gifts for hubby who wants to start homebrewing

Hope you don't mind a complete and utter newbie...

My husband plans to start homebrewing soon. He hasn't bought anything yet other than a brewing pot. His birthday is coming up and I'd love to help get him started. Any suggestions on kits? Or are there any individual pieces of equipment I should get? I think he said he plans to start by brewing ales.

many thanks!!!

Take a look at the top right corner of this page

Oh, and full marks for being a first class wife to him! Are you ready to live with his new obsession?

I'd reccommend a copy of John Palmers How to Brew and a 30 qt Turkey Fryer kit and then let him sort out the rest. Fortunately, this is the season for fried turkey so the latter should be easy to locate.

Welcome and good gal!
Start with a membership here! Knowledge is key!
Also Books, Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian, and How to Brew by John Palmer.
Beginners brewing kits at Austin Home Brew or Midwest, or other online companies.

What a great girl! For once I agree with Gnome. Buy him a nice quality starter kit and perhaps a gift certificate for supplies. He can take it from there.

I would get him this equipment kit which has everything he needs to brew except for a pot and bottles. Then pick out an ingredients kit for his first brew, you can find them on the same site.

Here's a gift to you.. Get a 10 gallon stainless steel pot and a outdoor propane burner. No boilovers on your stove.

I'm only half kidding. If you want to start with something less expensive, start with John Palmer's "How to Brew" book. Next, pick up a brewing equipment kit from NorthernBrewer.com item #7602B Better Basic Starter Kit w/ plastic carboy $109.99 and an extract recipe kit.

Laughing_Gnome said:

Take a look at the top right corner of this page

Oh, and full marks for being a first class wife to him! Are you ready to live with his new obsession?

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Depending on where she lives, might be a long drive to Minneapolis.

These are what sir laughs alot is reffering to.

I'd like to put in another plug for How to Brew, by John Palmer. A great book that has helped a lot of new brewers get started right.

I got the True Brew bucket kit. I think I went through Yahoo.com
"Beer Man Brew Master brewmaster Series Starter Kit"
Only thing he would need after that is a Hydrometer.

I just started brewing this September. To get started I went to my local home brew store and they had several kits for the first-timer. I got the double stage kit which consisted of a 6 gallon fermentation pail with a lid (with grommeted hole for the airlock), an airlock, a 5 gallon glass carboy (secondary fermenter), a siphon (racking) tube, bottle filler, hydrometer, thermometer, iodophor sanitizer, bottle brush, carboy brush, bottle capper, bottle caps, some kind of a contraption that goes on the faucet for cleaning bottles which I have never used and a few other odds and ends. It also came with the ingredients needed to make 5 gallons of beer. This was their most expensive kit and it was about $150. They also have kits as low as $100.

Or you can do Mr. Beer.

On another note, let me just say, without knowing you, no matter what, I mean any woman that would go to such an effort to get their man the perfect home brew kit for his birthday, you are a really good wife!!!

Dennis

I actually wouldn't recommend going to a local homebrew store to inquire about starting up. Some are very good, others can be pretty bad and misleading to a noob. It's best not to take that chance....Aproach a store after gaining some real knowledge about brewing first. That way you know if they are up to speed. The Original poster has started at a good place by coming here IMO. She won't be steered wrong here.

Look up "homebrew kit" on ebay if there isn't a local home brew shop in your area. ( I try to support local shops as much as possible ) True Brew and Ale Pail 6.5 gallon plastic buckets are both nice basic set ups has hydrometer, thermometer, bottle capper, hoses, bottling/racking tubes and valves, caps for 1st batch and sanitizer for 1st batch (bleach works better and is cheaper IMHO). (I've used and am using the True Brew set up)

Eventually a Glass 6.5 secondary could be added for longer aging or dry hopping. Probably sooner than later LOL. Be wary of ebay ingredients... I'm sure there are some fine sellers out there but...

I've used Alternative Beverage, homebrew beer making and winemaking out of Charlotte NC (i'm in SC) for ingredients and they can get all supplies shipped to my office overnight (using commercial UPS for under $10)

The Charlie Papazian book "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" this book is great and my copy has been well used. and continues to be a great go to reference.


LOL and a gift for you: your husband will clean the kitchen for you twice for each brew! Once before brewing to sanitize work area and once after brewing to clean up sticky slop! (usually includes floor!) pretty good deal for you, esp. if he brews more than once a month.

You know I read How To Brew online and I've read this site and really see no need to get the updated version of How To Brew ever. I tend to agree with BigKahuna that a memebership to this site would be a good gift.

But also get him an extract kit to brew with, that way you can pick out a style that you like

+1 on HowToBrew. That book is the first thing to buy.

Unless you have a big gas stove with a very powerful burner that could roast a pig on a spit, I'm going to side with the other guys who suggest going with a big pot and propane burner in addition to the starter kit. It really makes life better.

