Are these the essentials to begin brewing beer?

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trevor_b

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I have been reading/researching on here and homebrew supply shops trying to find the right starter kit. All of them seem to come with stuff I do not need or without stuff I need. So, as of now, I'm looking at piecing together a kit myself at Austin Homebrew Supply.

Are these the essentials?

-Primary fermenter (bucket/carboy)
-Airlock
-Bottling bucket
-3/8" Auto-siphon
-3/8" Auto-siphon clamp
-3/8" plastic bottle filler
-6ft siphon tubing
-Bottle capper
-Bottle caps
-hydrometer
-floating thermometer/dial thermometer/etc
-long spoon (SS or plastic)- might have this already
-sanitizer
-cleaner
-5 gallon SS boil kettle
-bottle brush
-shutoff clamp (what is this for?)
-recipe kit
-48-52 beer bottles (12oz)


Thanks in advance for any feedback or input! :mug:
 
Looks about right, although I'm not sure what the Auto-siphon clamp is (I just use a simple siphon, not the auto variety). Also, either make sure the kit comes with bags or add some grain and hop bags to the total (my preference, but it sure makes things cleaner when you're just getting started).

For the hydrometer, you may want a sample tube and a turkey baster or wine thief as well.

Regarding the bottle brush, I have one, but almost never really use it. I prefer to just rinse my bottles as soon as they're emptied. Your mileage may vary :). And no idea on the shutoff clamp. Make sure your bucket/carboy comes with a lid/stopper too!
 
well, if you are going to go with full boil, 5 gallon kits. that boil kettle will be too small. if you're doing partial boil, you can usually get away with a 3 gallon pot. I don't believe you'll need the shutoff clamp. The rest looks good.
 
Not sure what the shutoff clamp is exactly, but it sounds like a clamp you'd use on a piece of rubber hosing to squeeze it shut. Not sure where you'd ever need that, unless you were planning on forgoing the bottling bucket and bottling wand (definitely go with the wand).

I'll second the concern on the pot size. Are you planning on doing boils on the stove, or are you thinking about getting a turkey fryer setup for driveway brewing? If you're gonna boil in the driveway, get at least a 7-8 gal pot so you can plan on boiling about 6 gal and still have room to control boilovers. I've heard of people getting pretty close to the top using fermcap, but then that's one more thing to put on your list. Stove-top brewing is dependent on how much you can reasonably boil.

If you decide to go with a carboy to ferment in a funnel makes some steps easier. You can usually siphon wort in and slowly pour water for washing, but a big funnel will make less of a mess. I'd also get a blow-off assembly setup for initial fermentations. With carboys you can generally just get a couple feet of 1" hose for that, for a bucket you can get a hose that will fit over the center post in the 3-piece airlock.

Nothing wrong with using dry yeast, but if you are thinking about using liquid yeast you might also consider a vessel for starters. Similar to bottles this could be something you just have around anyways and don't need to buy (growlers are good), but starters will definitely help out your liquid yeast. And don't worry, every batch from now on you'll come up with one more thing you just have to have :D.
 
I just got a Midwest kit with a ton of stuff, and wound up buying at least 6 or 7 things on top of it, some for convenience, some because I didn't realize at the time I'd need them. Things like a wine thief, better grain bags, wort chiller, oxiclean, bottle drying rack.

But yeah, even after doing one brew, I think most of those will come in handy.
 
What kind of sanitizer are you going to use? I've become a huge fan of Iodopher or any other Iodine solution.
 
I'm going to start off with extract brewing on the stove-top. I might move to mini-mash later on but have no plans for AG in the near future (distant future perhaps). So a 5 gallon brew pot will work right? 2.5-3 gallon boil and top off the fermenter with water?

As far as sanitizer, either StarSan or Iodophor.
 
you don't really need a separate bucket for bottling either, especially with an auto-siphon. More than one bucket is usually helpful though, especially if you want to get a pipeline going.
 
If all you're going to do is mini mash or biab, then you're set. I second the large grain bag and some small bags for hops.
 
Looks good, I'd opt for an Aluminum or Ceramic coated kettle though and save myself $50. There is a good thread around here regarding non SS kettles, and they are perfectly fine.

Thats just my 2 cents.
 
Don't forget your first recipe as well :) And a couple commercial six packs...or more than a couple to keep you company while you wait a month for your first brew to be ready.

