buying a brew kit

[noelc]

hello and thank you in advance. my question is about buying a Brew kit. I have never brewed my own beer before I know that I would enjoy doing so. From what I have read on other forums that it is easier to do an extract Brew first then usually most people do partial or All Grain Brew after a couple of extract brews. Now when buying the kit I'm wondering if I should buy an all grain brew kit just to save myself some money in the beginning would I be able to brew an extract beer if i went ahead and bought the All Grain brew kit knowing that I would move to all grain brewing eventually

 

[Murphys_Law]

My first few brews were partial mash. They aren't much different than an all-extract, in my opinion (DME or LME are still being used but you simply steep specialty grains in a bag). From there it was an easy transition to all-gran BIAB using the same equipment (disclaimer: I did upgrade from an 8 gallon to a 16 gallon kettle).

My first kit included:
Plastic primary fermenter bucket w/lid
Glass Carboy w/stopper (which I rarely use now - keep everything doing in primary for the most part)
Air Lock
Bottling bucket
Bottle capper with some caps
Siphon, bottling wand and hoses
several muslin bags (different sizes)_

I can't remember if these came in the kit or I bought separately:
Wine Thief
Hydrometer and test jar
Sanitizer

I also bought:
8 gallon SS kettle
immersion chiller

I already had a burner (also have since upgraded that, as well).

The only thing I added when I did my first BIAB was a bigger bag.

What ever you do...good luck and have some fun!

 

[CU_tony]

If you aren't in a rush, I would check Craigslist. I've borderline taken advantage of two people near me who were selling all their gear for an unbelievably low price!
Couple that with friends who gave up on brewing and I have tons of bottles and I'm up to 4 bottle cappers now! Would have gotten two more last night from a friend who offered up a copper imerssion chiller and 80+ bottles. I told him no more cappers or else, haha.

That being said, your kettle size is likely to be the largest limiting factor early on. All grain is easier with a larger kettle than you would use for extract, and as far as BIAB goes the grain bag is the only thing that you probably won't already have.

 

[SpahrBrewing]

Honestly, when I first started out, those Brewer's Best kits made pretty good beer (I've heard good things about NB kits too). I would suggest you start small and easy to make sure you enjoy it. Yes, it may not be as good of beer or as involved as BIAB or AG brewing but it will make sure that you enjoy actually doing it. Pretty much all of the equipment can transfer between extract, partial mash, BIAB, AG brewing besides the brewing vessels (at least usually not without some modification).

I started small with BB kits and a BB equipment starter kit and an 8 gallon pot. Made great beer off the start. Now I've been doing direct-fire AG brewing with 20g kettles for a couple years. I stepped up from 5g extract kits, to 5g AG, to 15g AG and I wouldn't re-do it any other way. The ability to learn as you make small changes is pretty valuable. But hey, it's totally up to you how you want your hobby to progress.

Good luck!

 

[mrdauber64]

Buy a 10 gallon po(I bought the 10 gallon tall boy from Northern Brewer), a BIAB bag from wilserbrewer, and an all-grain recipe from your homebrew store. Very small investment for the bag and if you don't like all grain the 10 gallon pot will be perfect for full boil extract.

I personally don't think All-Grain is much harder than extract and if it were me, I would just start with BIAB. If you can stir and take a temperature reading you can brew All-Grain with BIAB.

 

[Redlantern]

Buy a 10 gallon pot.

+1

I get by with 8, but there are fantastic 10 gallon pots out there for a great price. Wish I had a 10 gallon

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Pick one and get started with all-grain:


http://brooklynbrewshop.com/beer-making-kits

 

[ChelisHubby]

If you are bucks short buy a cheap aluminin tamale pot 10 gallon Stainless is not must have, but I will soon quit drooling over them when I buy one. lol

 

[unionrdr]

First off, just to clarify, extract with steeping grains kits are not the same as partial mash kits. Partial mash is sort of a mini all grain, where some extract is still used to get up to OG. But, both steeping & partial mash can use the same nylon bag as BIAB ( Brew In A Bag).
I still use the same set of 4 nested, polished stainless steel stock pots with lids & steamer trays I started with. just some nylon paint strainer bags for the crushed grains & I'm good to go! So if I were starting out again, that's what I'd use. cheaper with the least bits of equipment. Always a bonus financially.
I started out with kit-n-kilo Cooper's brews, & stuck with them to get those tasting good before moving on. I got hooked on all kinds of extract combinations with different hops, yeasts, etc. Called it, " recombinant extract". Then a couple years later, moved on to partial mash. Boy, what a change it made! So many more possibilities opened up! So if you don't mind trying, but are still stuck on the stove, partial mash, partial boil biab will do the trick with a 5 gallon (20 qt) kettle.

 

[Brownalemikie]

JMO, but brewing moves outdoors when you start brewing 10 gallons and more. Which means buying a propane burner along with other things not needed with smaller batches.