When I did my second batch, I figured out what didn't work well with the first and I ended up with the following equipment:

Austin Homebrew starter kit
Hydrometer thief
Lots of bottle caps (bottles are free once you drink the commercial brew in them -- it's easy to forget to pick them up when you buy your ingredients so keep plenty on hand!)
25' Immersion Chiller
10 gallon pot from the local restaurant supply store
Bayou Classic turkey fryer burner
Spare LP tank to drive the burner without disconnecting the gas grill
2 gallon cooler and 5 gallon paint strainer bag from the hardware store (for partial mashes)

All together that was under $300 and the beer was great.

Partial mash (or mini-mash) kits from Austin Homebrew or another good online supplier are the way to go in my opinion. I have only brewed one all-extract batch and I didn't like the results nearly as much as the partial mash kits.

Everyone else seems to have left out the most important gift of all for a new brewer... A premium membership on this site!

Here is where i got my first kit and it has worked out awesome.

The Beer Nut homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies

get him the following:

another pot
a 24" x 24" nylon bag
a floating thermometer
a carboy or bucket for fermenting
an airlock

and then direct him to this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/

My wife got me a starter kit from my local homebrew shop for father's day about 5 years ago. It was a great gift ~ the gift of obsession! The other guy's suggestions are all great and I don't really have anything to add. I really like the idea of a premium membership here...very useful!!

+1 to midwest supplies or try out austinhomebrew.com or if your in houston defalcos off of stella link the local home brew shop here

A nice lady comes on and asks what to buy her significant other for homebrewing and no one asks the obvious.... Does she have a sister?

Seriously though, every other suggestion here is great and we look forward to helping your husband out if he decides to become a member here.

i never really understood the whole sister thing. i guess i have too many of them and i know they are all different

My SWMBO bought me the deluxe kit frm morebeer.com. It had literally everything I neede, except for the turkey fryer. $325 ish for the kit, $25 for the turkey fryer & its all been downhill from there.

Don't let the size or cost of some of these suggestions scare you. A basic kit and a good beginners brewing book are great places to start. Gift certificates allow for upgrades or other items when he gets an idea of what he wants or needs.

even a basic kit for a little over $100 is enough to get started. plus, you can always use the equipment for other things (sanitizing, bottling, etc.) after you upgrade.

McKBrew said:

A nice lady comes on and asks what to buy her significant other for homebrewing and no one asks the obvious.... Does she have a sister?

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Well, I was at work and you beat me to it. But the question is "Do you have a single (Or wants to) sister even more understanding than you?)
Second question is "Is she a hottie?"
Third question needs to be in an adult only section.

Seriously - I think the best gift will be a support network, this forum is fantastic. I have helped many wives buy brew kits for their husbands that sat forever in the store room due to lack of support. (Hey I'm busy working and drinking).
I think a basic kit, a kick off of the couch and encouragement works great, after he has it down then start dropping the hints on how to make the beer / drinks she likes.
Perfect win/win.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

This is why I love the internet. For something like this that I know absolutely nothing about, I just feel more comfortable being able to make better informed choices as to what I get. I really like the idea of getting a burner, for example (whether now or Xmas), and I wouldn't have known to consider if it weren't for this forum.

I am at work and don't have the chance to go through everything in detail, but I printed all of this out.

I think my husband has the How to Brew book - he has a whole stack on the nightstand, so I'll have to go through that. I know he has the Charles Papazian books.

And yes, he will definitely get a premium subscription to this site!!!

Since I know this is something he is very interested in doing, this was a very easy decision. I am just happy that I have something I can get him that I know he will like.

And chances he'll be posting on this site on his own, in the near future...

all best,
lcat

keep us posted!

Depending on where you are located, there are likely other brewers on this forum and/or a homebrew club in your area he can link up with. I have folks over on my brew days all the time now. The social side is as much fun as the brewing.

Saccharomyces said:

Depending on where you are located, there are likely other brewers on this forum and/or a homebrew club in your area he can link up with. I have folks over on my brew days all the time now. The social side is as much fun as the brewing.

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He wears blue shorts ya know!

As well as brew days, hubby might even get to watch a brew day on the interweb. Some members here live stream their stuff on occasion too!

Watching a webcast is all well and good, but I think he actually needs to come down to a club/group brew and have a couple pints to truly grasp what he is on the threshold of.

Local brew clubs are also a fantastic "what did I do wrong" resource. Every club has at least one person who's not afraid to drink anything. There are some clubs that are listed here under the "Clubs" heading on the reddish-brownish bar at the top of the page. This will also get him out of the house at least one night a month.

LCat said:

His birthday is coming up and I'd love to help get him started.

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First off, you rock.

Second, yes, ales are a natural starting point. Others have started chiming in on gear, so I will let them address the gear issue.

Third, you rock. :rockin: