Equipment

Where is a good place/website to buy good equipment for a good deal? I am wanting everything a carboy, bottles, brew kettles and pots, wort chillers, and burners. I am not some huge brewer just want the right stuff. Right now I use all Mr. Beer products.
Thanks

jhegende said:

Where is a good place/website to buy good equipment for a good deal? I am wanting everything a carboy, bottles, brew kettles and pots, wort chillers, and burners. I am not some huge brewer just want the right stuff. Right now I use all Mr. Beer products.
Thanks

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If you don't mind used equipment, Craigslist is a great source. I've seen a ton of complete set ups being sold for a fraction of what it would all cost new.

I would head into my LHBS and price a starter/deluxe starter kit. Then look for a similar kit online and figure out shipping costs. I know at my LHBS (were I work part-time) the cost of the kit includes the ingredients for your 1st batch so that sort of stuff can come into play as well.

I start the search:
LHBS
Austin Homebrew Supply
Rebel Brewer
Northern Brewer

www.homebrewfinds.com is an affiliate site that tracks down pretty much all the best deals.

If you have the patience to keep an eye on that site and buy everything a la carte, you'll save.

Look up the EQUIPMENT KITS link in the big listing at the bottom of the page, and you can find a good starter kit for about $70.00-80.00 that will have most everything you need. You can then fill in the rest from the other links on the same page.

Good luck!

Ok may be another dumb question of mine but can I use extracts with carboys? I am pretty sure I can but I dont want to buy a kit and not be able to use it with extracts. Eventually I want to get away from extracts but as of right now I want to work my way to it.
This is the kit I am looking to buy.
This base kit includes:

5 gallon glass carboy secondary fermenter.
Universal stopper
3-piece airlock
6 feet of Siphon Hose (3/8" Thin Wall)
Auto-Siphon (3/8")
Auto-Siphon Clamp (3/8")
Nylon grain bag
Triple scale hydrometer
Floating thermometer
21" stainless steel spoon
Cleanitizer
Ultimate Brewery Cleaner
An Illustrated Guide to Homebrewing

Once wort goes into the fermenter there is zero difference between extract and all grain. So yes, extract can be used with carboys. The difference in the process is before the boil.

ok well i want to learn how to make wort eventually but I am not sure if I am ready for that yet. Unless its not as hard as everyone makes it seem.

jhegende said:

ok well i want to learn how to make wort eventually but I am not sure if I am ready for that yet. Unless its not as hard as everyone makes it seem.

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Hard? You stand there and look at grain soaking for an hour. I think you can manage. How much at one time is the question.

All grain isn't that tough. You just have to keep a close watch on mash temps and aim for consistency.
For large kettles check out restaurant supply stores. I scored a stainless ten gallon boil kettle for just over a hundred dollars at my local one.

homebrewfinds.com
morebeer.com - deal of the day
living social, groupon periodically throughout the year have deals on starter kits for midwest supplies
check the for sale section here

eelpout said:

Hard? You stand there and look at grain soaking for an hour. I think you can manage. How much at one time is the question.

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I know that but you need certain amounts of each ingredient and that seems like the difficult part to figure out. Its gotta be much harder than the mr beer its I am doing now and I have even screwed that up twice out of 4 times I have brewed.

jhegende said:

I know that but you need certain amounts of each ingredient and that seems like the difficult part to figure out. Its gotta be much harder than the mr beer its I am doing now and I have even screwed that up twice out of 4 times I have brewed.

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None of it's "hard" necessarily, just more involved. There is nothing wrong however getting a good start with extracts before moving on to all grain (nothing wrong with staying with extracts for that matter if thats what you want to do). The basics you are talking about buying now, translate directly to all grain (large kettle, wort chiller, etc). If you decide later to move to all grain, you will just be adding some equipment, not "replacing" it. Mr. Beer gave many of us the bug, but it's pretty limiting on the imagination. Even a full extract brew, or better yet partial mash (no additional equipment needed other than a bag), will allow you to make beer to YOUR specifications and not some else's.

BTW - Welcome to the hobby / obsession!!

jhegende said:

Its gotta be much harder than the mr beer its I am doing now and I have even screwed that up twice out of 4 times I have brewed.

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Just out of (morbid?) curiosity, what do you feel you messed up on the two batches? I know my first few MB's, I was so intent on reading, that I had a tendency to "lose track" of what was happening on the stove top. I'm sure it's different with everyone, but for me things started getting "easier" once I knew "why" I was doing each step and not just doing it because it was on the next line on the instructions. Only comes with time, reading, and patience......

501irishred said:

Just out of (morbid?) curiosity, what do you feel you messed up on the two batches? I know my first few MB's, I was so intent on reading, that I had a tendency to "lose track" of what was happening on the stove top. I'm sure it's different with everyone, but for me things started getting "easier" once I knew "why" I was doing each step and not just doing it because it was on the next line on the instructions. Only comes with time, reading, and patience......

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One batch I didn't use a sugar solution and it was not carbonated right then the second one was with a friend and his was used and we must not have cleaned it well enough because it got a nasty infection. You live and you learn!

501irishred said:

None of it's "hard" necessarily, just more involved. There is nothing wrong however getting a good start with extracts before moving on to all grain (nothing wrong with staying with extracts for that matter if thats what you want to do). The basics you are talking about buying now, translate directly to all grain (large kettle, wort chiller, etc). If you decide later to move to all grain, you will just be adding some equipment, not "replacing" it. Mr. Beer gave many of us the bug, but it's pretty limiting on the imagination. Even a full extract brew, or better yet partial mash (no additional equipment needed other than a bag), will allow you to make beer to YOUR specifications and not some else's.

BTW - Welcome to the hobby / obsession!!

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I want to slowly start buying all grain equipment. I have my neighbor hooked on this now too. We have been helping each other but we really need to figure out how to do all grain.... Step by step.
I have a brewmasters bible book maybe that will help me.

Your next purchase should be "How to Brew" by John Palmer. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381888/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It explains, step by step, how to brew all grain.

Easterbrook said:

Your next purchase should be "How to Brew" by John Palmer. http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Right-First/dp/0937381888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360732588&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+brew

It explains, step by step, how to brew all grain.

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+1. As a new brewer, I've read about 10 books on Homebrewing. His is by far the best, and I'm not even to all grain brewing yet.

jhegende said:

One batch I didn't use a sugar solution and it was not carbonated right then the second one was with a friend and his was used and we must not have cleaned it well enough because it got a nasty infection. You live and you learn!

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You're right, live and learn! As you found out the hard way, cleaning and sanitizing are not to be taken lightly.

jhegende said:

I want to slowly start buying all grain equipment. I have my neighbor hooked on this now too. We have been helping each other but we really need to figure out how to do all grain.... Step by step.
I have a brewmasters bible book maybe that will help me.

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Make sure to keep brewing while your saving up and gathering for the all grain setup. All the really important steps (IMO) can be learned while extract brewing, without muddying the waters by adding a full mash to the equation. Cleaning, sanitizing, boil control, hops schedules, wort aeration, proper fermentation etc, will all become second nature in time. Once you feel good with all that, it'll be time to fire up the strike water! :rockin:

Get your basic/mediocre/top shelf kit and add a cooler with a home made false bottom. Couple feet of copper and some elbows and tees, a ball valve and you are set. Save a little money per brew but costs and extra hour+ for brew time.