace, but I attach a blowoff hose into a jar of iodophor solution and call it a day.

Anyone know what the best store for brewing gear in Saint John NB is? I'm going to need a better bucket/carboy before I make my next batch. Most of the places in town exist only to sell and ferment wine kits and don't seem to have much gear or inventory for the home brewer market. Not to mention that my festa brew kit cost $40 which seems a little steep.

[gm-]

Congrats on your first brew in a while.

Not too many great stores in SJ, but Wine kitz has decent buckets that a lot of people on here use. I have had a lot of luck on kijiji, bought 6 carboys + misc brewing stuff for $40 not too long ago.

If you are interested in moving on to AG, we have several members in the SJ area that brew frequently (me included) that could easily show you the ropes

[canuck]

Good stuff on doing your first brew in awhile!

Probably the best place for brewing gear in Saint John is Barley Malt & Vine on City Rd.

[callmeishmael]

I'm thinking I might want to keg this rather than mess around with bottles - any idea where I can get keg gear in Saint John? Kijiji had one ad for a keg system, but I'm not getting any response to that..

[canuck]

I'm thinking I might want to keg this rather than mess around with bottles - any idea where I can get keg gear in Saint John? Kijiji had one ad for a keg system, but I'm not getting any response to that..

Barley Malt & Vine sells ball lock kegs, regulators, etc.

[callmeishmael]

Thanks, I will check them out.