Husband wants Mr. Beer for Father's Day, BUT...

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justgettingstarted

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Since I've read so many mixed reviews on here, can anyone give any recommendations for better beginner's brewing kits? Though I'm sure he'll get addicted the first go around, I don't want to pay an arm and a leg for a kit in case he doesn't. (Preferably $150 or less, though I'm not sure if I'm being ignorant :))

I know this has been asked before, but the latest one I was able to find was from 7 months ago, so I figured I would ask again in case any new kits have come out since then

Thanks everyone! :mug:
 
I would say do him a favor and start with a full kit. And it shouldn't be bad for under 150. Get a basic kit, and a cheap pot, and he is good to go for a long time. I recommend checking out dollar general for a pot. I found a 5 gallon one for $12.

As far as starter kits go I can't help you too much. I just bought mine on an impulse from a local kitchen store, and I know I could have gotten something much cheaper if I had searched around. If you have a local home brew shop near by you might consider going in and talking to them about a good starter set. Just try not to let them sell you too much stuff. All he really will need is a fermenter, a bottling bucket and some siphon hosing to get going.
 
I started with the coopers kit--- makebeer.net. I feel you get more bang for your buck. But I did see that they have changed the fermentor so I dont know about the new set up. But I am really happy with the old fermenter--right now they have a discount on the site.

Hope this helps
 
To make a decent (drinkable) beer, I'd recommend a solid "kit" and stay away from gimmicks like the Coopers (just not good quality all around) and Mr. Beer. I'd start with a basic equipment kit from a well-known internet homebrew store, like northernbrewer.com or austinhomebrew.com. Then I'd add an extract recipe kit, to make a batch of beer. They have many kinds and styles, from cream ales to bocks, and austinhomebrew.com has many extract "clone kits" where you can make a beer very much like your favorite beer. I've done their Pete's Wicked Ale, Fat Tire, and a few others that I can't remember right now. They also have great instructions, so you can't screw it up, and it makes really good beer on the first try!
 
Now that you're getting him started, start thinking about where you will place the kegerator or keezer!
 
They are all a gateway to bigger and better things. It's just a matter of where you want to start out. Mr Beer is cheap. Brewer's Best have some kits that start you off quite well. http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/Brewer's Best Equipment Kit 101028.pdf

Tell me about it, i started with a Mr. Beer kit and now, 3 years later i basically have a RIMS system.

However, after using the Mr. Beer kit, i quickly realized that you get way better results from an actual starter kit. I think i paid $150 for mine and that included a 5 gallon steel pot, 6 gal plastic bucket, carbouy, thermometer, hydrometer and bottle capper. Thats all ya need.
 
You should be aware that one of the major differences between Mr. Beer and other kits is not necessarily the equipment, but the ingredients. If I recall (it's been several years,) my Mr. Beer ingredients consisted of a single can of liquid, plus a packet of yeast. I added my own common table sugar. Thing is, you can buy a "beer kit" (as opposed to a "brewing kit") that contains better ingredients such as liquid malt extract, separate hops that you add while boiling, dry malt extract instead of common table sugar, etc. If you use ingredients from one of these kits, the Mr. Beer equipment would probably work just fine.

I have two pieces of advice:

1. Plan on using a "beer kit" (ingredients) whether or not you buy a Mr. Beer. The Brewer's Best line of kits is a good example.

2. If you get a Mr. Beer or any other equipment kit, show your husband this website and suggest that he learn a little about the very basic techniques to improve upon the instructions that came with the kit, such as fermenting for 3 weeks or more instead of the 1 week that may be shown in the instructions.

EDIT: I should add that most beer ingredient kits make 5 gallons if you make the whole batch, while the Mr. Beer fermenter only holds 2.5 gallons.
 
Make sure you tell him about this site, and be prepared for him to spend most of his waking hours on here reading more about beer than most people should know!

I started with a brewers best starter kit and I still use every component that came with it in some form or fashion, so It wont be money wasted that is for sure!
 
ok, this highly dedicated all-grain brewer with a bunch of kegs and a kegerator is going blasphemous: start him with the mr beer. see if he enjoys the process, including brewing and bottling. i've known several people who tried it and feel it's just not worth the time invested (i disowned them), and they quit and waste the equipment
 
Another option is after you look at the basic equipment kits from Midwest, or Austin or Northern, do a quick craigslist search. Hardly a week goes by in my area that someone isn't selling their homebrew system, and they are generally less expensive. But you will have to still get some ingredients for him to brew with..

