Opinion on this starter brew kit

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philly224

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Hey I was looking to get some opinions on this starter set. It looks like it would come with everything I need to get started including a recipe kit.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brewing-basics-plus-kit.html

It cost $170 or so after shipping though so that seems a bit steep. Are there any out there that I can get a bit cheaper that will do the job or is this a pretty cool deal? I am sure this gets asked a lot but I couldn't find a thread with this kit in it so I figured I would ask. Thanks in advance!
 
That looks like an alright deal, but you can more than likely find plenty of that stuff used/free - The classifieds are usually riddled with people getting rid of carboys and other basic equipment...Im pretty sure I paid no more than $20 when I scrounged up my first kit...Anyways, just a thought as it might save you some $$
 
$145+ shipping is still pretty good compared to some other deals out there. But CL would be the cheap way to go. Just be sure the stuff you're thinking of buying used is in good condition.
 
I'd recommend getting a kit w/o the kettle and bottles. You'll want a larger kettle anyway to do full boils, I like the aluminum pro pots from amazon, they're heavy duty and aluminum's just fine for brewing. The 8 gallon's like 40 bucks shipped. Also, bottles are pricey to ship, so saving empties or buying locally would be cheaper.
 
I bought this same setup, minus the bottles & kettle. I bought a 7gal kettle locally for about $50, saved up some Sam Adams bottles & bought a few from a friend, & ordered a wort chiller from Midwest. I got the Autumn Amber Ale kit with it (my first-ever brew). Couldn't be happier with any of it! Made several batches & added some equipment along the way. Great folks to work with if you're a noobie. I actually paid more than that for my kit, so looks like a good deal to me.
 
I got my starter from Northern Brewer. It was a little more than that but the 2 glass carboys are real nice!
 
I got the cheap starter kit and just went to wal-mart and got a cheap pot for 25 bucks I think. If you are looking for a one stop starter kit this looks awesome! Good luck and happy brewing!
 
Midwest also has the Basic brewing starter kit for $65! Just add a beer kit as an option. Then do like I did & go local for a 5G (20 qt) BK & save pop top bottles.
 
Midwest also has the Basic brewing starter kit for $65! Just add a beer kit as an option. Then do like I did & go local for a 5G (20 qt) BK & save pop top bottles.

Yeah I think I will do this, I don't need all those bottles and I can get a brew pot locally.

Do you think its worth the extra money for the $99 kit versus the $65. From what I can tell it comes with a Glass Carboy and Auto siphon attachment, I am not sure if I would really need either of those though?
 
philly224 said:
Yeah I think I will do this, I don't need all those bottles and I can get a brew pot locally.

Do you think its worth the extra money for the $99 kit versus the $65. From what I can tell it comes with a Glass Carboy and Auto siphon attachment, I am not sure if I would really need either of those though?

The auto siphon is real nice. Couple of tugs and its good to go. Very easy to clean also.
 
The auto siphon is real nice. Couple of tugs and its good to go. Very easy to clean also.

Alright I think I will go with that one and then look for a good stainless steel pot locally. Aluminum looks a bit cheaper but from what I was reading they seem harder to clean. Thanks everyone!
 
philly224 said:
Alright I think I will go with that one and then look for a good stainless steel pot locally. Aluminum looks a bit cheaper but from what I was reading they seem harder to clean. Thanks everyone!

I picked up a 5 gallon pot at Walmart but the more I look, they might be cheaper on eBay or a brew supply shop online. Northern brewer just flipping had a sale. Buy a brew kettle and IPA kit.... Get a free starter kit. Still mad I didn't just do it to have it. You know..... Just in case :)
 
Keep an eye out on CL, I bought my "starter" kit on CL for $75 and I got hooked up with tons of extras and a 6 pack of home brew from the seller! Keep a watch out on the classifieds here too but you gotta act fast it goes quick.

If you see a post for "a lot" sometimes you can request the stuff no one really wants, I bought 2 fermenters, 2 thermometers, 3 hydrometers, 3 half gallon growlers, bottle caps, auto siphon, large bottle wand, tubing, air locks, gromets, wing capper and some other misc stuff for $50, it was a steal for me since 2 fermenters were $32 from the LHBS.

Do you have a LHBS near you? Sometimes they will work with you to put something together to get your business, when my buddy started brewing my LHBS matched that Midwest kit with bottles, pot, starter kit and wort chiller with a kit. Remember your LHBS can't exist without you.
 
If you really get into this hobby there will come a time in the next year or so when you tell a new brewer "it doesn't matter what kit you get, just get one."

That said, if it saves you any money in the kit, you WILL want an autosiphon. Be sure to get some starsan. Once you make your first batch this will all start to make more sense...and then you'll want even more stuff....but you can make great beer with a bucket and some bleach.
 
I apologize for the thread hijack OP. A kit from many of the reputable homebrew supply shops will definitely give you what you need to whet your curiosity. Do you have a local homebrew shop you can visit? I would recommend getting what you need to produce several quality extract brews. If you decide it's not the hobby for you, it'll be easy enough to pass the equipment off on someone else who is eager to get into the game. If you get sucked in hook, line, and sinker like the rest of us, the basic equipment will allow you to expand to where you want to go. Want to stick with extract batches - no problem! Want to start doing mini-mash batches, grab an extra pot from your cupboard and you're in business. Want to go all gain - pick your method and tweak your process. I found it as relatively simple to go from extract batches to BIAB with minimal monetary or time investment. The best part of brewing is that no matter which method you choose, you still end up making beer!
 
The set up mentioned midway for about $60 with a kit looks like a very good deal. I used midwest and have been quite happy with them. I bought the most basic starter kit they offered. I then added a wort chiller and auto siphon. Never bothered with a glass carboy as I feel they are a serious accident waiting to happen, unless you are very careful. Look around locally for some of the things you'll need. Bottles? check craigslist or go to costco and Spend $18 for their mirco brews. Just like paying $12 for empty bottles and $6 for a case worth of beer.

The way maybe to look at it is if you have money and not so much time, buy everything in one place. If you have time and want to save money, look around find deals.

Big thing? are you going to brew inside or out? I brew outside and my wife is much happier. A turkey fryer set up and I'm good to go.
 
Ill say it one last time, ""$59.95"" this is the best deal going, add or subtract anything they sell from this kit, even switch ingredient kits, try that at any other supplier, let alone at this price, the owner is so easy to work with, here is the link one more time.

http://www.windriverbrew.com/apprentice.html

Oh did I mention this is a GREAT DEAL!!!! :D lol

Cheers :mug:
 
wiley? I have to agree with you on the pricing, but depending on where you are, the shipping can be a killer. I plugged in a two kit order and the shipping costs to get it to me, made it not such a bargin.
 
wiley? I have to agree with you on the pricing, but depending on where you are, the shipping can be a killer. I plugged in a two kit order and the shipping costs to get it to me, made it not such a bargin.

Thats a bummer, I wish everyone had flat rate shipping, it would make it so much better for all of us.

Cheers :mug:
 
Yea, great pricing on kits. But the two I plugged in for a test order came back with a $30+ delivery cost, pushing the total cost into the mid $80's. That said the starter kit w/kit would be worth it for a new brewer I believe, even to here.
 
Hello lgilmore, I ordered the starter kit to replace some of my equipment, they let me switch several items in my order without another shipping charge, I also asked if they could not drill my buckets, and buckets showed up not drilled and bucket spigots were in a bag, and getting the ingredient kit with everything made it worth buying from WindRiver even with the shipping to Az, and have you checked out the ingredient kit selection? its crazy good, and letting me get one not on the kit list for $2 more blew me away, like I said really nice people to deal with.

Hello unionrdr, As far as Mid West go's, I placed 3 orders with them, they took at the quickest 4 days to process my order, and screwed up all 3 orders, they have become my last resort place.

Cheers :mug:
 
They sound good and I may try them in the future but for some reason the shipping seems to be a killer to WA.

22 lbs (two kits $52 bucks A GREAT PRICE!) $33 bucks shipping... Now, no so great. I will include them on my check list in the future though. I always check prices with one against another to find best deals for me.
 
