Beginner brew equipment

[brewskitrick]

I'm looking into getting a brewing kit to make my first brew. What is a recommended kit for a beginner?

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

There is a bit of information you're leaving out:

i) Are you planning to do All-Grain or extract?
ii) If extract, do you plan on doing full volume boils?
iii) What size batches do you plan on brewing?
iv) What do you have already?

Assuming you're starting from scratch, the equipment I would recommend is:

i) John Palmers': 'How to Brew'
ii) 10 gallon kettle
iii) Turkey fryer burner
iv) Plastic PET fermonster
v) 10 gallons Igloo cooler converted to a Mash Tun (Unless doing extract)
vi) odd n ends such as airlock, auto siphon, Starsan, Hydrometer and a thermometer

This will get you going, and there is nothing magic about the items I linked above. They are just there to show you about what you're looking for with an associated cost.

The most important thing would be the book by John Palmer. There is a plethora of information in there. Also, I would recommend doing an extract batch to get yourself familiar with the new equipment and the new process.

Personally, I dont think you should start with less than a 10 gallon kettle. If you move to All-grain you'll need the extra space in there to make a 5 gallon batch and it gives you plenty of room to do a full volume boil with an extract recipe.

Keep an eye on Craigslist or Letgo for brewing equipment. It comes up for sale pretty often.

Hope this helps, I'm sure others will chime in as well with something I forgot. Cheers, and welcome to the hobby/obsession!

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Any experience up-to-now?

 

[bracconiere]

ii) 10 gallon kettle

i'd recommend 15 gallon kettle so he can brew 10 gallon batches....i need a friend....or maybe 30 gallon, if he wants me to look up to him! at any rate pretty much all i have a kettle and cooler....

 

[AJinJacksonville]

Assuming you are brand new, and don't have any equipment, and are already planning future all-grain brews...I agree with dunk up there about getting at least a 10 gallon kettle (so you can more easily grow into things). Looking back, knowing what I know now, I'm not so sure you need a 'kit' (there's alot of things I don't use from the kit now).

We all would need more info about your future desires, intended brew size, any size limitations for brewing, propane vs. electric, etc. to really give you a more informed answer.

Let me reiterate though, I'd definitely not go with a kit with anything less than a 10 gallon kettle (which I'm not even sure they sell as part of a kit anyway).

 

[brewskitrick]

I said kit because I have no equipment and since I'm a beginner it seemed to be a good start. I'm just brewing for myself to get some experience in homebrew. I think a 10 gallon would be good. I would prefer extract to start out with and full volume boil.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

I said kit because I have no equipment and since I'm a beginner it seemed to be a good start. I'm just brewing for myself to get some experience in homebrew. I think a 10 gallon would be good. I would prefer extract to start out with and full volume boil.

Starting with extract is a good route because it requires less equipment and takes probably 90% of the labor and technical side out of the equation. Stop by your LHBS (Local Home Brew Store), if there is one, see what they have in stock and ask some questions. Mine has a LOT of BrewersBest kits, to fit any taste and they're all straight forward. The directions are usually trash, but you can always ask for assistance along the way. Pick up some gear, grab a recipe kit for a style that you like and go for it.

10g Kettle
Burner
Fermentor (carboy (do not attempt to ferment 5 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy, give yourself at least a gallon of headspace), fermonster, better bottle, spiedel, etc)
Hydrometer
Syphon
Bottling bucket
Thermometer
Starsan

That should be enough to get you started. Also, I would recommend using Distilled water for an extract batch. Cheers!

 

[tgolanos]

A basic home-built starter kit:
10 gallon kettle
Large grain bag (if doing brew in a bag)
High-pressure propane burner (if your kitchen stove can't handle a full 5 gallon brew)
Large spoon
Large whisk
Thermometer
Hydrometer
Pyrex measuring cup (2 cup)
Kitchen scales
HDPE Fermenter (6 gallon if possible)
HDPE Fermenter lid with rubber gasket
Grommet
Temperature strip
Airlock
Spigot
Sediment reducer
Dedicated sponge for cleaning brew equipment*
Starsan or other sanitizing agent
Bottles for 5 gallon batch or kegging equipment**
Bottling bucket
Auto-siphon
Tubing for Auto-Siphon
Bottling wand
Spring tip for bottling wand

It looks like a lot, but most LHBSs should be able to supply you with most of these items; you might even be able to get them as a "starter kit" or something for a special price. The rest you could get from kitchen shops, Kmart, or online. If you have any of these at home, you can always use them and not have to buy them (just make sure you clean them well and sanitize before using them to brew!).