I've gotten all my 5 gallon beer and 6 gallon wine equipment that way... (yes I too have a mr.beer in the basement.. I often thing of gifting it to someone to see what they will do with it... )
 
i just ordered my first kit tuesday from norther brewer and there prices are prity good..

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing

i bought the deluxe start kit with shipping it came out to be a little over 170...

they have a kit that is one step under the one i got that has instead of two glass carboys... it has 1 plastic carbo ( or glass for $10more) and one plastic bucket ..and it starts at the $119 with the plastic or 129 with glass and they charge only 7.99 for shipping

oh and there customer help is really good.. after i ordered my equipment kit i deiced to order ingredient kit so i can brew a beer up and when i called them they added on my order and it was about to ship very soon.. and the customer help had a lot of info was able to help me with all my questions about the product.
 
I am a new brewer and I loved my Mr. Beer Kit. It is super simple and is like a gateway drug.
I think I brewed about 4 batches before going with the basic Midwest kit, the beer got considerably better.
After about 6 batches I quit extract and am now trying my hand at all grain.
All grain brewing is quickly becoming my money pit, but the beer is getting better.

I would recommend the Mr Beer just to see if he will enjoy doing it, I picked mine up at a hardware clearance store for $20.
 
I started brewing with a Mr Beer kit I got for Christmas this year. I had all of the 5 gallon equipment from a craigslist steal several years ago, but I had always planned to use it for wine and never really had a place to keep it until this house so it had been in storage. Mr Beer was the motivation I needed to start brewing and help me familiarize myself with the concepts without a huge mess. However, I tend to be all or nothing like your husband so 6 months later I'm brewing 5 gallon all grain batches once a week or so lol. I do still have my Mr Beer fermenter and occasionally use it to test recipes I'm not so sure about. That way I'm not taking up several weeks in a large fermenter for a beer I may not want 5 gallons of.

Honestly, a good case could be made for both the Mr. Beer (although I would check out the advanced recipes on their site to make it more of a brewing process) and the whole kit and kaboodle. If you really think he'll get into the hobby and has the patience to spend several hours sanitizing equipment, making beer and then bottling it a few weeks later then it's probably worth getting the whole kit, since you'll likely end up buying one anyway :) Good luck with your search!
 
Since your husband personally asked for the kit, and you say he's an all-or-nothing kind of guy, I'd recommend just skipping the Mr. Beer and going with a starter kit, one that comes with at least a plastic fermenting bucket (generally 6.5gal), and either a carboy (a glass or plastic vessel that looks like a big water jug, minimum 5 gallons), or another bucket. Having both containers be about 6.5gal is even better, as transferring a beer from a primary to a secondary fermentor is widely seen as unnecessary among experienced brewers here (although to be fair, there is still quite a bit of debate over this), and making them both primary fermentors would allow him to minimize waiting between making new batches, and that's a good thing when you consider how long beer takes to become drinkable (and especially how impatie-- I mean, EAGER, new brewers can be!)

A bottling bucket (usually just a pail with a spigot near the bottom) isn't technically required but highly recommended. Most people will tell you the worst part of the entire process is bottling the beer, even with a bottling bucket, but it makes it a lot more tolerable. If possible, I also strongly suggest buying a 2nd hydrometer, as a backup, just in case. It's probably the only piece of equipment that you really, truly need to buy (though buying less than what you get in a kit is not a good idea), and it's doubly important for beginners. But hydrometers break almost stupidly easy, and tend do so almost exclusively when you're NOT prepared for it :)

The only way I would recommend Mr. Beer at all is if your husband really doesn't drink much. In that case, the tiny fermentor it comes with will be far more likely to continue to be useful, but keep in mind that beer should spend minimum 3 weeks (ideally, at least 4) before drinking, and that the Mr. Beer fermentor can produce about a case at a time.

I don't know how you two are about gifts - every couple is different - but maybe your best bet would be to simply ask him what he wants...
 
If you are willing to spend up to $150 I would recommend going with a kit to do extract instead of Mr. Beer. Austin Homebrew Supply, Midwest Supplies and Northern Brewer are all good online stores. The reason I say go with an extract kit is because if he likes it most of the stuff can be used for all grain. I am not sure how much use Mr. Beer is after you move on.

