Good Starter kit?

I've been looking at kits to get started with. I found a kit that is in my price range from Midwest.

Its $89 and includes.

• 71 page instructional book
• 5 Gallon Glass Carboy
• 6.5 Gallon Plastic Fermenter with Lid 6.5 Gallon Bottling Bucket with Spigot
• 8 Oz. of Easy Clean No-Rinse Cleanser
• Drilled Universal Carboy Bung Airlock (Keeps air out of the fermenter)
• Hydrometer (Determines alcohol content)
• Bottle Brush
• Carboy Brush
• Twin Lever Red Baron Bottle Capper
• Bottle Caps
• Liquid Crystal Thermometer
• Bottle Filler
• Fermtech AutoSiphon upgrade
• Siphon Tubing
• shutoff clamp

Am i missing anything or is there too much? Oh.. what size brewing Kettle should I obtain?

Now I just need to find out what beer I want to brew. I'm thinking of getting the "Bohemian Dark Lager w/ Saflager S-23 dry yeast" kit. I'm a lover of just about all Dunkel!

Kit looks good. I would not do a lager for ur first brew. They take considerable more time and are a bit more involved w/ temp control. As far as pot size, I would say as large as u can that ur stove will accomidate.

+1 on avoiding a lager for your first brew.

Probably the easiest thing to brew (and hardest to go wrong with) is a pale ale. I helped a friend with his first brew a couple of months back, and we made an APA using the starter recipe from the Radical Brewing book, which I can highly recommend. It's simple, tasty, and I also really like the way he presents it. Rather than just a magical set of instructions that you have to follow without properly understanding why, he gives a set of options plus choices for how you can vary them. Like "start with 3/4 lb of crystal malt to steep. If you want a maltier beer, use a full pound, or if you want a drier lighter result, use just half a pound".

That approach worked for my friend much better than going with a premade kit, because it set him up with an understanding of which variables he can play with in subsequent brews. Now the first one turned out well, he's full of plans to make the same basic recipe again but with some tweaks to hopefully perfect it...

I would add a 16+" SS spoon and a clip on thermometer for the brew pot along with some Star San cleaner and a faucet bottle cleaner. Rinsing bottles without one takes a long time. For me the cheapest pot I found was a 6 or 6.5 gal turkey fryer at Walmart. I can do a full boil on my stove and in the summer I can take it outside. I think the fryer cost me $45-50. It is thin aluminum and will be replaced but its good enough and cheap enough to get started.

strider said:

Kit looks good. I would not do a lager for ur first brew. They take considerable more time and are a bit more involved w/ temp control. As far as pot size, I would say as large as u can that ur stove will accomidate.

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Thank you for the quick response. I think this might be the kit I'm going to go with, but I'll first look around some more.

As for the beer, would you or anyone else have a recommendation other than the dunkel? As for Lager taking more time, how much more time?

Still still a decent amount I need to learn I guess. Things such as what temps the different styles of beers need to be at. I'm finding a lot of good information on these boards. I'm looking forward to brewing my first batch soon, but first I need to educate myself a little more.

::EDIT::

Well it appears there were some posts while I was typing this one. Thank you Shawn and Ryan for your responses. Shawn the real reason I wanted to go with the beer kits is to first familirize myself with the process of brewing, then later move to more receipes from what I would consider (scratch.)

For the Kettle, maybe I'll search through my mothers cookware to see if she has anything I can steal (I mean Borrow.)

As for the beer kit I only ordered two online both from Austin Home Brew and they were easy to follow with good instructions. I would not hesitate to buy from them again.

I highly recommend getting a book that will cover things like the difference between lager and ale fermentation, optimal temperatures, etc. These boards are awesome, but forum posts tend to give you information in a piecemeal fashion with bits missing, while a good book will present everything together in a nice logical order.

I highly recommend "Radical Brewing" even for beginners (it's nowhere near as radical as the title may suggest, just takes a fun and interesting approach to subject matter that could easily be dry and boring). "How to Brew" is good too.

There isn't really much difference in my mind between brewing from a kit or following a recipe from a book (unlike formulating your own recipe, which is a whole other kettle of fish). Whichever way you go, the nice thing about having a book is that will explain more of the why's as well as the what. Without that, you could brew 5 different kits, using 5 different set of ingredients, but not really be learning about why each kit is the way it is and what makes them difference. A good book will give you the material to understand what makes each recipe unique, what each ingredient is contributing, what differentiates one style from another, and so on.

For a brewpot, the minimum would be a 4 gallon (16 qt) stock pot. They can usually be found for around $30-40. However, the bigger you can get, the better. If you can swing for a 24-30 qt stock pot (or larger), then it will serve you better in the long run. Keep in mind though, you will be limited by your stove in terms of how much you can reasonably boil. I have one of those fancy glass top stoves and it's limit is about 3 1/2 - 4 gallons.