*not really needed, but a good idea to keep kitchen grease off your brew gear
**I don't keg, so I don't know exactly what you'd need here

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

i) John Palmers': 'How to Brew'

I said kit because I have no equipment and since I'm a beginner it seemed to be a good start. I'm just brewing for myself to get some experience in homebrew. I think a 10 gallon would be good. I would prefer extract to start out with and full volume boil.

Take a look at How to Brew, 4e. Chapter 1 covers getting started: equipment, ingredients for your 1st batch, and brew day process.

When starting out with extract, one of the strengths of "partial boils with late extract additions" (aka stove top boils) is that many people can try out home brewing with existing kitchen equipment. Also, if you are brewing for yourself, smaller (2.5 gal) batch sizes may have appeal.

 

[Leezer]

+1 to considering smaller batch size. Since you don’t need as large a kettle, you can try brewing on your kitchen stove with a kettle you may already have.

 

[Jag75]

Check out morebeer starter kits .

 

[AJinJacksonville]

I said kit because I have no equipment and since I'm a beginner it seemed to be a good start. I'm just brewing for myself to get some experience in homebrew. I think a 10 gallon would be good. I would prefer extract to start out with and full volume boil.

I understand your thought. I will give you an example...I started with a kit that came with a glass carboy. After several years...*still* have not used the carboy...and probably never will. Would have saved me money to start off with a PET carboy, 6.5 gallon fermentation bucket, etc. You could piecemeal it and only get exactly what you need (versus having a big a55 glass carboy taking up space in my brewing area for example).

 

[madscientist451]

Its easier to start with small batches and use your existing kitchen stove as a heat source.
I use an 8 gallon pot for 5 gallon batches. You can get a cheap 4 gallon pot at Walmart for about $20. Add a BIAB bag and some crushed grain and you're ready to brew.
Walmart has food safe buckets for $3 but you'll have to drill a hole for your airlock.
You'll also need some sanitizer, a hydrometer, a thermometer and a bottle capper.
Look on Facebook or craigslist for used stuff, there usually some around you can get cheap, but I'd replace any used tubing or buckets that seem like they've been well used.
The recipe book from the Brooklyn brew shop is a great way to start, they have 1 gallon recipes that can be easily scaled up. You can find it used on line for about $4:
https://brooklynbrewshop.com/products/brooklyn-brew-shop-beer-making-book

 

[Jim R]

I remember when I first started brewing. I spent a couple weeks reading and studying a couple good books starting with John Palmer's great book and I knew almost exactly what I needed to buy to get started without wasting money on equipment that I wouldn't use long term. There is nothing wrong with kits but in the long run that would have been a waste of money for me because I would have quickly upgraded to a little better equipment that doesn't cost much more at all.

It would be easy to make the suggestion that just reading a couple books first is the cheapest and best way to start brewing instead of just buying a beginner's kit and learning by trial and error.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I never read any books or cherry-picked equipment when I started out. I just bought a starter kit and went to town expecting the first batch not to turn out great. I got a kit similar to THIS one. Mine didn't come with ingredients though. The only thing I had to bring to the party was a stock pot and some empty bottles. Later on I added some stirring and straining equipment. Then chilling and more fermenters. So on and so forth. As your knowledge and comfort grow, so will your equipment.

 

[jimyoung]

Assuming you are brand new, and don't have any equipment, and are already planning future all-grain brews...I agree with dunk up there about getting at least a 10 gallon kettle (so you can more easily grow into things). Looking back, knowing what I know now, I'm not so sure you need a 'kit' (there's alot of things I don't use from the kit now).

Let me reiterate though, I'd definitely not go with a kit with anything less than a 10 gallon kettle (which I'm not even sure they sell as part of a kit anyway).

I started with a stock pot, then went with a nice 8 gallon Tall Boy with spigot and thermometer. It was on sale, but I've often regretted not getting the 10 gallon.

 

[AJinJacksonville]

It's also not a bad idea for a beginner to brew with a friend, or join a local homebrewing club. See what equipment works for another brewer...maybe even to confirm that a four hour brewday is logical, reasonable or even fun for them. Lots of variables for equipment, type of brewing, etc. There's definitely not just one way to start or continue.