Its a shame the OP missed this deal:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/cyber-monday-promo

$79 for a 5 gallon stainless kettle, decent ingredient kit and a kit with an auto-siphon and star san(instead of the usual stuff in the lesser kits) is a pretty amazing deal.

But there's an equally good Groupon/Living Social deal that pops up occasionally:

http://www.livingsocial.com/deals/481886-beer-making-starter-kit?show_missed=true

(Don't have a link to any of the Groupon ones) but its the same deal.

Homebrewfinds has an e-mail list to be notified when it comes back.

As for Midwest, I've ordered twice from there, once from the Living Social deal and once using my $25 voucher from the deal. The kit came in good shape except the racking cane was broken, since I bought an auto-siphon separately I didn't bother to tell them(but I'm sure they would have replaced it no fuss or muss.) The second time they delivered a recipe kit without one of the components, it was the Hopstache Black I.P.A. and it didn't have Siminar. I got on the phone to customer service and they shipped it right out.
 
As for Midwest, I've ordered twice from there, once from the Living Social deal and once using my $25 voucher from the deal. The kit came in good shape except the racking cane was broken, since I bought an auto-siphon separately I didn't bother to tell them(but I'm sure they would have replaced it no fuss or muss.) The second time they delivered a recipe kit without one of the components, it was the Hopstache Black I.P.A. and it didn't have Siminar. I got on the phone to customer service and they shipped it right out.

They always mess something up, lol

Cheers :mug:
 
To me, auto-siphon is worth it's weight in gold. Easiest way ever to rack to secondary or bottling bucket. I just recently bought glass carboys to use as primary fermenter when brewing lagers, and I really like it. You can actually see what your beer is doing (or not) and helps a lot in determining when to rack to a secondary. I spend the money.
 
Surprised to hear that you guys had so much trouble mith midwest. I always get great service from them. Although it could be that I'm a whole lot closer to them than either of you. Maybe they try harder in their own backyard so to say?
Also,this time my 5lb of 4 different grains came in seperate bags with zip ties. Makes learning the differences between the grains more evident. The marris otter smells like some kind of naturally sweet bread. The crystal 20L is darker than the pic on site. Darker than I thought it'd be,but not by much.
The rahr 2-row has a nice bready smell as well. The crush also looked better this time. They were dilevered on time rather than the usual early,being Christmas shopping season & all.
I have an auto siphon I used once,now only as a back up. All my fermenters/bottling bucket have spigots so I just use some tubing for racking,or atach a bottling wand at that point. Makes life a lot easier.
 
Everything came fine from midwest except the hydrometer was broken. They are sending me a new one though so its no big deal, customer service was quick and easy to deal with, will certainly be ordering from them again.

I decided to get that 44 quart pot from amazon as well as a turkey fryer to go along with it. I think itll be much easier than doing it on the stove.

Thanks for all the tips guys. I plan on posting a step my step of what I am going to do before I try my first brew so you guys can look it over and see if I understand the process correctly if that would be alright.
 
What is the best way to cool down the wort without a wort chiller? I was thinking about just putting it in a big bucket of ice water and keep dumping ice in there. Will this method cool it fast enough? I have seen people say you can do it that way but all the tutorials I have watched do it with a wort chiller.
 
I just put together a kit from austinhomebrew. They have a carboy+bucket for $30...added an auto siphon, starsan, hydrometer, .. ect. I already had a capper. I found a bottling bucket cheap near me. I also added a budget brew IPA kit and some other things and it all came under $100. Just something to consider. I'm liking the idea of a second fermenter! Flat rate shipping too.
 
What is the best way to cool down the wort without a wort chiller? I was thinking about just putting it in a big bucket of ice water and keep dumping ice in there. Will this method cool it fast enough? I have seen people say you can do it that way but all the tutorials I have watched do it with a wort chiller.

That big BK might need a small plastic garbage can to fit it in with space for ice & water. Put the kettle in,fill to near the top of the BK with ice,then top off with water. Not the other way around. Mostly ice & a little water to evenly distribute the cold temp seems to work a bit better.
 
That'll work, but trust me if you're gonna do this go ahead & invest in a chiller. Not that expensive but well worth it!
 
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