Best Brewing Kit?

[dest149]

What is the best kit to buy? I am just getting in to the hobby, but havent been able to brew anything yet. I was looking at the "Deluxe Starter Kit" from Northern Brewer, but wasn't sure if there are better options in terms of equipment or price. Thanks for the input

 

[mlp2147]

If you check out a couple of different brewstores on the internet you'll be able to compare them side by side. They all pretty much have the same items and more likely than not it'll come down to personal preference but you should be able to find one company over another whose price you like better. I think you'll be fine with the NB kit. I'm sure someone else may say different but I hope this helps.

Good luck!
Mike

 

[RM-MN]

I'd say that non of the starter kits have exactly what you need. I bought the basic kit and added a carboy to use to secondary when I wanted to add fruit. In 3 years I've used it twice for that. I have used it for a primary fermenter and I added another fermenter bucket so I could have 3 brews going at once. I'm even considering a 3rd bucket.

Since you don't know just what you need and what you will be doing with the kit in the future, start with the most basic kit. It will make great beer and you can spend what you saved from the deluxe kit on more ingredients. If you decide later on that you really need what is in the deluxe kit, you'll know exactly what you want to add.

 

[hoppymonkey]

I'd say that non of the starter kits have exactly what you need. I bought the basic kit and added a carboy to use to secondary when I wanted to add fruit. In 3 years I've used it twice for that. I have used it for a primary fermenter and I added another fermenter bucket so I could have 3 brews going at once. I'm even considering a 3rd bucket.

Since you don't know just what you need and what you will be doing with the kit in the future, start with the most basic kit. It will make great beer and you can spend what you saved from the deluxe kit on more ingredients. If you decide later on that you really need what is in the deluxe kit, you'll know exactly what you want to add.

+1. I'd save the money on the bigger kits untill you are sure you are hooked on the hobby. most of of us LOVE it, but there are defintely first timers who quit quickly and then sell their equipment cheap to guys like me. :rockin:

 

[dest149]

-deleted

 

[unionrdr]

I'd say the best kit is one that gives you what you need that you don't already have. Or can scrounge locally on the cheap. You can save a few bucks that way.

 

[jk025]

I got the brewing starter kit with a glass carboy from midwest supplies. Everything showed up great and on time and my first batch is starting week 2 of fermenting.

 

[High_Iron]

check craigslist. maybe you can pick up a kit that someone no longer uses.

 

[snowydog]

I just bought a few things at the local grocery store for about $50. I had been making wine for 10 years so had some things like hydrometer and bottle washing gear. But I bought new primary and siphon for beer. Then all we have here is Coopers Kits. I can order on line I guess but they have been all I need to make beer that blows away 80% of whats in the liquor store. My upgrade has been using dry malt in place of corn sugar...smooth and creamy batches all summer long.

 

[dest149]

What will the dry malt do vs the corn sugar? Isnt the corn sugar just to carbonate the beer? Is one DME better than another?

 

[High_Iron]

I think he is referring to booster. Isn't there corn sugar in booster?

 

[theveganbrewer]

You may be able to piece together a system for cheaper than a kit, especially if you're thinking there is a possibility you will upgrade things in the future. But one kit I definitely think is worth the money for a beginner, is the one that is on sale now at brewgadgets.com. Here's the link:

http://brewgadgets.com/p-310-featured-gold-complete-home-brew-equipment-kit-w-kettle-kit.aspx

The best part of this package is that is comes with a 5 gallon brew kettle, which none or not many of the other kits do. They also include a glass carboy, although it's only 5 gallons, it's still useful as a secondary. With this kit, you can brew as soon as you get it and wouldn't have to buy a single other thing.

 

[dest149]

thanks theveganbrewer, I ended up just going with the NB's kit for the same price. It seemed to come with significantly more, although no brewing kettle which is true and it also appeared that a lot of people on this forum have dealt with them along with midwest supplies with no problem so I went for the piece of mind that I am getting a quality kit. I also read another person who bought the kit and said they liked it so hopefully that will work out. Thanks for your input though I really appreciate it!

 

[theveganbrewer]

np. So what are you brewing up first? Did you go with the glass or the plastic? I thought about that kit a lot too but was too lazy to go to the store and get a brew pot.

 

[dest149]

I went with the glass. I didnt want to have to keep on buying new plastic carboys every so often after they wear out, and I want to be able to see whats happening along the different stages of fermentation to be able to learn, and just entertain myself. I have been reading about a lot of people getting hurt with glass carboys however and it really kind of scares me because I just never find myself in the mood to want to go to the hospital which has made me contemplate about getting better bottles but I don't know. My logical side tells me is that there are a lot of careless people out there, and if they took just a little precaution they wouldn't have gotten hurt themselves... so we'll see how that one goes along once I start to get more experience.

As for what recipe I went with, I purchased a American Wheat Ale, which had good reviews from just about everyone, and it wasn't very expensive ($18 with no yeast) compared to others, so I think its a good place to start. As much as I would like to start lagering to make pilsners, in all honesty I don't have a way to temperature control it, and I know its more finicky and was told by others to do something with a quicker turn around so I could reap my reward sooner and quell my impatience, along with fine tune my technique. I think that was pretty good advice especially because it will give me a chance to get familiar with everything and I can upgrade to allow for a lagering capability down the road so its less of an up front cost.

Quick question to anyone that can answer however. Is there a way to have an airlock valve and a blow off tube, or do you need to do the blow off tube first then switch to the airlock valve

 

[theveganbrewer]

I would suggest milk crates for the glass carboys, or those cheap gardening gloves you can get at the home improvement stores with the little sticky dots all over the palms. I use those to give me a little extra grip when moving the glass around. The milk crates are great though if you have space in the fermentation area.

I don't believe you need a blow off tube if you have the larger 6 or 6.5 gallon glass carboy, there's enough room in there. If you've got the 5, you'll need one.

 

[ravhawk2000]

The place you end up going with, whether it be NB or midwest is personal preference really. I like midwest personally. I also always use a secondary carboy. But since I don't use it for months on end, I use a Better Bottle carboy (plastic), since I have 2 kids running around. Even though I am a traditionalist. I use it because it cleans up the beer better and have never gone wrong with it. But as the other guy said, some don't use it at all. Just find what supplier you feel most comfortable with and take it slow until you're sure you want to invest the money into all the equipment.

 

[snowydog]

Going back to my comment about adding Dry Malt Extract, It is what I have replaced the corn sugar added to the kits. I use 1000 grams ( 2 packs ) and then check the SG and add a little corn sugar to bring it up to speed if it's low. This is usually about 250 grams.
I use corn sugar to prime. The difference has been very smooth batches. My original experience was always on the bitter side. I make light and dark ales and one called Canadian Blonde. My friends used to avoid my home brew, now they go, wow , this is damn good stuff! So give it a try. The Copers kits just were on sale for $11.00 at Save on Foods. The malt is about $7 a 500 gram pack. So that's way under $30 a batch. There's a light a med and a dark.