anyone help a beginner? :)

Hey guys my name is Jon and I am in university studying health sciences. I am looking to get into home brewing, I still need to do a lot more reading before i shell out the cash, but was wondering what you guys recomend for a beginners kit? thanks in advance!

www.brewmasterswarehouse.com
www.austinhomebrew.com
www.midwestsupplies.com
www.northernbrewer.com

any of those sites have "kits" for beginers and any of them will work well for you. pick the one that is cheapest after shipping and get started.

read up A LOT before you get started because any question you have has probably been answered and if you "search" for it you will likely find you answer. there is more info then you can imagine on here.

welcome and happy brewing.

believe it or not I just brewed my first batch today. and after several weeks of reading the forum my fist brew went off with out a hitch I have ZERO questions after the brew and know exactly what I did and why I did it.

-=Jason=-

+1

Flomaster said:

...after several weeks of reading the forum my fist brew went off with out a hitch I have ZERO questions...

-=Jason=-

Click to expand...

Heh heh heh. You say that now!

viking73 said:

Heh heh heh. You say that now!

Click to expand...

I am not going to make a thread about "does this look like an infection" or the likes of.

if anything i'll post a thread showing off my fermentation, but its been posted hundreds of times and it won't be anything new that hasn't been seen before.


-=Jason=-

And read this, if you haven't already.

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

Flomaster said:

www.brewmasterswarehouse.com
[my fist brew went off with out a hitch I have ZERO questions after the brew and know exactly what I did and why I did it.

-=Jason=-

Click to expand...

The more you know, the more you will know you don't know.

Oh, and don't forget to pick up some oxiclean.... I was skeptical of the way everyone was praising it on here until i used it to soak some bottles today... I'm convinced now that the stuff is magical!

alright thanks guys! well i have a lot of reading to do, I will decide on a kit and post my first brew as soon as I'm convinced i can do so.

don't spend your money on oxyclean. buy the cheap chit from walmart or the dollarstore.


I picked up a 6# tub for $3.50 of "sun oxygen cleaner" chlorine free

-=Jason=-

a simple pale ale would work for an easy starting batch.

+1 on reading up. www.Howtobrew.com www.Tastybrew.com

Flomaster said:

believe it or not I just brewed my first batch today. and after several weeks of reading the forum my fist brew went off with out a hitch I have ZERO questions after the brew and know exactly what I did and why I did it.

Click to expand...

Wow!!! 740 posts before your first brew is under your belt. You're my new hero!

I have just one brew under my belt and it came out great. I spent a lot of time on the forums and read How to Brew. I used the Brewers Best Deluxe kit and it worked well. I did use a 6.5 Gallon Better Bottle instead of the brew bucket that came with the kit though. Just because I wanted to see the action during fermentation. It is pretty interesting and way cooler than a lava lamp.

Read read read! I read everything I could before brewing, in fact I progressed from extract brewing to full boil extract, to All-grain brewing before I ever even bought any equipment or brewed a beer.

The info on here is staggering, and has ensured I never had so much as a hiccup I couldnt deal with while brewing.

The search feature and the stickys here are almost as important as your brewing equipment. anything remaining is a posted question away.

Good luck, and happy brewing!

davesrose said:

Wow!!! 740 posts before your first brew is under your belt. You're my new hero!

Click to expand...

was another chap here who was a member for over a year and built his keezer, brew stand etc all before brewing his first batch as well.

I like to post whore it up and add any info I have picked up along the way to help others out.

-=Jason=-

Flomaster said:

I like to post whore it up and add any info I have picked up along the way to help others out.

-=Jason=-

Click to expand...

I think the post count has more to do with living in Chino Valley, it's not like you have much else to do, I live in Maricopa, so I know about nothing to do, that's why I brew a lot!

Bookmark these:

Palmer book that was referenced earlier:
http://www.howtobrew.com/sitemap.html

Great places to buy your equipment, first beer kit, and cleaning (PBW), and sterilizing (Star-San) solutions.
http://midwestsupplies.com/
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing

I am thinking about buying one for a friend as a gift so here is the prices i found for a Basic Kit plus shipping. The kits differ in sizes of primary buckets, but most kits yield 5 gal so all the sizes offered on the different sites will work. Another small difference between the kits are the cleaners that come with it (didn't use the one that came with mine). Remember you will still need: Beer kit, Brew kettle, bottles, cleaning and sterilizing solutions this is the kit and shipping only...

_____ Basic kit + Shipping = Total
Midwest: $59.95 + $11.47 =$71.42
Austin hb $80.49 + $7.99 = $88.48
Northern: $79.99 + $7.99 = $87.98

One helpful hint: regardless of what starter kit you wind up going with, buy a blow-off tube to go with your primary fermenter!!!

If you spend just a couple days looking around this board, you'll find a handful of threads with fellow noobs asking for help when their krausen overflows through their airlocks... Airlocks are great for lagers, yeast starters, and secondary vessels - but blow off tubes are almost a necessity for primary fermentation in ales!

Read up, and have fun!

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Roger