Starter Kit advice please.

Hello

I made a few batches of beer using the Mr. Beer kit a few years ago with a roomate. The beer wasn't bad, but most of all I had a great time brewing it. When we graduated he kept the Mr. Beer.

Which leads me to my question. I want to buy my fiance some sort of starter kit for X-mas. She's mentioned an interest in the hobby and I would love to get back into it. Any suggestions on what i should invest in to get started. I was about to just buy another Mr. Beer when I figured i should research the topic a little more and stumbled on to this informative site. I'm looking for just a very basic setup. If this turns into something we get real serious about we can add more equipment. I'm not looking to spend a ton of money. Mr. Beer seems like a good stepping stone to start from but it sounds like if you really are serious its usefulness fades fast. So let me know if there's a better route

Any suggestions would be really appreciated. I look foward to learning and eventually sharing good information with this community.

Thanks, Mark

This is what I went with, and I'm very happy with it so far. I've added bits and pieces as the hobby grew.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=6874

I think it has just about every thing a beginner would need.... Except a beer kit, and something to boil the wort in.

well, like I mentioned before, buy the Mr.Beer kit, for $40 you get a complete kit to brew a small batch of beer... afterall, it's just you and your fiance.

then, see where the kits leads you, in a year from know if you are still brewing, then i'd invest in a larger kit, if the brewing isn't such a great hobby and you guys hardly progress with it, then at least you haven't sunk a large amount of money into it for it to go nowhere.

the kit in the link above is $70+, plus the ingredients... you are looking around $100 vs. $40 (although, if you are going to be making large batches and taking this more seriously, then the $100 is well spent)

it's entirely up to you, but i'd take into consideration how much brewing you are planning on doing.

I have the Mr.Beer kit and so far I'm stoked, i'll most likely be buying the kit (link above) sometime next year depending on how much brewing I will be doing and how my of a hobby I want this to be....

I've also been told that the Mr.Beer kit isn't restricted to just the recipes the site offers and that you can use it for smaller batch brewing... if I end up purchasing a 5gal all grain system, i'll be sure to keep the Mr.Beer around for smaller batch tests.

I recommend skipping the Mr. Beer and going with one of the starter kits offered at any of the major online suppliers:

www.northernhomebrew.com
www.austinhomebrew.com
www.more-beer.com

There are several kits to choose from. If you are not sure how likely you are to become an addict to the hobby (like all of us) you should probably go with the least expensive. The best thing about these kits is that if you do become an addict to the hobby, you will continue to use the various pieces of equipment (unlike a Mr. Beer which you will get rid of entirely).

I know some people have had good luck with the Mr. Beer, but ultimately when it comes to the end product (the beer you make), there is no comparison.

Thank you both for the replies. I was just looking at the same kit right before you suggested it Thaumaturgist. To ask a noob question does the fermentation take place in the glass or plastic? I don't really see what both are for.

Braehaus you make a good point with the batch size. It will mostly just be the two of us drinking the beer. So making 50 beers a batch is excessive. I also like the idea of trying lots of recipes in a short amount of time. Instead of being stuck with a lot of beer that doesn't taste how we hoped it would. Thanks for the suggestions.

With the 5 gallon kits can you cut the recipe and make less or will that disrupt the process?

mm415202 said:

With the 5 gallon kits can you cut the recipe and make less or will that disrupt the process?

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You can do that if you'd like. It won't disrupt things...

mm415202 said:

With the 5 gallon kits can you cut the recipe and make less or will that disrupt the process?

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You can cut back certainly.

Think about the flip side of this though: If you and your fiance like the hobby and want to do a bigger batch (or give gifts or age it to make it REALLY good) then Mr. Beer doesn't scale at all and you've got a $40 bottle sitting around.

I don't have any problem with Mr. Beer in and of itself but I really think the price difference between a basic, all-purpose kit makes up for it in the flexibility.

Either way, welcome to the hobby!

You could brew a smaller batch in the 6.5 gallon bucket, but I have found that even with me being the only one in the house who drinks it, my beer does not hang around long.

Also, you brew in the plastic bucket, the glass carboy is for use as a second stage and clearing tank. If you search for "secondary" you will get more than enough info on the subject.

mm415202 said:

Braehaus you make a good point with the batch size. It will mostly just be the two of us drinking the beer. So making 50 beers a batch is excessive. I also like the idea of trying lots of recipes in a short amount of time. Instead of being stuck with a lot of beer that doesn't taste how we hoped it would. Thanks for the suggestions.

