Equipment

[ladybrewer87]

I really want to start brewing but I don't want to just do it from a kit- seems a bit unexciting. Are starter kits (of equipment) worth getting and has anyone got any advice?

Thanks

 

[kh54s10]

It depends on what you have and what you need for the type of brewing you want to do. I bought Northern Brewers Deluxe Starter Kit when I started. It included all needed except for bottles and a boil kettle which I already had. I don't think it still includes a hydrometer but I may be wrong. You might be able to look at what is included in the kits and buy the items individually and save a couple of dollars, but the convenience of buying it all at once......

For ingredients I would suggest a kit, at least for the first brew. Learn the process, then expand. I would suggest using a tried and true recipe before venturing into recipe building.

 

[justenoughforme]

fementing bucket, bottling bucket,
hydrometer
hose, siphon, bottling wand
star san, oxy-clean
and ingredients for beer

that should be the bare minimum unless i'm forgetting something.

oh and for ingredient kits, my first brew was a boomchugalug kit, and it came out beyond delicious.

PS, i use glass carboys instead of fermenting bucket, only because i had several laying around

 

[kh54s10]

fementing bucket, bottling bucket,
hydrometer
hose, siphon, bottling wand
star san, oxy-clean
and ingredients for beer

that should be the bare minimum unless i'm forgetting something.

oh and for ingredient kits, my first brew was a boomchugalug kit, and it came out beyond delicious.

PS, i use glass carboys instead of fermenting bucket, only because i had several laying around

Bottle capper, bottles, boil pot, airlock.... There will be a large list of wants to follow. In my first 2 years I spent close to $2000 on ingredients and equipment.

Included to date, Corona style grain mill, 10 gallon 3 tier brew rig. Utility sink, plumbing, home made fermentation chamber using a mini fridge that will hold three buckets/carboys, temperature controller, Chest freezer with controller for lagers, kegging for 3 kegs in fridge I had. Lots of grain, yeast starter equipment. and lots of little stuff.

 

[menotu]

Justenough and Kh pretty much nailed what you need to get started. Can pick up a kit with it all like this Starter Kit. Only thing else you would need is a boil pot and bottles, it even comes with a choice of recipe kit. I would also recommend getting some starsan. For your first time i would recommend a kit just so you can focus on how to make the beer. Tons of money to be spent down the road if you so choose but i have a similar kit and even with buying more equipment i still use all of this stuff. Pretty much any supplier will sell a similar kit, just using this as a reference

 

[ryantollefson]

I went with the Maestro Homebrew Equipment kit to get started... I didn't use everything from it, but still found it cheaper than buying the items separately.
Things that came with the kit that I actually used:

• Bottling bucket
• Airlock
• Auto-siphon
• Tubing
• Bottling wand
• Bottle brush
• Bottle Capper
• Hydrometer
• C-brite - I only used as a cleanser
• Fermenting bucket - only used this for mixing StarSan

I found this kit with shipping for $67

If you were to buy these separate (doing quick searches & no shipping):
Hydrometer - $7
Auto Siphon - $14
Tubing - $10
Bottling wand - $8
Bottle brush - $5
Bottling bucket w/spigot - $15
Bottle capper - $15
Airlock - $2
Extra bucket - $8
-------------------
Total = $84

Like you, I didn't think that was all that exciting, so I did buy some other things to get started the way I wanted (but still keeping cost in mind):

• 40Qt Aluminium boil kettle
• Immersion chiller & pump for recirculating ice water
• 6 gal. Better Bottle for fermenting
• Rubber stopper for Better Bottle
• Test jar for hydrometer
• StarSan
• Spray bottles for sanitizer
• Bottle caps
• Ingredient kit + yeast from Local Homebrew shop

Lastly I made a fermentation chamber similar to the Son of a Fermentation Chamber and controlled it with BrewPi.

For batch two I made stir plate, got an Erlenmeyer flask and made a starter.
For batch three I got a BIAB bag and started doing all-grain.

I felt like this was an aggressive, but reasonable start to my brewing career. I wanted to do everything all at once, but eventually decided to just start and tweak it as I went.

 

[justenoughforme]

bottle capper and caps !! totally forgot that. you can space it out a paycheck though you wont need them for a few weeks.

... i dont think a brew pot etc is needed... i never bought one, i just used the biggest pot i already owned.


but keep in mind, you're never going to find a more cheapskate meiser than me.

 

[unionrdr]

I found measuring spoons, cups, funnels & spray bottles at the local Dollar Tree. They also have some nice glasses for a buck each. Dollar General for small, SS sauce pan & lid for making priming solutions & starters. Super Walmart had those Guinness style glasses for 96c each, Libby glasses too.They also ha a digital scale for 20 bucks. Bed, Bath & way Beyond had a SS colander for about 9 bucks to drain grain bag in.

 

[m00ps]

I'd definitely reccomend the spray bottle for starsan. Be sure its a #1 recycle rating, some other work too but I forget.

Id go ahead and buy a few more buckets (dont forget the lids) as well as extra airlocks. The 3-piece ones can do double duty as blowoffs. After about 20 batches, I already had 5 or 6 buckets I think

 

[Mexibilly]

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brewing-starter-kit-1.html

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/30-quart-stainless-kettle

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/star-san

You need a propane burner, like a turkey fryer burner, if you're outdoors.
On the stovetop you could use a smaller kettle for sure

 

[unionrdr]

Since I'm still on the stove, I still use the 5 gallon (20qt) SS stock pot I started with for anything up to PB/PM BIAB. It was part of a 4-piece nested set from about 1 gallon up to 5 that had polished lids & steamer trays as well. Got it on clearance at Giant Eagle for about $28.