You can get the whole "How to Brew" by John Palmer on line for free. JUst go to howtobrew.com. Being new this is the only source I have, but plan on getting the Radical.

jrodincincy said:

As for Lager taking more time, how much more time?

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To give you an idea, lager is German for to store. It is, by definition, a time-intensive style. It generally requires a dedicated refrigeration setup and a few months.

After reading through John Palmer's online book I see that most lagers require around 8wks and temps as low as 34F. I can do the time easily for I am a pretty pateint man, but I don't think I have a way of maintaining that temp unless I surrender my fridge for that whole time. hehe

I still would love to brew a lager, I love Dark (Dunkel) Lager. I don't think I've ever had one that was undrinkable. Though I doubt I would ever touch the quality and taste of the Dunkel I can get at our Hofbrahaus here in Cincy (N.KY.)

I'm usually not a big fan of Ales. Would maybe a good Heffe Weizen be easier for a beginner or should I just belly up and go for a simple Ale? I drink Ales from time to time, but not as much as I love my Lagers and Heffe Weizen's.

I also noticed Dobble Bock is not exactly the easiest or shortest to brew either.I'll be attending "Bock Fest" this year here in cincy, so I'll just get my fill there! :rockin:

Thank you for everyones responses!

A hefe would be a good choice. Simple, and quick. How can you not like ales though with the gargantuan varieties U are correct on the doppelbocks. Also require lagering and with the huge emphasis on malt, I'm waiting to go AG before trying one. I'm sure ppl would disagree with me on that though.

strider said:

How can you not like ales though with the gargantuan varieties

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Maybe I've just been trying the wrong ones. Any suggestions on good commercial Ales I can find at the local grocery or liquor store?

In in the cincinnati area we have two places that carry almost any kind of beer you could think of, so I should be able to find close to anything.

jrodincincy said:

I'm usually not a big fan of Ales.

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Try brewing a Blonde Ale. Though I have not tried it yet, BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde recipe from this site is very lager-like.

oi.... I am not good at recommending beer cause I like a huge range of beers. I also don't know what markets tend to carry (i live in mass) or really what ur tastes are. Lets see... if u like doppelbocks you might enjoy skullsplitter. Good luck finding that in a market however. It is quite a big beer with a lot of complexities but strong on the malt. Hmmm... let me think about it for a bit.

If you have a friend that home brews, you can get the most for your money by having him help you pick out items on craigslist.

jrodincincy said:

Maybe I've just been trying the wrong ones. Any suggestions on good commercial Ales I can find at the local grocery or liquor store?

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I get the impression you like maltier, smoother beers and not so much hoppiness?

If so I would recommend:

• Any kind of Scottish ale
• English browns and milds
• Belgian Wit (eg. Hoegaarden)
• In fact you should try anything Belgian you can get your hands on

I just paid $65 for a five gallon carboy and plastic fermentor the other day at my LBHS. I know he's kinda expensive, but I would have been better off just buying the kit you're talking about. My first kit was well over $100 and was similar to yours. Where did you find that?

NewBrew75 said:

Where did you find that?

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Just at Midwest Brewing Supplies. Brewing Starter Kit :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies


Shawn, I think you hit the nail on the head there with my preferences. While I can enjoy one or two of almost anything I still have my desired tastes. One of those beers you listed "Hoegaarden" is actually a beer on my list to try. I've just been too lazy lately to activly search for it.
Also, now that you mention it I do enjoy "Newcastle" every now and again. I like it better on draft, but then again what beer isn't better on draft?

Thank you everyone for your replies. This is helping me greatly!
Now I just need to get the kit and set a date to dedicate to brewing glorious adult beverages!!

**EDIT**
I just remembered my Father has a nice big propane burner for his turkey fryer! I could just go out any buy a new kettle and us the propane burner instead of stove top. Then I could use a large kettle!

Ok, so I went out last night and tried "Full Sail IPA" and I must say it was delicious. I just think the reason behind me not being very open to Ales at first was that I never drank them.

I'm in exterimental mode now and will be trying others soon.

I bought the same starter kit from my local store and it worked great. I brewed a pale ale from a kit with dry yeast and it turned out great.

When I went to brew my second batch I bought / made the following items:
- Long clip on thermometer to keep an eye on the temp for steeping grains as well as check the temp during the wort cool down
- Second liquid thermometer for my glass carboy to monitor the temp during my secondary
- Built a wort chiller from flexible cooper, tubing and a funnel (I couldn't figure out how else to attach it to my kitchen faucet)
- Also don't forget ice - I stick my pot in an ice bath and run my wort chiller through it and I can get my wort cooled in about 10 mins

This website helped me out a ton before I brewed my first batch. It's good overview basic videos.

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