Beginner Brewer Looking For a Nice Kit

[unionrdr]

Partial boils aren't that bad in the same 5 gallon (20qt) SS kettle I started with. I now am up to pb/pm biab & it's fine for my bad back. Wet grain bags are heavy. As is 5-6 gallons of wort. I keep a couple gallons of spring water in the fridge a day or two before brew day to top off with after chilling the wort down to 70F or so. This cold top off gets the wort down to 65F or less. Perfect for many ale yeasts. So it's all a matter of equipment available & personal preference. I also have the Super Agata bench capper now to make bottling easier & faster. A bottle tree & vinator will also speed things up.

 

[MichaelScime]

ok do you guys got other kits I can order?

 

[unionrdr]

I just tasted my batches from Morebeer's ESB & Irish red ale E/SG kits over the holiday weekend. The ESB had a caramel biscotti flavor with nice bittering balance. The Irish red had a bit of roastiness with that darker malt flavor they're known for. It was quite smooth too. Here's a couple pics;
ESB

Irish red

Prices are quite reasonable. I ordered in the afternoon & the ESB kit was on my doorstep bright & early the next morning! They have a warehouse in PA as well. Yeast options are great as well. I used the dry S-04 in both, rehydrated. I think I like it better than US-05 in UK styles.

 

[MichaelScime]

if I get a kit with 2 buckets and 1 just can I make 2 batches at once?

 

[KepowOb]

You could have 2 fermenting at once, but you'll always want one empty bucket... Once fermentation is done, you'll want to transfer your beer to a bottling bucket (just a 5 or 6 gallon plastic fermenter, though you can get some with a spigot at the bottom).

The reason for this is, it lets you mix your beer with priming sugar (that you've dissolved in water and put in your bucket) and get it off the trub in the bottom of your fermenter, so you don't stuck a bunch of it into your bottles.

Edit: Also know that if you ask 10 people what exactly you need to start brewing, you'll likely get 10 different answers. If you can afford it, bigger is better for your kettle, and after that, see what we think here (like you've been doing), look around for a sale, and get going. Any preassembled equipment kit will probably have some good points and low points... All of them will let you make beer.

 

[MichaelScime]

Could I run 2 batches with this?

http://www.homebrewing.org/Beginning-Homebrew-Kit-Upgrade-2-_p_1692.html

 

[rickprice407]

Kits are depending on what you want. I did well with several different brands at first. Once you have the process down and have run several batches. Branch out and try some extract recipes from the local homebrew clubs, BeerSmith or Northern Brewer. Add some fruit, play with the ABV (don't forget more hops to balance the extra body), add some oatmeal to a stout or get a recipe from Zymurgy or Brew Your Own and try it. Again kits are great for learning the process but very limiting after that. Expensive too. Usually you can get everything at the brewstore cheaper.

 

[MichaelScime]

I feel this may be the cheapest way is the one I posted due to being in ontario

 

[MichaelScime]

going into my local store tm to see if they have anything

What should I get could I get a couple lists?

 

[unionrdr]

Look at what the kits contain & make a list from that. Except you may want to sub a 2nd fermenter for the better bottle secondary atm. 2 fermenters is def better & I hardly ever use my BB secondary.

 

[MichaelScime]

So maybe 2 carbs, 1 bottling,1 kettle and other stuff?

 

[unionrdr]

If you like carboys rather than buckets, yes.

 

[MichaelScime]

IYO whats better?

 

[KepowOb]

IYO whats better?

I personally prefer carboys myself. There are a lot of horror stories on here about how dangerous glass carboys are though, so if you do get them, make sure you know the dangers before using them. Some people have been seriously injured.

Than said, I still prefer them. I use an ice bath to cool my wort to pitching temps (well, I start with an immersion chiller, but in the summer my ground water gets up to 75F, so it's hard to get it below 80-85...) I get it as low as I can, then transfer to my carboy/bucket (depending on what's free), and stick it in a water bath with some ice to help it drop to my pitching temp, and with glass being a better conductor, it goes faster to get it down to temp, and I find it easier to keep control of the temperatures during fermentation as well... at least, that's my experience.

On top of that, I can see what is going on inside the carboy, which is fun too . If you really want to see what's going on inside, and have the safety of plastic, they do make plastic carboys, which are clear as well. For a lot of people, these are the best of both worlds.

With the clear ones, you need to make sure to keep any sunlight off them (wrap them in a towel or blanket), as sunlight will skunk your beer.

And again, while I prefer my carboy for most purposes, I do use buckets as well and they work fine, and if I'm going to dry-hop, I'll use my buckets as it's a lot easier to do. You can't really make a "wrong" decision here...

