Best equipment for a noob

[jobson14]

I plan to get into home brewing but I have no idea what kit to start with. Searching the net I found a ton of different kits. What kit do you suggest? What sort of things should I avoid? I'd prefer to buy something that will be used for the long haul rather then buying something and finding that I need to upgrade it after a few batches. Thanks for the help.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

If it were me starting again, I'd go with one of the two following kits.

Midwest Advanced Beginner Kit

Austin Hombrew Deluxe Kit

Both of these online retailers are great, and the kits they offer are solid. For the same price, the Midwest kit gives you two carboys and two buckets, but other than that both kits are the same. Everything in the kit can be used for years, even after you become an experienced brewer. The kits come with both buckets for primary fermenting and bottling, and glass carboys for a secondary, or clearing vessel. You can get the cheapest beginners kit for just over $60, but these more advanced kits have some very nice additions.

 

[9/9]

Yeah, if it is in your budget, I like the Austin Homebrew Deluxe kit. We went with the really simple, basic $60 kit from our local store in December and less than 5 months later we have already spent more on upgrades that it would have been much better to go with the bigger and better kit.

 

[RodfatherX]

I ended up getting this one

$70 with free shipping

standard starter

forgot to add why I chose this one over the other kit that was about the same price with shipping.........I knew I wanted a bucket primary and I knew I wanted my primary to have a spigot.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Midwest Advanced Beginner Kit

+1 for that kit. Go with the Better Bottles instead of glass.

 

[SteveM]

It depends on what you think you will want to do, The basic $60 kits are fine and will serve most purposes. If you are a tinkerer or gear-lover (you know best about this), you might want to go "bigger" but it isn't necessary. I got one of the most basic kits years ago as a gift and over time, I've accumulated more stuff (either as I needed something for a specific project or from people who were giving up the hobby). An awful lot of that stuff sits idle and gathering dust most of the time. But I'm not very gear oriented and I have a pretty "minimalist" outlook in my brewing.

Edit - see here for my funnel, an example of my low tech gear orientation:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=66284

 

[jobson14]

Thanks everyone.

+1 for that kit. Go with the Better Bottles instead of glass.

Probably a dumb question but, what's the benefit of Better Bottles over glass?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Better Bottles are not oxygen permeable, so they work as well as glass, but they are much lighter and far less prone to breakage. You can even install spigots in them.

 

[BeerPressure]

another noob question: Are wort chillers necessary for a beginner? Im also in the market for my first kit.

 

[springer]

another noob question: Are wort chillers necessary for a beginner? Im also in the market for my first kit.

not necessary. You can use an Ice bath to cool the wort. Its just more convenient to have a chiller