starter kit help

Sorry if this has been covered, but I didn't see anything that really answered my question.

I will be buying an equipment kit this week and have narrowed it down to these two. The delux starter kit from norther brewer as seen here:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/starterkits.html

and the intermediate kit from midwest supplies as seen here:
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdBySubCat.aspx?SubCat=11166&fd=1

It seems to me, that the main difference is the kit from Northern brewer has a glass primary, while the midwest kit uses a plastic bucket but includes 2 secondaries. I do plan on using 2 secondaries at the same time so will be buying a 2 either way. I am leaning toward the all glass kit and buying a second 5 gal carboy. My question is is it worth it to buy a second carboy and have a glass primary, or is the bennefit of glass not worth it? Both kits are the same price after shipping and an additional carboy with airlock is about $22 more from northern. Any help/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

The Brewing Starter Kit from Midwest is what I started with. It'll get you brewing for sure.
Most people have all but abandoned the secondary except for a few styles. Don't forget that you need a bottling bucket...that is what the second plastic pale is for.

Get the best you can afford, but I'd forgo an extra fermentor for an ingredient kit if it came right down to it.

If you're split between those two i would say go with the midwest kit for sure. You get more with that it seems, and it's cheaper. The Northern kit comes with two glass carboys (one primary and one secondary) and a bottling bucket. Whereas the kit from midwest comes with a plastic primary and two secondary carboys and a bottling bucket. Even if you just wanted to use the carboys only for primary and secondary you still have an extra bucket just in case and not to mention the whole kit is cheaper leaving you with more money for other stuff (ingredients, brew pot, bottles or kegging setup).

I was torn between those 2 exact kits, and I ended up going with the Midwest one, but also added on a few of the items that were included with the NB kit, but weren't with the Midwest kit. Overall cost still came out to less than the NB kit.

I'm happy with my decision.

One thing you should check is Shipping costs... Shipping the Glass Carboys is more money.

I actually went with a "Make Shift" kit from northern. Instead of glass carboys, I went with Better Bottles, no worries about breaking them and no extra shipping charges.

It's almost cheaper to get the better bottles for carboys after you work in the shipping costs. One of the guys there helped me sort out a kit with the Better Bottles swapped in and some other changes to the kit. I couldn't be happier with the northern kit I ended up with.

-Craig

Thanks for your suggestions! After shipping, the costs are identical. Midwest has high shipping charges and northern has a fixed low rate. I'll do a bit more contemplating and buy one this week. Thanks again.

schristian619 said:

Thanks for your suggestions! After shipping, the costs are identical. Midwest has high shipping charges and northern has a fixed low rate. I'll do a bit more contemplating and buy one this week. Thanks again.

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I don't believe the 7.99 shipping applies in the case for NB. If you look up Carboys on their site, it says that they don't apply for the flat-rate shipping, so shipping through them MIGHT be just as expensive.

Ditto above, glass carboys are HEAVY so alot of places don't include them in their "flat shipping fee". An alternative is the already mentioned Better Bottles, call or email the company and see if you can trade the glass for the BB's. If I remember right not only are they MUCH lighter than glass, but they are cheaper as well

good point...I just emailed them to check on the shipping costs.

One thing to keep in mind, is that I read about the "better bottles" scratching much more easily than glass. If you use a brush to clean your carboys, that might be a consideration. I've had no issues with soaking with pbw after soaking for 12 ish hours with water in my glass carboys though.

I have both glass and BB carboys and prefer my BB. It's not hard to clean. I have had no issues with it scratching. And it's a WHOLE lot lighter. I still say go with the Midwest kit because you will get more for your $$.

Well, just got a response from NB. They say that the glass carboys in the kit are included in the 7.99 shipping rate, so I guess I'm back where I started.

Something else to consider is that glass carboys flled with wort are heavy, awkward and fragile. A dangerous combination, to be sure. If you go that route, pick yourself up some BrewHaulers or at least a couple milk crates to carry those things around in.

I'm in the same boat, looking at the same two kits. I'm confused though about the purpose of two 5 gal carboys in the Midwest kit, if you're using a plastic fermentor. Why more than one?

Are there any "real" kits that make 2.5 gal batches? I'd actually prefer lower quantities, personally...

jds

bureau13 said:

I'm in the same boat, looking at the same two kits. I'm confused though about the purpose of two 5 gal carboys in the Midwest kit, if you're using a plastic fermentor. Why more than one?

Are there any "real" kits that make 2.5 gal batches? I'd actually prefer lower quantities, personally...

jds

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The purpose of the two 5 gal carboys is so you can have several batches going at once. And trust me, once you get into homebrewing you are going to want/need it. With the second carboy you can have a good rotation going with one beer in primary and two in secondary or however you want to do it. You could also have one in primary (plastic fermenter) and can use one of the carboys as a primary as well. I currently have one batch in a 5 gal carboy primary. Granted you will need a blow off tube for it probably but that's no big deal. Ideally you want a bigger carboy/ bucket than 5 gallons for primary but a 5 gal can still work.

BigKahuna said:

...
Most people have all but abandoned the secondary except for a few styles.

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How come most people dont do a secondary? Im new to this, but most books seem to recommend it....