New brewer looking for first kit

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Hello. I have never brewed a beer in my life, but after researching about the brewing process, I am ready to purchase my first beer kit. :) My budget is 100-200$ for the kit.

This was the one I was looking at.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AC55H24/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


What would you recommend I get?

I bought mine from midwest supplies. It came with EVERYTHING you need to brew a batch when it came in the mail for $200 including ingredients!! Which I just looked and they don't have it, but these are what I bought all together with an ingredient kit in one package. You could also opt for no secondary...because I've used it once for a lager I did. You could probably just buy one later. They have an upgrade kit, which is the second link, that completes the kit minus an ingredient kit. Good luck and welcome to the addiction!!!

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/plastic-brewing-starter-kit.html

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/indispensable-implements-brewing-equipment-upgrade-2.html
 
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You'll not need a secondary fermentor, but you may want it some day down the road. It's mostly necessary for aging.

What kind of beer are you considering?
 
That kit and upgrade looks really nice. That's 100% everything I need without cutting corners or getting cheap gear? That's actually a good deal and am now curious about how much better would the next step up be?

I would ideally like brewing an ale like a New Glaurus Spotted Cow, just to start out. So I'm not sure if I'm going for the right gear or not... Or maybe I'm limiting my self to only a specific type of beer? Any info would be appreciated! I will continue to read more :)
 
No limits to beer styles.

One thing I'd suggest is to but two hydrometers and two floating thermometers. They break easily, and it's only a matter of time.

I didn't really check out all the kit came with, but be sure you have a fermometer on each of your fermenting buckets.

You'll also want a timer, a scale that can weigh as little as .1 oz and as much 7-10 lbs. And get a reusable grain bag.

Are you planning on starting with all extract or will you try steeping grains? It's not hard and makes for a better beer giving you more options. And if you get a large grain bag it'll help the switch to BIAB.
 
Get the most basic kit from Midwest, or another online brewing source or a local brewing store. Instead of the deluxe kit with the carboy, skip the carboy at least for now but buy a couple more fermenting buckets. You'll find the extra fermenters much more useful than a carboy. If you have money left, buy more kits or ingredients if you want to roll your own. You'll need a 5 gallon OR BIGGER pot too.
 
Don't skimp on the kettle. If you buy a 5 gallon pot, you'll be doing partial boils, where you'll need to add more water to the wort after chilling. But if you get a bigger kettle--8 gal. min., 10 gal. is better--you can do full-volume extract boils, which will yield better beer. After the boil, you just chill, rack to the fermenter and pitch. And the bigger kettle will be good to go if you move to all-grain.

Shop around on kettles, even check Amazon. You should be able to do this and stay within your $200 limit for the whole kit.
 
get a pond pump and a 3/8 or 1/2" I.D. copper wort chiller. $35
get a rubbermaid wrapping paper bin or a wallpaper container for soaking your racking cane and other stuff with star-san. $8
get a stc-1000 temp controller and a 5 cubic freezer for fermenting.
KEEP the carboy, just buy a plastic, 7 gal fermenting bucket so if you do bigger beers, or plan to use a bright tank, you'll be able to get off the yeast cake after a month and age for longer (up to a year, for wee heavy/RIS, etc..)
get a stir plate and beaker/clear growler for making yeast starters.

this schwag all costs far more than just a beer kit, but if you want to keep at this hobby, these items and more are mandatory. ;)
 
5 Gallon Plastic CarboyUniversal Carboy Bung
6.5 Gallon Fermentor with Grommeted Lid
Liquid Crystal Thermometer
x2Airlock
x2Hydrometer
Test Jar2 oz
Midwest Oxygen WashInstructional Step-By-Step DVD5/16
Auto-Siphon5/16 ID
Siphon Tubing (5 Feet)
Small Tubing ClampBottling
Bucket with SpigotBottle
FillerBottle Capper
60 Gold Bottle CapsBottle
Brush
 
Honestly, looking back at it, the one without the secondary is only $20 cheaper. You might as well get it since that's a great price for one.

As far as the bigger pot goes, I wish I had one now to do BIAB AG, but for a beginner...eh. Not so important INMHO. A bigger pot for full boils means a chiller as well which is a whole other expense. I personally make some great beer doing my partial boil, partial mash batches topping up with a couple frozen gallon jugs of store bought water to chill.

I bought what I have listed above. It's a great price for everything and it's everything he needs to keep him VERY busy for a while. This is purely from my experience with this same kit.
 
Will you be brewing on a stove top or on a burner outside?

