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Thedrunkinscottsman

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Registered Member
Mar 5, 2011
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Okay, I used the search function but could not fined any thing. I am planning on buying some supplies next friday and want to know what I need to get 3 5 gallon batches up and running. I am hesitant to buy a kit because I do not want to spend a lot of $$ on stuff that I will rarely or never use.

What I have so far is this

3x 5 gallon buckets
6x 5 gallon carboys (Too many?)
1x 6 or 7 gallon stainless steel pot
3x Airlock and cork for carboys
I know there is more but I only want to get the bare basics. Any help on where to get the best price and quality would be appreaciated.
 
Most plastic buckets for fermenting come in 6-7 gallon sizes, I prefer the larger. If you are making anything that foams at all you will appreciate the extra head space.

3 carboys are for three batches though if you are being real cheap I guess you could buy one, rack into that, clean the plastic bucket rack the second into that etc. You will find people that would never do long term aging in plastic, and others that swear it won't make a difference. I admit my preference is for glass, partially I'm a purist, partially I like to see my mead (and beer) as it clears and partially, and after a couple of batches the honey is more expensive than the carboy so why take a chance.

Also not on your list a Hydrometer is a must. Tubes and a racking cane are also essential, Iodophor or something to sterilize everything with.

There are other things that are nice but not necessary, a scale to weigh out nutrients and such, also the best 3 bucks I spent was on three lunch trays put one under each of your carboy to catch the inevitable drops and also just in case it does bubble over, much less of a mess on my nice wood floors.

I’m sure there are lots of things I’ve forgotten, but by tomorrow this list should be pretty full of everyone’s suggestions.

Cheers
Jay
 
Thedrunkinscottsman said:
Okay, I used the search function but could not fined any thing. I am planning on buying some supplies next friday and want to know what I need to get 3 5 gallon batches up and running. I am hesitant to buy a kit because I do not want to spend a lot of $$ on stuff that I will rarely or never use.

What I have so far is this

3x 5 gallon buckets
6x 5 gallon carboys (Too many?)
1x 6 or 7 gallon stainless steel pot
3x Airlock and cork for carboys
I know there is more but I only want to get the bare basics. Any help on where to get the best price and quality would be appreaciated.
Click to expand...
If you update your profile with a basic location, you'd probably be able to get some assistance of a "local knowledge" type i.e. where, when, how much etc......

Apart from that, there's plenty of kit there to run 3 x 5 gallon batches.... You'd just need to get the ingredients. You don't mention if there is any particular type of mead that you're looking at starting.

So, it's hard to point you in the right direction. Of course, it depends on how much honey and a hydrometer/test jar, but I routinely use about 3lb of honey per gallon (little more or less, depends on the reading I get from the hydrometer, but I like to start most of my brew at about the 1.100 range, as that gives me about 13.5% ABV if it finishes at 1.000).

regards

fatbloke
 
Welcome aboard!

You could probably get away with 4 carboys and 3 buckets for now, when you need to rack batches in secondary, rack into the clean carboy, clean the dirty one, rack the next batch into it, etc. Oh, and 3 airlocks and enough bungs of the correct sizes to fit everywhere, my buckets and carboys sometimes use different sizes so be aware...

You may consider investing in one kit. Generally they come with a bucket & lid, airlock & bung, carboy (sometimes the ones that come with kits are plastic but you can upgrade to a glass one, go for the upgrade if it's opaque plastic), racking cane, racking hose, hydrometer and test tube, and a carboy scrub brush. I think mine also came with enough of the cleaning and sanitizing chemicals you'll need to at least get some batches on the go.

That should do you for getting started, equipment-wise.

You probably will also want yeast nutrients and yeast energizer, and keeping campden tablets and potassium sorbate on hand isn't a bad plan for stabilizing at the end. If you're going to do a lot of melomels you may also want some pectic enzyme.

When you get to bottling, I highly recommend a bottle filler (tube with a valve on the end), best $3 I ever spent. Depending on how you want to bottle, you might want a corker and corks or a capper and crown caps.
 
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