Recommend a beginning brewing kit.

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That's a perfect amount to spend on some quality equipment. I'd initially set my sights on spending about half of that on a good 10 gallon kettle, two fermenters (Better Bottles are nice), some bottling gear, and enough extras (siphon hoses, grain/hops bags, INGREDIENTS, etc) to get you started. Save the other half of that money to spend when you figure out how you'd like to improve your brewing. With that kind of budget, you may look into kegging as well.

EDIT: Note, not many kit suggestions yet...you don't need one! You might try buying the components separately and avoid having some junk around that you'll never use. We'll provide plenty of details as long as you're willing to listen. :mug:
 
Start with John Palmers book How to Brew this book is a must have to any brewer new and advanced. You may want to find a brew club in your local area, we all love teaching people to brew, sit in on a couple of brew days and from there you should be able to get enough education to make an informed purchase. And if all else fail you have all of us to fall back on. Remember your not alone in this addiction, we are out here 24/7 at least a few of us!!!!:mug:
 
smogman said:
Start with John Palmers book How to Brew this book is a must have to any brewer new and advanced. You may want to find a brew club in your local area, we all love teaching people to brew, sit in on a couple of brew days and from there you should be able to get enough education to make an informed purchase. And if all else fail you have all of us to fall back on. Remember your not alone in this addiction, we are out here 24/7 at least a few of us!!!!:mug:

Don't forget Papazian!!! And yes, there always seems to be someone here, whether 3 in the afternoon, or three in the morning, welcome to the forum!
 
I got my deluxe kit from here: http://www.homebrewery.com/beer/beer-gs-deluxe-kit.shtml and have been very happy with the service. I have used everything in this kit and the bench capper seems to be a lot easier to use then the 2 hander ones.

Well worth it to get the auto siphon!!! Best item for convience out there IMHO
I got a 7.5 gal brewing pot and now wish I had at least 10 gal one, but i moved to All Grain quickly.

BTW welcome to a fabulous hobby. :ban:
And if you really enjoy it start planning more for your budget!!!!
 
Not sure how much you really want to do, but to just get started the Coopers Micro Brew Kit comes with everything you need for your first batch including a Lager kit and bottles for $70 from MakeBeer.net

There is a review at www.homebrewandbeer.com/productreviews.html and several reviews on Amazon.com.

If you allready know you'll want to get into mashing and full-grain brewing than you might consider a more substantial setup, but I found it provided a good entry point for me.

Good luck.
 
I got ther intermediate kit with better bottles from Midwest. -->
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=3316
I think it is the best kit for the price. I had them drill the better bottles for spigots so it's easier to transfer from one fermentor to the other. I wanted to get everything I could afford ($500 budget), so I added a few things:

1 Happy Holiday Brew w/European Ale Wyeast 1338
1 Liberty Cream Ale w/ American Ale Wyeast 1056
1 Liquid Tube Brush
1 Airlock Brush 5/8"
1 Airlock 3 piece type
1 Plastic lid with drilled hole for airlock, for 6.5 gallon fermenters.
1 Boiling bag (NYLON) 8 1/2" x 9 1/2"
1 18 inch Plastic Stirring Spoon
1 Stainless Steel Brewing Pot (5 Gallon)
1 Hydrometer test jar 12" plastic w/ screw on base
1 Stainless Measuring Spoons
1 Jet bottle washer faucet adapter
1 Fermtech Blast Bottle and Carboy Washer
1 Airlock brush
3 Bottles 12 oz. Amber (per 24)
1 Fermtech Wine Thief
1 Stainless Steel Strainer, 8" diameter

With this setup I can have two batches going at once.
 
Check out the kits at Northern Brewer too. I started with their Deluxe kit for $139. I had about the same starting budget you mentioned, so I did what Yuri suggested and bought a good large kettle suitable for full boils (a 13.2 gallon converted keg, in my case) and a wort chiller.

Yuri mentioned that you can buy the individual components and not have a bunch of items you never use. You can do that, but you will spend more more money overall for the same items, and I can tell you there is not one single item of my Deluxe starter kit from Northern Brewer that I do not use. None of it is useless junk.

A couple of kits I'd suggest

MidWest Brewing Intermediate Kit
Norther Brewer Deluxe Starter Kit halfway down the page.
 
I'll second the Midwest suggestion - here is a link to all of their intermediate kits

I'd pick up a nice aluminum stock pot too - something 32 quarts or so. Stainless is nice, but it's expensive too. You can get a professional quality aluminum pot from a resturaunt supply store for much less than a poor quality stainless one.

Save the rest of your budget for after you have a batch or two inder your belt - you'll figure out what things you want to add pretty quickly.
 
Check out Craigslist as well. You can usually find someone selling a kit if you give it a week or two. I'm angry because I missed out on a $5 glass carboy.
 
I orderd my starter from Midwest too, it's nice becuase if you want to make and changes to the kits just email them and they'll help you out.
If you do decide to go with a kit with Better Bottles, get them ported with spigots. It's worth the extra cash for the ease of racking.
 
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