Woot! Got my Christmas present from the wife, brewing kit from midwest supplies....

Opened presents last night, the wife got me the Brewing Starter Kit from midwest. Only problem is the Hydrometer and Thermometer were broken in the box, and they did not send the carboy and carboy cleaner thing . I emailed them today, so hopefully I'll hear back over the next few days and they will resolve the problems. I really wanted to start brewing this week because I am off, and I already bought some ingredient kits. She also got me the wort chiller and star-san.

Think I can start brewing without the Hyrometer? I rather not wait another week or two for it. What do you think? Should I run to the local brew house and buy one?

Thanks!

If you have extract ingredient kits, go ahead and start the brew. The kits I've seen already tell you what the OG will be and they are quite accurate if you follow the instructions. I may get jumped on for saying it, but I've found that if you follow their instructions for brewing and are just a bit patient, you don't have to use the hydrometer at all. The patient part is waiting until you can be reasonably certain that the fermentation is complete, like 2 1/2 to 3 weeks or even more if you are brewing a porter or stout. It would be nice to take a final gravity reading if you can.

Midwest has a good reputation for replacing missing parts of kits and I suspect they might for parts broken in shipment too. The only time I emailed, I had an answer within a day or 2.

BUY ONE! Do not let a free week of brewing go to waste!!

If you are brewing with an extract kit, you can be fairly sure that your OG will be within a few points of what they say it should be.

If you keep it in the primary for a couple of weeks like many would say you generally should, you should have your replacement hydrometer by the time that you really need it to check your FG.

I'd say brew away and don't spend the extra cash just to have one right away.

You don't need a hydrometer but if you want to take a OG reading you can just freeze a sample then thaw it out when you get a hydrometer. Get two, if they get lonely they break.

Any meat thermometer should be good enough. You probably can get away with out one but you do want to steep grains under 170F and pitch the yeast well under 70F. It's hit or miss with the cheap ones. I have a few. Some are very accurate and others are junk.

Actually stupid me, it was just the hydrometer that was broken not the thermometer... It looked like two different items that broke. Regardless, looking forward to brewing!!! Has anyone ever had an issue with midwest and shipping the wrong items or broken items?

go buy a hydrometer and have them replace it as well. Hydrometers break very easily. You'll be glad to have a backup on hand at some point.