Buy him an extract ingredient kit in a style he likes but one that is a normalish ABV(around 5%) or original gravity(1.040-1.050).
 
Got one at morebeer.com got a kit came with everything stared to brew next day. Came with a light ale kit but also ordered a few other. Just a warning it is addictive and your husband will be wanting start all new projects like i did .
 
I would suggest getting a kit also. If he does not like making beer, he can always put it on craigslist to recoup (most of) the money.
 
I will throw my opinion in here. I wanted a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas last year and the wife went all out and got a full starter kit. Best gift I ever got. I would go with a starter kit for extract brew. He will love it and you will be a hero!!!!!
 
A mr beer is a fermenter, nothing more. And the recipes/kits are no better or worse than any other. They just really have a stigmata attached to them that is largely unfounded. An inexperienced brewer is bound to make crappy tasting beer regardless of whether it's with a Mr Beer kit, or a 150 dollar rig, it's not the method or the gear that makes good beer it's the brewer. And inexperienced brewers are going to tend to blame the Mr Beer rather than simply acknowledge that it was their inexperience that did it.

People have submitted mr beer beers in contest and won, and posted on here about it.

It's really about technique and uttilizing the tips and tricks covered on here in terms of yeast pitch rate, temp control, patience and good sanitization. We have an entire thread devoted to making the best beer possible with mr beer, here, but ANY tip mentioned on this forum to make great beer is applicable to Mr Beer as well as 5 gallon kits.

Mr beer is a gateway for many folks. It's a low cost way of dipping his feet in the hobby and seeing if he likes it. I would buy him a kit, and provide him with the link I posted as well as info on the stickeys and other beginner info on here as well.

THEN if he likes it, he will progress at his own pace. If he wants more gear he will then start getting it.

But don't be dissuaded by the negativity, just like the rest of the world, negativity whehter it's founded or not, is always louder than positive things, and if you look around with open eyes, you will see plenty of people are making great beer out of the little brown keg and enjoying it.
 
I would also recommend checking out morebeer.com for their kits. They have good quality equipment and ingredients, I use them all the time. You are in Riverside which happens to be where they have one of there showrooms. I suggest checking out their site and then going in to talk to them. Tell them what you are interested in and your budget and I'm sure they will work with you to get you set up. I'm about an hour away so I usually order online but I've been in there a couple times and they are always friendly.

MoreBeer
1506 Columbia Ave
Riverside, CA 92507
 
I would recommend a full 5-gallon kit. If he ends up enjoying brewing, the equipment in the kit will be more useful over the long run. If he doesn't get into it, the full stuff will probably be easier to offload on craigslist than a Mr. Beer.

Also, since you're in Riverside, you might think about going to your local MoreBeer store and talking with the people who work there. If they're anything like the guys in Concord (my closest MoreBeer), they'll be super helpful and friendly, and they'll probably help you get the most appropriate setup for your husband.
 
:mug: Try Midwest Supplies. They have a great starter kit that gives you all you need and more, plus an ingredient kit to start brewing right away. It's in your price range.


I started with Mr. Beer. I didn't really care for the beers I made, the ingredients were so-so. (To save money just buy the Mr Beer Fermenter direct from Mr Beer, along with a few premium refils - you dont need to pay for the other stuff which you dont need).

Midwest has an EXCELLENT groupon for a very good starter kit and a recipe.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/groupon-homebrewing.html
 
Investing in good equipment is usually the key to enjoying success no matter what you are doing. Additionally, good stuff can always be resold to recover some portion of the investment. Upgrading equipment over and over can be more expensive than getting the good stuff initially.
Finally, look at Craigslist or maybe eBay for some deals. Contact the local brew club to see if anyone is parting with something you can use. Good luck,, home brewing is very rewarding.
 
There is nothing wrong with a Mr. Beer kit. I also started out with a Mr. Beer kit, and while I did move on within a few months to a larger 5 gallon setup, it was mostly because it was the same cost to get the ingredients for a 5 gallon batch, and you get double the amount of beer.

That being said, go with the groupon deal. At under $80 including shipping, you cannot go wrong. It might be about double the cost of a Mr. Beer starter kit, but if you think he will even remotely like brewing beer, this is the way to go. If you decide to go for it, start saving your beer bottles now! He will need about 50 12oz bottles per batch. My wife just loves the fact that our basement is starting to look like a bottle redemption center, but until I get the money to start kegging, its bottles for me.
 
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