 

[PADave]

I would not get an AG kit to start. Go with a basic extract kit and get a feel for the process and figure out what you want to do. There are so many options when it comes to AG. If you decide you want to go down that road, buy what you want, not what is in a kit. I'd recommend giving BIAB a try once you want to go AG, simple and only need a bag. The minimum kettle I'd buy is 10 gallon, but I kinda wish I would have got a 15 gallon.

 

[itsbarleytime]

I went to all for the flavor. I brew extract on occasion to save time but I always am disappointed in the taste. I would watch some YouTube videos and compare extract and all grain brew sessions. Beersmith is a very informative. I recommend having fun no matter what.

 

[mongoose33]

I think there's value in learning by extract, so you can master the elements of brewing it exposes you to.

However, you're right in thinking ahead like this. However, IMO there's a steep learning curve to do all-grain from the get-go.

That said, in order for me to brew all-grain, all I needed was a mash tun. It's helpful to have a couple extra pots or kettles, a pitcher, a mash paddle, but you can add that stuff fairly readily.

I just brewed my 12th batch today, after starting with 3 extract brews. Here's what I would do if possible in your case: I'd try to find someone to show you how to do an all-grain brew. Just seeing it done once makes all the information online and in books come alive.

Then do one with a helper to guide you. I wish I'd had that, it would have helped. I watched a guy brew an extract brew once before I did it, and that was invaluable.

Here's something else you could do: buy an all-grain kit and then do an extract brew or two at the start. Nothing about having an all-grain setup prevents you from brewing extract. If you don't have to worry about where your wort is coming from, getting mash temp correct, getting the crush right, getting the water right, it's easier to do the other things.

Anyway, you're asking the right question, IMO. Good luck and brew on!

 

[itsbarleytime]

I think the biggest hurdle for me going all grain was obtaining propane burner and a 12 gall pot. Once I got that and my cooler with ball valve and screen. It was on baby. Everything was more efficient. I recommend also getting air stone and pure O2 for your wort after the chill and before the yeast pitch. And if you have lots of doe go ahead and get you a SS brew bucket with temp control. You will blast everyone away. Cheers.

 

[SGTSparty]

So a few really good points out there, I'll weigh in on a few of them but first DISCLAIMER: I never did extract or mini/partial mashes so take that for what its worth.

I started with the Brooklyn kits like @TasunkaWitko suggests. A few things about these 1) they are great for getting you familiar with the BASICS of AG brewing and getting your confidence up. You need very little equipment to get started doing AG but you also get very little beer for your efforts. However, you screw up a batch and you're not trying to get rid of 2 cases of nastiness and you can do a lot of batches quickly w/o having to feel like an alcoholic or ending up with the obscene number of bottles we all now have. Another downside to the Brooklyn kits is that they're so idiot proof you don't learn about things like using an hydrometer, efficiency, crush fine/coarseness and how mashing temps affect body etc. That cost me dearly when I stepped up to larger batches that were NOT idiot proofed.

A lot of these things can be overcome with @mongoose33 suggestions. Definitely try to shadow an experienced brewer in which ever type of brewing you decide to try, try to get someone to shadow you on your first brew and at a minimum hunt down as many youtube videos of brew days as you can make yourself watch for your chosen style. I wasn't a youtube person when I started brewing and it was only much later and several crap batches later that I realized I not understanding some concepts because I hadn't seen them. Also, reading what a cooler mash tun is in How To Brew is not the same thing as seeing one built and used on youtube. It was like learning a different language and suddenly you can understand what people are talking about.

All of that said my advice would be decide if you think you're going to want to go all grain (BIAB, Cooler, or 3 kettle) or extract. If you think you want to go the AG route I'd say start with Brooklyn kits as they are pretty cheap, delivered to your door and you need very little equipment that you wont either get in the kit or already own. Then once you know you like brewing you can make an informed decision how large you want to step up to and get either a starter kit to match or start collecting individual pieces. If you want to go extract you can get a kit that's more geared for that. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Sadu]

My advice, FWIW.

The main reason you should start with a simple extract kit is to get experience with sanitation and the fermentation process. These are both really important and you need these skills for any sort of brewing.

If you start off with a basic extract kit then you can focus on these 2 things, do them properly, and not get sidetracked by everything else.

Your basic kit should come with something like this...

Fermenter bucket with tap
hydrometer
long spoon
bottling wand
ingredients for your first brew
bottle capper
maybe a heat belt or pad
Sometimes they give you some cleaner/sanitiser which is ok for the first brew, replace that with starsan + PBW when that runs out

I picked up 2 of these kits by asking around on the local community facebook page, both were as new (opened but not used) and under half the price of brand new.

All of the above items you can use for any kind of brewing, so nothing is wasted by starting with this kind of kit. Then you decide to move up to extract brewing or all-grain, you will need extra stuff like boil kettles and grain bags etc.

 

[Northbank]

My advice, FWIW.

The main reason you should start with a simple extract kit is to get experience with sanitation and the fermentation process. These are both really important and you need these skills for any sort of brewing.