If you'll be indoors a 5 gal pot is about all you'll get to boil well, and I'd suggest an aluminum pot if so. In mine I can easily do 4 gal boils, but as was stated I have to top off or use another pot to create the missing portion (which I don't do). But I don't mind using chilled top off water as it helps further bring my temp down.
 
Some more advice:

Keep some extra hops, muslin bags, dry yeast, DME, and bottle caps on hand as it'll give you room if you make last minute changes or find you forgot something or things don't quite turn out as expected.

Also check any kits against MoreBeer. Their prices always seem to have competed with others, but after $59 they give free shipping, which is why I deal with them. But free shipping takes a couple of extra days, generally 4-7 days it seems, but it's free!
 
I will be brewing indoors.

I would feel confident making this purchase

90$
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/plastic-brewing-starter-kit.html

Unless someone told me otherwise.. It looks like it has everything I would need except for the ingredients, bottles and kettle. ( which I can get in the upgrade package if you think it's worth it. Link below.)

(Ingredients sold separately)
70$
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/indispensable-implements-brewing-equipment-upgrade-2.html

Thanks for all of the great info :)

Cheers
 
I cannot comment on a stainless pot, but it might be harder to bring 4 gals to a strong boil, and it ought to take longer to cool down.

As for bottles I just drink various craft beers, rinse out well, and soak in oxyclean (standing up and filled with water) to remove the labels. For the price of empty bottles you can spend a little bit more and get good beer too! You'll need about 2 - 2.5 cases worth of bottles per batch depending on grub and batch size.
 
Were I you I'd look for a 5-7 gal aluminum pot. I wish my pot were a little larger, and you need about 1 gal to accommodate the boil and give time if a boil over begins.

And if you find you have trouble getting a strong boil you can buy a larger burner that has an additional coil. That's what I had to do.

And you'll need a long handled plastic spoon for buckets.
 
I will be brewing indoors.

I would feel confident making this purchase

90$
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/plastic-brewing-starter-kit.html

Unless someone told me otherwise.. It looks like it has everything I would need except for the ingredients, bottles and kettle. ( which I can get in the upgrade package if you think it's worth it. Link below.)

(Ingredients sold separately)
70$
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/indispensable-implements-brewing-equipment-upgrade-2.html

Thanks for all of the great info :)

Cheers

There are TONS of kits out there that will work out great. That particular one happens to be what I bought and I couldn't be happier. You should be ok now, but once it starts getting warmer you'll need some sort of temp control. I did this with a $20 mini fridge on craigslist and the eBay aquarium temp controller build. In total it cost me around $60 and it DEFINITELY stepped up my game...I could go on all day with this so I better stop myself. Lol.
 
Ok great advice. Do you think it would be a safe bet to go with this one

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/plastic-brewing-starter-kit.html

But skip on the upgrade and do what you said, drink craft beers for bottles and buy and 7 gal aluminum pot.

Do I need a dial thermometer for the pot? Or will the one with the kit posted above work?

That's also a great way to start as well. I would go with a $22 32 quart aluminum pot at Wal mart. I have been considering that one.

As for the thermometer, that kit doesn't come with one. The upgrade with bottles and what not did. I would recommend a long dial thermometer. I got mine from Midwest for $11 I think.
 
I will be brewing indoors.

I would feel confident making this purchase

90$
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/plastic-brewing-starter-kit.html

Unless someone told me otherwise.. It looks like it has everything I would need except for the ingredients, bottles and kettle. ( which I can get in the upgrade package if you think it's worth it. Link below.)

(Ingredients sold separately)
70$
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/indispensable-implements-brewing-equipment-upgrade-2.html

Thanks for all of the great info :)

Cheers


This is what I got. Works great and includes a beer kit. I choose wheat.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/essential-brewing-starter-kit.html

But they have all kinds of starter kits

http://home-brewing.northernbrewer.com/search#w=starter kit&asug=
 
I don't know how true it is, but it's been said that if you fill your aluminum pot just shy a gal of full and let it boil an hour it forms an oxide layer (grey) that keeps aluminum from leeching out.

I did this, but to find out what my boil off rate for an hour is, which is only 10%.
 
clean, then bake your aluminum wort pot at 350 for 20 minutes. it'll fit sideways in most evens... or, place in dishwasher with Heat dry. done deal.
 
This kit comes with a better bottle instead of the glass carboy. What are your thoughts on this?
 
A Better Bottle/plastic carboy is much safer and weighs much less than glass.

For me I'd only use them for a barley wine or mead. I just don't do a secondary.

Oh, I forgot to mention the airlock design. I'm not sure how hard they are, but the S style seems impossible to get into the middle section. I've always just gone for the 3 piece, which a blow off tube will fit on nicely.
 