I think you'll be getting another carboy real quick. That way you can be fermenting one after another and not waiting on your one vessel to open up each time. Then again that all depends on how much you plan on drinking.
 
Even though you're not planning to do full boils now, eventually you will, I can almost guarantee it. The incremental difference between buying a 5 gallon pot and a larger one is worth it, as opposed to buying two pots. I think this pot is a great value.

You'll need a jar for your hydrometer, but in my personal opinion a wine thief is better, because it allows you to pull the sample and take a reading with the same device.
 
BierHerr said:
Even though you're not planning to do full boils now, eventually you will, I can almost guarantee it. The incremental difference between buying a 5 gallon pot and a larger one is worth it, as opposed to buying two pots. I think this pot is a great value.

You'll need a jar for your hydrometer, but in my personal opinion a wine thief is better, because it allows you to pull the sample and take a reading with the same device.
Click to expand...

That pot is a good deal! But 9 gallons, jeez! haha.

Now you have me thinking.
 
In regards to the auto-syphon + tubing + bottler combo... my first bottling was a learning process. At first I attached tubing that was just wide enough in diameter to fit on the auto-syphon and bottler hoses without heating the ends of the tubes. I thought that it was a snug fit, but when I went to run sanitizer through this setup, water was squirting out of the "seals" of the tubing (particularly at the bottler end). Luckily, I had some smaller diameter tubing. I wish I could tell you the exact diameter, but basically if you were to line up the auto-syhpon/bottler ends with the ends of the tubing, the diameter of all three should be about the same.

Anyway, I took the smaller diameter tubing and heated up both ends in boiling water, and very meticulously shimmied the smaller diameter tubing onto the auto-syphon and bottler. After it cooled, I had a pretty solid seal. I am glad that I tested that before I tried bottling the beer!

So, I guess I am saying to make sure you have multiple diameter and maybe lengths of tubing.

Another thing you might want is a second stopper that will fit into your fermenter with some tubing that will fit into the stopper in case you have a blow-off.
 
That's a great deal on a 9-gallon, and good for looking at the future. That said, I wouldn't get any ideas about doing full-boil on a stove top. Even with a gas stove, it's a huge pain.
 
trevor_b said:
Also, why is this 5 gallon brew pot much cheaper than all the other 5 gallons SS brew pots I've been looking at (around $50)?
http://www.homebrewing.org/5-Gallon-Stainless-Stock-Pot_p_272.html

Is 18/8 vs 18/10 SS that big of a difference?
Click to expand...

18/8 is essentially 301 stainless and 18/10 is 304 stainless. Most of the stuff we use for brewing is 304. As long as your in the 300 series you should be just fine.

I'm only guessing that these pots are made in China. I don't own one, but I haven't seen any complaints about them and they seem to be pretty popular.

EDIT: These are the Bayou Classic Model 1036. You can find reviews on amazon.com
 
Shaneoco1981 said:
May I also recommend a bottling tree... When you are trying to clean and sanitize 50+ bottles, it becomes worth it's weight in gold.
Click to expand...

Definitely. I don't have one yet but every time I bottle I wish I did!
 
Haven't found a need for one, I just leave them in the dishwasher until I'm ready to fill.
 
I think it might be tough to get total agreement on "essential". I've brewed at least half a dozen batches, and I don't have a bottling bucket, a hydrometer, a bottle capper, and a few other essentials. (I don't use an airlock either). I used pots, spoons, and measuring cups from the kitchen.

I started with a Mr. Beer fermenter and screw cap bottles, quickly added some tubing, a better spigot, then a bottling wand. Then went to a 5 gallon jug and added an auto siphon, then switched to a bucket, and now I'm kegging. Meantime, I bought an Erlenmeyer flask and made a stirplate.

My list of "essentials" would be like:
1) Stockpot
2) Metal spoon
3) Measuring equipment (spoon, cup, digital scale)
4) Grain and hop bags
5) Sanitizer and 2 gallon bucket to mix it in.
6) Thermometer
7) Fermenter of some sort
8) method of getting beer to bottle or keg (tubing, autosiphon)
9) Glass to pour beer into.
10) Lots of paper towels. Don't ask, it will become obvious when you need them.
 
I use a "boot strap" when I'm out of HB or don't want to drink one of my lesser creations.

And we all know the chicken came first. Haven't you heard about "Spontaneous Generation", it's all the rage in science circles...
 

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