While I agree the process and sanitation are 'really important' don't sell extract brewing short:

- It is a shorter process
- You can get buy on cheaper startup equipment
- To make 5 gallons of beer you can use a 3-4 gallon boil
- You don't need propane burners, mash tuns, and probably boiling outside
- You really get to alter your hopping in a way AG brewers can't (You can do different things with bittering when you get to add LME/DME really late in the boil)
- You don't need to worry about water profiles
- You can still make great beer

I literally can't squeeze AG brewing into the time I have, or the kitchen I have and its been close to 100f here in KC at times lately ... nasty outside. People say AG is cheaper but after the cost the extra equipment and the bigger brew pot it'd take me years to pay it off in the volume I drink. Ultimately AG is about control of every single last aspect of the process.

 

[Pariah3j]

So I figured I'd throw my .02 in here... I'm fairly new to brewing I feel like in comparison to most that have responded on the thread so far. I'm still doing Extract brewing - I've got about 7 or 8 extract kits brewed so far. I've slowly been building up extra bottles, equipment like wort chiller, etc. I feel confident that I have a good grasp on brewing and I'm finally looking to move up to AG... in the mean time I'm about to try my hand at my first BIAB this weekend. I'm planning on brewing the BIAB version of one of the kits I just finished to compare the two.

My personal opinion is, unless you have alot of money to throw down, I believe you would be better off getting one of the starter kits and doing extract for a bit while you build up the little things you want/need and can transition into AG once you are ready. This doesn't mean you can't plan ahead and buy a nicer Kettle with all the bells and whistles now instead of buying a basic one and then replacing it in a year(or however long it may take you)

 

[SpahrBrewing]

So I figured I'd throw my .02 in here... I'm fairly new to brewing I feel like in comparison to most that have responded on the thread so far. I'm still doing Extract brewing - I've got about 7 or 8 extract kits brewed so far. I've slowly been building up extra bottles, equipment like wort chiller, etc. I feel confident that I have a good grasp on brewing and I'm finally looking to move up to AG... in the mean time I'm about to try my hand at my first BIAB this weekend. I'm planning on brewing the BIAB version of one of the kits I just finished to compare the two.

My personal opinion is, unless you have alot of money to throw down, I believe you would be better off getting one of the starter kits and doing extract for a bit while you build up the little things you want/need and can transition into AG once you are ready. This doesn't mean you can't plan ahead and buy a nicer Kettle with all the bells and whistles now instead of buying a basic one and then replacing it in a year(or however long it may take you)

Good luck on your first BIAB!

 

[TonyKZ1]

As others have already said. You might try a 1G extract kit from any of the vendors, Northern Brewer, Jasper's (my personal favorite), Midwest, Adventures in Home brewing, MoreBeer, etc.. Also a 1G all grain kit from Brooklyn Brewshop is a good start. Many vendors offer a starting kit and they usually include a recipe with the kit. And I recommend a 1G vs. a 5G or more.

You might try Mr. Beer & BrewDemon too as their 2-3G fermenters work fine and you can also make good beer from their HME recipes, I have. Sometimes you can find the equipment on craigslist and save even more money, then just buy the recipes from the vendor.

 

[uptonparkfan]

I just started and bought basic Cooper kit and found really easy best thing too start with.

 

[Sadu]

While I agree the process and sanitation are 'really important' don't sell extract brewing short:

- It is a shorter process
- You can get buy on cheaper startup equipment
- To make 5 gallons of beer you can use a 3-4 gallon boil
- You don't need propane burners, mash tuns, and probably boiling outside
- You really get to alter your hopping in a way AG brewers can't (You can do different things with bittering when you get to add LME/DME really late in the boil)
- You don't need to worry about water profiles
- You can still make great beer

I literally can't squeeze AG brewing into the time I have, or the kitchen I have and its been close to 100f here in KC at times lately ... nasty outside. People say AG is cheaper but after the cost the extra equipment and the bigger brew pot it'd take me years to pay it off in the volume I drink. Ultimately AG is about control of every single last aspect of the process.

Sorry, terminology confusion here.

By "Simple extract kit" what I mean is the pre-hopped extract kits (Coopers, Brewtec etc) that you throw straight into the fermenter. As opposed to an unhopped extract kit which you are referring to.

My point was that for your first batch you don't need the extra hassle of a boil, so hopped extract kits are an excellent starting choice.

Otherwise agree with all your points. I love all-grain but extract offers a more flexibility if you don't have a powerful burner / wort chiller / much time / big workspace etc.

 

[uptonparkfan]

I was just saying best way start us easiest way cooper's and once done a while step up next level.

 

[Northbank]

Sorry, terminology confusion here.

By "Simple extract kit" what I mean is the pre-hopped extract kits (Coopers, Brewtec etc) that you throw straight into the fermenter. As opposed to an unhopped extract kit which you are referring to..

Ok Then I am 100000% on your page.