 

[Boilinginsc]

I understand your thought. I will give you an example...I started with a kit that came with a glass carboy. After several years...*still* have not used the carboy...and probably never will. Would have saved me money to start off with a PET carboy, 6.5 gallon fermentation bucket, etc. You could piecemeal it and only get exactly what you need (versus having a big a55 glass carboy taking up space in my brewing area for example).

100% agree on that, I’d buy a conical fermenter over a bucket even!

 

[_BullDog_]

I started with a cheep 2 gallon pot on the stove for 1 gallon batches. Got 32oz flip top bottles so each batch was only 4 bottles.

got a good feel if I enjoyed the hobby... without spending much.

 

[_BullDog_]

Also small batches let me get better before brewing larger batches

 

[NGD]

Lots of good info has been listed, but I didnt see anyone ask what your budget or desired batch size is.

As a primarily extract brewer I recommend the 10gal kettle if feasible, but its easy to do a partial boil and adjust using a volume calculator. If using propane isnt an option, there quite a few decently price electric options available that werent a few years ago. Either way, something like this or this is a good way to get into the game if 5 gallon batches are your thing. Good luck

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

They did mention that they want to do extract full volume boil and implied 5 gallon batches. Everyone is mentioning “How To Brew” which isn’t my favorite. I like Charlie Papazian’s “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing”. But it’s better yet to see it happening on YouTube.

 

[Will_the-new-brewer]

Check out morebeer starter kits .

Agreed with this....I just started 2.5 years ago with this and no regrets. I am now all-grain, 3 vessel. Sometimes it's worth spending just a little bit of money to see if you actually like the hobby.

 

[shelbymedic]

I'm looking into getting a brewing kit to make my first brew. What is a recommended kit for a beginner?

So you’re going to get two different answers on this forum (and honestly any hobby focused forum):
1. Here’s what you need to get started (Well under $150)
2. Here’s what you need but go ahead and buy this, this, that, and that for when you want to do bigger and better. ($150-$400)

I began with a simple burner, a simple pot, a $20 immersion chiller, a few random accessories and a basic beginner ipa extract recipe kit from morebeer.com

Buy slowly, buy thoughtfully, ALWAYS (always always always) be checking fb marketplace and craigslist. My gosh you can get ridiculous deals on there.
Like somebody mentioned above regarding Palmer‘s book, my pushback will be not to necessarily read his book, but more to find the resource you’ll learn from best. For instance, a friend of mine learned brewing almost 100% from books. He’s literally read 200 page books on water properties alone. Then another friend of mine didn’t know anyone local that brewed so he learned almost entirely by YouTube channels. Me, I watched a few videos but I learned best from watching others and brewing with others.
and guess what? All three of us brew absolutely excellent beer but learned completely differently.
Enjoy the new hobby!

 

[Moose_MI]

Go to Craigslist or the For Sale forum here and search for home brewing or something similar. There are always people out there selling “getting out of the hobby”. You will get a lot more stuff for the money. It may not be as shiny but that doesn’t matter.

Thw world doesnt need another Brewers Best starters kit sitting in someone’s attic not being used. There are already plenty of them out there.

 

[Yesfan]

I'd say keep it simple. When I started, I had bought How to Brew and read it and then bought a starter kit from Northern Brewer and added their 5 gallon kettle. When I started, the brewing kits were centered on 5 gallon batches. Nowadays, smaller batch kits are available, but they center around 1 gallon batches.

Nothing wrong with that, but once you get going I think you'd want to brew bigger than 1 gallon. I'd get one of those small batch kits and then add a 3 gallon (good) to 5 gallon (better) kettle. This way you can do full volume boils on your stove top.

The fermenter(s) may be one gallon in size too, but you can always go to a bakery or the bakery department within a supermarket and ask about their empty cake icing buckets. They just set them outside for recycling when they emptied them. They usually vary in size from 1-5 gallons. I had a bunch of two gallons I got for free from my local grocer. The staff went ahead, saved a few back and wash/rinse them out for me when I came to get them. All I had to do was drill a hole in the lid for an airlock and I was good to go.