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When I started I thought 50 a batch would be excessive, but remember it keeps for quite a while and you can always give some away. I'd say my friends drink about half of what I make. And like it's been said, you can make less with the same equipment.

+1 on getting a kit from someone like morebeer.com, and skipping the Mr. Beer.
I promise you, if you take the time to make a good beer, you will go through 5 gallons very quickly. Friends, family, you name it. Everyone will want your beer.

I was in a very similar situation as you a couple weeks ago. I had a little brewing experience with Mr Beer in college, and after hearing some people at work talk about it I decided to start up again. I went with one of the kits from midwestsupplies, the everything and a carboy setup. I figured if I remember enjoying making beer in the Mr. Beer enough to want to get back into it, I would at least stick with it enough to get my $160 outta the equipment. That "everything" kit really does have everything you need (except maybe a meat/dial thermometer to measure the water temps during cooldown.) I literally got home from work, grabbed the box from my porch and made a batch up that night.

if the Mr.Beer wasn't an early xmas present form the wife I def would have just ordered the 5gal kit....

this thread is really making me wanna ditch the Mr.Beer now hahaha, oh well.

BraeHaus said:

this thread is really making me wanna ditch the Mr.Beer now hahaha, oh well.

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Do it! Join the dark side!

mm415202 said:

Thank you both for the replies. I was just looking at the same kit right before you suggested it Thaumaturgist. To ask a noob question does the fermentation take place in the glass or plastic? I don't really see what both are for.

Braehaus you make a good point with the batch size. It will mostly just be the two of us drinking the beer. So making 50 beers a batch is excessive. I also like the idea of trying lots of recipes in a short amount of time. Instead of being stuck with a lot of beer that doesn't taste how we hoped it would. Thanks for the suggestions.

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The "Primary" fermentation bucket is where most/all of the fermentation takes place. In the "secondary" fermentation bucket, there is actually very little fermentation that takes place. From what I've heard, the real reason for the secondary is for more aging, and clarification. It gives more of the yeast and sediment time to fall out.

Don't ditch it! Use it for Apfelwein!

Or bottling. The spigot's nice.

I also started with Mr Beer...It got me into the hobby, and Im glad it did...But if I knew then, what I know now I would not buy it. You can put your own "kit" together, and some brew shops offer a discount when doing it...Mine is like 10-15 percent. If you look at what you really get with Mr beer, its not that much. All it is is a small primary, and its 30-40 bucks....Here is a quick list of some of my stuff...

Food Grade Primary 6.5 gal. bucket. $13
Spigot for bucket(optional, but I like it for gravity readings) $3
Airlock and stopper $4
Auto siphon and hose $14
Better Bottle-secondary $20
Airlock and stopper $4

You need a few more things to cook up a batch, but this isnt that much more than Mr. Beer and you can always add to this...My Mr. Beer is sitting on the shelf....Also, anything else you need to buy you would also need for Mr. Beer, capper, bottles, kettle(I got a 4 gal stainless at K-mart for 20 bucks), hydrometer, thermometer, etc...But you can add as you go like I am doing. I have only been at this since November and Im STILL a total noob, but people from my work, and buddies are all asking ME how to get into it and what they need. They have all tasted my beer and cant believe I made it....

Good luck in whatever you do, you will love the hobby....

i am a big fan of trading out the plastic bucket primary for a glass carboy

+$7 is not that much when you consider that if you time it right --- you can move batch #1 to secondary for clearing (1 week or 2) wait a week --- brew a new batch #2 and put it in the primary.

by the time you get batch #2 out of the secondary --- it is about time to sample batch #1 to see if it is drinkable or need more aging. also you get some time to plan future batches



or you can do 2 brews at once with a single stage fermentation

Silviakitty said:

Don't ditch it! Use it for Apfelwein!

Or bottling. The spigot's nice.

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But is an easy route towards oxidation...I'd invest in a $4 bottling wand.

Speaking from experience (I have a Mr. Beer "thing"which now makes cider) go with a regular, 5 gallon kit. With the Mr. Beer thing, you're paying $40 for a fermentor and one batch of ingredients, basically. Spend $20 on an ale pale, hydrometer, and airlock, and some siphon tubing, and another $25 on an ingredient kit. You spent $5 more, have twice the beer and room for expansion. Mr. Beer doesn't allow for that.