Something else you can do to quickly get a few more buckets is to stop by the bakery department and ask if the have any food grade icing buckets you can have. I picked up 5 of them from my local grocery store, plus 2 small ~2 gal buckets.

Once you've brewed your beer you'll have 3-4 weeks to have drank enough beer to bottle. Invite some friends or ask for pry off bottles. Some have even found bars and such to save them for you. Also save the boxes they came in. 12 packs are your friend!
 
By secondary you mean having a second fermenter to do a two stage process OR or a second batch of beer? I'm new to this and was hoping this kit would be enough to start with.

Along with a 7 gal aluminum pot
Dial thermometer
Do I need a nylon boiling bag? It's listed in the upgrade pack
 
If you look at the pic with the little thing at the top of the buckets it shows the S style of airlock. A 3 piece looks like this:

http://morebeer.com/products/airlock-3-piece.html?site_id=5

The S style looks like this:

http://morebeer.com/products/airlock-sshaped.html?site_id=5

The secondary is the Better Bottle/carboy. It's meant for siphoning beer out of the primary fermentor into the secondary either to get it off of the yeast or because you want to add fruits or some such. When aging beer it's probably better to get it off of the yeast. But I've heard of people having forgotten their beer for months with no ill effects.

I prefer the floating style of thermometer because you can just leave it in there and get a good reading whenever you want vs having to hold it for a while, though some have clamps, but it's all dependent on volume.

You'll only need a grain bag if you intend to do steeping or BIAB/partial mashes. You'll want one eventually. And I'd recommend starting with steeping as soon as you are comfortable as it opens so many more doors for you. But it might be a good idea to work with something more simple the first couple of times. I had a tough time with my first two.
 
Why I don't want an S style airlock is because I've had a few explosive fermentations where the krausen has come up through the airlock. If that happens with a 3 piece it's no biggie as it's easy to clean, but with an S I'm not sure how you'd clean the center portion.

The easy fix would be to make certain you stay below your max fill level. Give it maybe 3" from the top and you'll likely be fine.
 
That was very helpful and informative post. Thank you! So you're saying that I should find a different kit with a three piece airlock? Or is it ok?

I also searched for floating brew thermometers and most of them were rated very poorly. Could you recommend one that is reliable?
 
The beer you mentioned states it's a farmhouse ale. What style of beer is that?

What styles of beer do you prefer?

For very simple all extract beer I'd say to brew a wheat or blonde ale. But if you are open to trying steeping then you can make most styles of ale. It's just a matter of keeping your temp between 150-165* for 20-30 mins. Very simple.
 
I'm not familiar with the S style, and they may not be so hard to clean. But if you want that kit I'd use them and see what you think. The 3 piece ones are very cheap ($2-5 ea). Just give yourself a good 2-3" from the top and you ought to be good.

I've bought most everything from MoreBeer in the last couple of years as they give free shipping and have good customer service. This is the one I use:

http://morebeer.com/products/thermometer-floating.html?site_id=5

I'm not really sure how you can get bad experiences with a thermometer… Except that they break easily.
 
If you don't have the $$$ to drop on a refrigerator with a temp controller you'll need a large storage bin (think big enough for 2 buckets and a couple of frozen 2 liter bottles that you fill about 2/3 full (when buckets are in them) so that you can keep the beer temp around 62-68* or so depending on the yeast and what you want it to do.

It'll take a bunch of frozen water bottles too. I have 5 two liter bottles, 2 two qt juice bottles, maybe 6-8 1 liter bottles, and a few 20 oz bottles to keep 2 storage bins (3 buckets) cool enough. But I'm in the south where it's harder to keep it cool. With cold snaps it's much easier.
 
Make sure you buy a sanitizer too.

I really like Star San. It lasts a long time. And I use non abrasive sponges.
 
I just read the reviews on the thermometers I use and it gets only 2 stars with them both saying they broke too easily. I have not experienced that. Mine have only broken because I was a little careless.
 
You'll also want a little notepad to keep track of your recipes and what you did while brewing/fermenting, etc. It makes it easier to figure out what may have gone wrong, what you'd like to change, or how to do it again!

To reduce your brew costs you can also store yeast by making a larger than needed yeast starter and saving some in the fridge, which lasts about 2-3 months. I began by using 2 qt juice bottles, but now have two 2000 ml flasks. It's far easier and less messy to make a larger starter than to "wash" yeast.
 
Hmmm… You ought to be able to make a simple cream ale. I made a jalapeño cream ale that's ready to be bottled.

I did use a little crystal malts, but I don't know that it's necessary. It's mostly pilsner extract and typical ale extract with some sugar (I also added honey).
 
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