Beginner's Equipment Kit Recommendations?

I'd like to start brewing, and I'm kinda overwhelmed with all the equipment needed. Can anyone recommend a decent starter's kit? I want something that I won't need to upgrade too soon, something that won't limit my brewing options, and something so that I can have two batches brewing at once. I'm a complete beginner, so this is all gibberish to me right now. Should I get a two-stage setup, or one?

Here's a kit offered by my local shop for $52.50

Primary fermenter (6.5 gal., food grade plastic pail w/ lid & spigot)
Four feet 3/8" siphon hose
Thermometer, stick on
Fermenter lock
Wing type capper
Bottle Caps: 1/2lb
Brewing Made Easy book
Bottle brush
Sanitizer, lodophor
Bottle filler

So what do you guys think? I can upgrade individual pieces. Anything else I need? I just don't want to find six months from now that I should have bigger/better stuff.

$52 for just one bucket?!
For $59 you can get both a primary and a bottling bucket from most anywhere.

my kit came with a nice hydrometer, too. I needed to buy a floating themometer for my steeping temps, but I have since upgrated to digital.

They have a "Bottling pail / 5 gallon with spigot" for $8 more.

So you recommend a hydrometer over a stick on thermometer? They have that for another $8 too.

I'm pretty happy with my basic starter kit from morebeer.com

2 buckets, some siphoning hose, hydrometer, bottle capper, caps, a book, airlock.... The only thing i wish i would have supplemented it with is a carboy.

the kit was 69 bucks.

The only extras i needed were a brew pot, bottles and ingredients. I think my total bill for everything was 120-140 ish.

Legitikick said:

They have a "Bottling pail / 5 gallon with spigot" for $8 more.

So you recommend a hydrometer over a stick on thermometer? They have that for another $8 too.

Click to expand...

Get each.
+Bottling bucket: This really comes in handy for more than just bottling time. You can also use it as a real handy bucket for mixing up and holding your sanitizer on bottling day. It's got the room and you can store the equipment you're using in the sanitizer while you brew.

+Hydrometer: Many will say that one of these isn't required to make beer, and they're right, but it's nice to have all the info one provides, and you'll be able to find out fast if you've hit all your target numbers.

+Thermometer (stick on bucket type): Probably not as important, if you're very aware of the ambient temperature of your fermenting room, but again it's good to know especially if you're waiting for something like the right temp to pitch a yeast into a wort, or similar.

My ¢2

Legitikick said:

I'd like to start brewing, and I'm kinda overwhelmed with all the equipment needed. Can anyone recommend a decent starter's kit? I want something that I won't need to upgrade too soon, something that won't limit my brewing options, and something so that I can have two batches brewing at once. I'm a complete beginner, so this is all gibberish to me right now. Should I get a two-stage setup, or one?

Here's a kit offered by my local shop for $52.50

Primary fermenter (6.5 gal., food grade plastic pail w/ lid & spigot)
Four feet 3/8" siphon hose
Thermometer, stick on
Fermenter lock
Wing type capper
Bottle Caps: 1/2lb
Brewing Made Easy book
Bottle brush
Sanitizer, lodophor
Bottle filler

So what do you guys think? I can upgrade individual pieces. Anything else I need? I just don't want to find six months from now that I should have bigger/better stuff.

Click to expand...

I would add...
6.5 gallon carboy or better bottle (if you get a carboy, make sure to request a handle for it, too)
also
carboy brush
hydrometer w/graduated cylinder
thermometer to clip onto side of stock pot (for when you steep adjunct grains)
large funnel
bottling wand (helpful)

Not sure if your "bottle filler" is a racking cane or bottling wand.
Anyway...I'm no expert either, but I think it would be a bad idea to leave your beer in a plastic bucket for the entire three weeks or so of fermentation. Plastic is porous and allows oxygen to get into the beer, thus introducing off flavors. If you're planning on kegging after the primary, this wouldn't be an issue but since you're a beginner, it seems like you're probably not going to go right into kegging? For your first batch, you could ferment it in the glass carboy or better bottle and keep it there for the entire three weeks until bottling time, or you could conduct your primary fermentation in the plastic bucket and transfer it to the carboy when your hydrometer shows that fermentation has ceased (about a week).

Do you have a good sized stock pot for boiling your wort? You'll need one that can hold the amount of wort in your boil, so it needs to hold about 2.5 gallons. I have a five gallon pot.

Since you are so new, I recommend looking at John Palmer's "How To Brew" online book. I think there's a link for it somewhere on this site, but if not, you can google it.

Keep us posted....this is an extremely exciting hobby, I can't wait until you get that first batch going!

My kit came with:

Two 6.5 Gal buckets (one for primary, one for bottling)
Glass Carboy
Hydrometer
auto syphon
air lock and bung
tubing
bottling cane
bottle capper
bottle brush

all for $70.00 at the Bluff Street Brew Haus in Dubuque Iowa. I live in KY but I was snowed in in Dubuque because of a blizard, so I was walking around and happened to see the store. And thats how I started home brewing.

I got the Delux Starter Kit from Northern Brewer, andI love it and recommend the company as well. Follow this link to see their starter kit options: http://www.northernbrewer.com/starterkits.html

Happy brewing!

I think I got the best starter kit.

Thermometer
Hydrometer
30 qt pot
7 gallon bucket
7 gallon carboy
(4) 5 gallon carboys
(4) muslim bags
(5) cases 22 oz bottles
(2) cases grolsch bottles
capper and bottle caps
assorted brewing sugars etc


$75
Craigslist is a beautiful thing if you can have a little patience

bare min. for two batches at oncehttp://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=6874 :rockin:

Two buckets is not even optional; you cannot bottle directly from your primary.

the_bird said:

Two buckets is not even optional; you cannot bottle directly from your primary.

Click to expand...

Very true, you would get way too much trub in the beer if you bottled from primary. One bucket is ok if you secondary because your primary can double as a bottling bucket if you only concentrate on one batch at a time. Bottling from secondary seems ok, although I have always racked to a different bucket to bottle. It just seems better to get the beer as clear as possible.

the_bird said:

Two buckets is not even optional; you cannot bottle directly from your primary.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily!!!

If you let it sit in the primary 2-3 weeks, and it has a spigot, and you prime with carb tabs. Not to mention its either a wit, heffe or really dark beer.

I'd agree with the statement its not the best way to start.

Thanks guys, you're all a great help. So it sounds like I should just get two buckets and a carboy if I plan on brewing more than one at a time, in fact maybe even two carboys for that, but I think I'll hold off on the second carboy for now. And I should get the hydrometer, will do. I'm ready to make the purchase, but an old college buddy of my dad's who brews is playing phone tag with me, mentioned something about how he has a good deal for me. So I want to hold off, he might have a bunch of stuff for me.