REALLY itchy from the beer bug bite..

I have been spending the majority of my free time reading this website over the past few days and a couple things have been made clear. First, I am really stoked I got the Mr. Beer kit, otherwise I would have never stumbled across this forum. Second, Ive decided the money I was going to use to get a Wii might be better off spent stepping up to a real brew kit...

Here's where you guys and gals step in: If I had a Mr. Beer kit, and also had roughly 200 bucks to spend on some brew goodies, what should I buy?

Keep in mind I am a huge brewing rookie, but an experienced beer drinker (who says you dont learn anything after 7 semesters of college?!) and the more I read about the brew process the more I am addicted to it!:rockin:

ideas?

My recommendation...buy the Wii, beer takes a while, and if you don't have something better to do, you'll get addicted to this web site like the rest of us. My SWMBO is about to take my computer away from me I think. LOL

Actually, I would get a starter kit that came with:
Ale Pale or 6.5 gal carboy
5 gal. carboy
bottling bucket
autosyphon
hydrometer
bottle capper

Then I would invest in:
an extra 5 gal. carboy
extra air locks
Star San
Bottles
and a couple of beer kits

If you shop around, you should be able to get all this for $200. Then if there's $ left over, buy some beer, it's gonna be a few weeks before that MR. Beer batch is ready.

Also, if you haven't already, I sugest reading http://www.howtobrew.com and a good starter kit can be found at http://www.leeners.com

Welcome to the community!

Jesse17 said:

My recommendation...buy the Wii, beer takes a while, and if you don't have something better to do, you'll get addicted to this web site like the rest of us. My SWMBO is about to take my computer away from me I think. LOL

Actually, I would get a starter kit that came with:
Ale Pale or 6.5 gal carboy
5 gal. carboy
bottling bucket
autosyphon
hydrometer
bottle capper

Then I would invest in:
an extra 5 gal. carboy
extra air locks
Star San
Bottles
and a couple of beer kits

If you shop around, you should be able to get all this for $200. Then if there's $ left over, buy some beer, it's gonna be a few weeks before that MR. Beer batch is ready.

Also, if you haven't already, I sugest reading http://www.howtobrew.com and a good starter kit can be found at http://www.leeners.com

Welcome to the community!

Click to expand...

problem is that my second batch of beer will probably be conditioning before a Wii is available! that and I have already gotten addicted to this forum, its too easy to spend a few minutes (or hours) browsing this place...kind of like a black hole ..of beer

thank god i dont have a SWMBO to spend $$ on

Thanks though, that first list you just gave was like exactly what I was considering buying/starting to price out.

thanks again for the help Jesse!

ps. i had a friend recommend www.midwestsupplies.com to me, does anyone know about this site?

Midwest is a good site. They have good prices on their equipment kits. I've used them for a couple years and have been happy with the service and merchandise. Austin Homebrew another good one and has a really nice selection of ingredient and clone kits.

Go to beer-wine.com. They are out of Woburn Mass. There really good. You can get a starter kit for under 100 bucks. They also have a nice selection of extract kits to get you going.

GloHoppa said:

problem is that my second batch of beer will probably be conditioning before a Wii is available! that and I have already gotten addicted to this forum, its too easy to spend a few minutes (or hours) browsing this place...kind of like a black hole ..of beer

thank god i dont have a SWMBO to spend $$ on

Thanks though, that first list you just gave was like exactly what I was considering buying/starting to price out.

thanks again for the help Jesse!

ps. i had a friend recommend www.midwestsupplies.com to me, does anyone know about this site?

Click to expand...

I got pretty much everything on that list for $130 and some change at my LHBS. And my wife got me a really nice stainless steel brew pot that I THINK cost about $60. I say you go for it... BUT we've had a Wii in our house since late June, so I can understand your dilema....

It looks like you've been bitten by the bug. Your $200 of equipment can quickly escalate into multiple hundreds or the low thousands (for proof, check out the photo galleries of some of the more experienced brewers here).

For my money, I'd suggest:
- a 6.5 gallon primary and a 5 gallon secondary Better Bottle fermenter (plastic carboy)
- all of your basics accessories (carboy caps, racking canes, tubing, hydrometer, tubing)
- a good sized stock pot (or a turkey fryer kit which is a burner and a 30qt stockpot) --- this is in the likelihood you move from extract to all-grain brewing
- and use the rest of the money on ingredients and good beer in non-twist off bottles (you'll need the bottle inventory, and it's a good time to try different styles)

Optionally - spend some on kegs, a regulator, a keg fridge, CO2 tanks, etc (but I'm not into kegging, like others are).

Most of all - welcome to brewing. Use your Mr. Brew to get the hang of sanitation and the overall process. When you do upgrade to real brewing equipment, you'll appreciate the 5 gallon yields and the fact that you're taking a more hands-on approach to brewing (making your own recipes, having more control of the process, etc.)

Good luck with your brewing.

buy a copy of How to Brew by John Palmer.

So I just lucked out bigtime

I was talking to my family about brewing and asked offhand if my grandparents had any of their old lobster pots (my grandfather is a retired lobsterman), since those are stainless steel and meant to boil 7 or 8 lobsters at a time. Sure enough, he had a 4 gallon that was stashed up on a shelf in his shed


so awesome!:rockin:

When I got home, I found out that the minifridge I used freshman and soph yr of college was still just taking up space downstairs too! Our basement flooded last year in those crazy spring floods the NE got, but its plugged in right now and it sounds like the compressor works great!

I just saved some serious coin!