 

[fuelish]

Nothing wrong with glass carboys if one is careful in their use....I've only had one break on me, and it was an unfortunate user accident.....bad allergies, a violent sneeze as I was moving it about my basement, it bumped the concrete floor, and the bottom dropped out....what a waste of perfectly good IPA...luckily it was an unfinished basement/laundry room, so there were drains in the floor to mop the mess into....it sucked, but no injury involved, just hurt pride Ever since the incident, I use a milk crate for transporting the glass, silently praying the bottom of the crate holds up...LOL....I use buckets for primary these days, but I primarily make meads anymore - not as "fun" to watch as a strong beer ferment - on the rare occasion I do make a beer, I primary in glass for the whole show

 

[unionrdr]

I prefer Pails with lid seals to ferment in. Lighter, stronger & easy to carry. I have a PET plastic better bottle of 6G size for secondary. Or primary if I want.

 

[MichaelScime]

Ok so I did what you guys suggested. I went to my local shop and got all my equipment, or most of it I followed one of the northern brewers kits and it came to half the price. She specialized in wine so it was a little harder for her to understand but I got a free coopers kits from her that some one had ordered and left. I may buy 3 or 4 carbs that day just not sure. I want 2-4 nice recipe kits for a cheap price shipped to canada could you guys help?

 

[unionrdr]

You have to contact Midwest or Northern Brewer for shipping outside the USA. but being in MN, they should be able to ship to Canada pretty easy.

 

[MichaelScime]

30$ would be nice

 

[saskd]

I've always bought my ingredients from ontariobeerkegs.com. The shipping is very reasonable and they have a high turnover so you know the ingredients are fresh. They have plenty of kits available, you should be able to find you like. Also, you could find a recipe you like and just buy the ingredients separately.

 

[MichaelScime]

I just dont really know what I like so I would like something that others think is good so I can start trying stuff

 

[unionrdr]

Well, let's see...there's the cascade pale ale from midwest (PM kit). They have many kits in different categories, including 20 minute boil kits that're basically kit-n-kilo beers. The Irish red & ESB E/SG kits from Morebeer are damn good. I'm drinking them now. NB's Petite saison de eta' kit looks to be another crowd pleaser. That one's almost ready for fridge time.

 

[MichaelScime]

I would rather order in canada then pay 50$ shipping and import charges

 

[saskd]

What commercial beers do you like? It would be easier to recommend kits if we had an idea of what you like. Keep in mind you can pretty easily buy the ingredients separately and put together your own kit from a recipe. There are some very good recipes posted in the recipe section of this site. Also, although Northern Brewer doesn't ship to Canada they do publish all of their recipes online so it's easy to put the kit together yourself using ingredients from a Canadian store.

 

[MichaelScime]

Well I know I enjoy rickards red and other dark beers like that

I use to drink bud lite because it was cheap
I liked moosehead
Didn't mind all my hipster friends hoppier craft brews

But I would say my favourite was rickards red but I want to try more stuff

 

[saskd]

Based on that if I were going to chose four kits from Ontario Beer Kegs I'd probably go for the Amber Ale for something close to Rikards. An American Pale Ale will be hoppy but not too hoppy, the cream ale will be nice and light and drinkable and the nut brown ale will be a little darker then the rest but still very drinkable. If you're not sure what you like you could always go with their 3 gallon kits instead of the 5 gallon kits. Those are just kit suggestions, keep in mind it's easy to buy all the ingredients yourself if you find a recipe you like somewhere else.

 

[MichaelScime]

is it cheaper?

 

[MichaelScime]

Im thinking about ordering
Amber Ale (5.25 gal) Extract Kit
American Pale Ale (5.25 gal) Extract Kit with Specialty Grains
Cream Ale (5.25 gal) Extract Kit
Nut Brown Ale (5.25 gal) Extract Kit with Specialty Grains
Toy Soldier Stout (5.25 gal) Extract Kit w/ Specialty Grains, Oak Chips & Vanilla Beans

What do you guys think?

 

[unionrdr]

They all sound good, but for this time of year I'd say the cream ale & the American pale ale.

 

[myelo]

Im thinking about ordering
Amber Ale (5.25 gal) Extract Kit
American Pale Ale (5.25 gal) Extract Kit with Specialty Grains
Cream Ale (5.25 gal) Extract Kit
Nut Brown Ale (5.25 gal) Extract Kit with Specialty Grains
Toy Soldier Stout (5.25 gal) Extract Kit w/ Specialty Grains, Oak Chips & Vanilla Beans

What do you guys think?

Are you ordering these all at once to get flat rate shipping? If not, it may be better to just get 1 or 2 at a a time. Milled grains and liquid yeasts don't stay fresh forever and it may take you a while to brew all 5 of these kits unless you have multiple fermenters.