equipment upgrade

So I have recently started this wonderful hobby called home brewing. I have to Mr.beer kits each with the 2.5gal fermenter.

Is like to start brewing more and larger quantities but I'm not sure what my next step should be. What should I buy first? I also don't gave a whole lot of money to throw at this quite yet so ill need to piece it all together.

Thanks

Hess,

I too started with Mr Beer. Had fun, learned a ton, and made some decent beer along the way. When I wanted to step up to 5 gallon batches, I just bought an affordable starter kit for $70.00. I think I used a groupon from Midwest, but there are a number of vendors on this forum who sell very affordable, very complete 5 gallon started kits.

Welcome to the obsession!

welcome Hess ... i too started with Mr Beer ... the hardest thing to learn is patience!

I also started with Mr. Beer and quickly realized I wanted to step up to 5 gallon AG batches. I had to piece meal my setup too as I didn't have much $ to work with. So I basically bought one or two pieces a month until I had what I needed.

It depends on what you have already. I started with Mr. Beer too. First, I got tired of using the PET bottles so I saved some old Sam Adams bottles, bought some caps and a capper. Then, I realized what SG and FG are and I had to have a hydrometer and sample tube. Then, I realized I needed a bigger pot so I bought a 5 gallon brewpot online for $35.00. Do you see where I'm going with this? I already had some things that come with the kits. When I was ready to go 5 gallon, I bought a Better Bottle, autosiphon, and racking cane. Poof! 5 Gallon batches! It didn't make sense for me to buy and entire starter kit. However, if all you have is a Mr. Beer fermenter and some PET bottles, maybe a cheap kit makes sense. It's cheaper overall then buying individually.

Or, piece together the way I did (even if it was inadvertently). Minimum for 5 gallon batches (as I see it):

Brew pot big enough for partial boils (say, 2 to 3 gallon boil minimum)
Fermenter (cheapest is 6.5 gallon food grade plastic bucket with lid)
Airlock (dirt cheap)
Bottling bucket (same as fermenter except with a spigot on bottom)
Bottles (not twist off's) (your Mr. Beer PET bottles work but you won't have enough for 5 gallons unless you bought more previously)
Caps (usually come with ingredient kits)
Racking cane
Auto Siphon (not required but highly recommended)

Note: on the cheap, you could even ferment in a bottling bucket and skip the separate fermentor to save money. Just buy a lid for it. However, you will have to bottle straight off the trub which I suppose you're used to anyway from the Mr. Beer fermenter's.

Good luck and welcome to the obsession!

Thanks for all the info! It's nice to see other people started the way I have. I guess I need to save $$, do research on what I want and learn patience lol

Is all grain brewing really as complicated as it looks? I'm still trying to understand all the lingo and acronyms but the basic process is cracking the grain, then steeping to extract the fermentables correct?

Mr beer was my gateway into brewing also, keep a look out on CL I scored my first collection of brewing stuff on there for $75 it was much more than the average kit and the guy threw in a six pack of home brew to top it off. I scored stuff here on the classifieds also like my fryer and more odds and ends to round out my brew gadgets but you have to be fast here. Be patient and you will find what you need cheers and welcome to the obsession.