The starter kit should have the basics like a siphon, bottling wand, hydrometer, etc. You just usually need to add a kettle, so adding the bigger kettle and buckets will allow that kit to do 1-3 gallon batches with ease for just a few dollars more.

 

[Jamafrica brewer]

I started brewing 7 months ago. I did some research on Amazon (since I am in Jamaica and we don't have homebrew stores here) on what kits they had available. I eventually settled on the $99 kit which included everything you need to brew your first batch. (You can buy this directly from Northern Brewer as well) The only thing I had to have was a gas burner.

It came with an Amber Ale kit. Inside the kit it included bottle caps and grain bag.

I had no foreknowledge, no research, I hadn't read any books. I simply followed the recipe and it turned out great. (Incidentally I didn't have a wort chiller either. I think I pitched the yeast at quite a warm temp since I had no thermometer. I didn't have a cool place to store the beer as Jamaica is pretty hot. Most of the time the beer was at about 85 degrees. And even after all of that the beer still turned out good.)

My advice is: don't stress about having to learn everything before you start. If you are keen on getting into it, just buy your kit and you learn as you go along. That's the most fun part about it, is the learning along the way. And drinking beer

 

[jimyoung]

I had no foreknowledge, no research, I hadn't read any books. I simply followed the recipe and it turned out great. (Incidentally I didn't have a wort chiller either. I think I pitched the yeast at quite a warm temp since I had no thermometer. I didn't have a cool place to store the beer as Jamaica is pretty hot. Most of the time the beer was at about 85 degrees. And even after all of that the beer still turned out good.)

My advice is: don't stress about having to learn everything before you start. If you are keen on getting into it, just buy your kit and you learn as you go along. That's the most fun part about it, is the learning along the way. And drinking beer

This- I started with a very cheap kit. I even bought no-boil pre-made wort (I think it was a brewhouse kit).

Don't worry about the chilling, yeast starters, blah blah blah. If you can pay attention to being clean and sanitizing (two different things) your beer will be just fine.

The problem is, you'll get the bug, and want it to be better and better. Then you can look at upgrades as you go.

 

[dwhite60]

I believe in starting smaller. You can put a BUNCH of money into something to start that you find out you don't really enjoy later.

I do ~3gallon batches. I have a five gallon kettle and do BIAB. I have a home made immersion chiller. I ferment in a five gallon plastic bucket. I control fermentation temps in a "Cool Brewing" brewbag using frozen water bottles.

This setup makes me very enjoyable beer with minimal expense. I can do this on my stove top with ease.

I find with small batches I get to brew more often. Brewing more often I have more variety on hand. Also, choking down three gallons of sub-optimal beer is a LOT easier than choking down ten gallons, or even just five gallons, of sub-optimal beer.

Right now I have four cases of beer on hand. (Two of which are a Coopers Real Ale kit I did which is not my norm). But I also have a saison, a cream ale, an American wheat ale, and just a pale ale. Five of these, ten of those six of them. It's nice to have variety.

I did the Coopers kit because it's not really nice, or fair, to knock something unless you've tried it. This is a fairly good beer especially for the time and money put into it. Took about an hour start to pitching. It was okay at three weeks in the bottle but is much better at five and continues to improve the longer it sits.

 

[kartracer2]

Just my $0.02.
You need to find out if homebrewing is for you. I don't feel you need to spend a lot of $$ just to find out that it's not. Just guessing though,, if your here, you probably do and it's more than a passing fancy. I am a big proponent of extract brewing for a while,( it's what I still do as many others) It teaches you basic brewing while you make very drinkable beer. KISS is your friend in the beginning, "Keep It Simple Stupid"
This kit has every thing you need to make beer, to start out, except for bottles, really. It's not a lot of money and you can use most of the stuff no matter what direction you chose to go. ( i don't know your budget, you might want to spend more on the front end). The only weak spot in that kit is the dial thermometer, it's small for old eyes. (LOL)
Read up on partial boils and late addition extract and you are good to go. If/when you want/need to go bigger you will have a better idea what direction you might want to go.
Cheers and welcome to the forum.
Joel B.

 

[BarkingSpider]

I'm with kartracer2. Keep it simple and see if this is something you want to do long term. I started off doing all grain and I'm very happy that I did. That being said I started on small batches (1-2 gallons each). I'd rather have a few different brews on tap to choose from then being stuck with too much of one thing (especially if it doesn't turn out as great as it should!)