for my very first brew.

[Pivot]

hi I am going to be buying equipment in the next few days, but i dont know what to buy because i have no idea how i want to do this. there are so many possibilities, with pre-made wort available to buy, and then there is extract brewing and all grain and partial mashes and full mashes and partial boils and full boils and so much other stuff its making my head spin. i am by no means the lazy type and will put in as much effort as possible to get the best quality product, so i know at the end I want to do everything the best i can, but to start off for now where would people recommend i start? because the guy at the store just told me to buy the pre-made wort and that just sounds stupid if you ask me.

 

[antheus]

Well I just finally pulled the trigger on my equipment purchase etc., so I can tell you what I did and it may help. I am by no means an expert, in fact I barely even qualify as a beginner, but I am in similar shoes.

Firstly, decide what kit you want to get. Both austinhomebrew.com and northernbrewer.com have kits with everything you need (as do many other places), but I ultimately decided on the one from northernbrewer because I wanted a 6 gallon carboy as my primary fermenter and the equivalent kit from austinhomebrew had a bucket as the primary with the option of a 5 gallon carboy (which honestly is very silly considering a 6 gallon carboy is only a dollar or so more and much less likely to cause an explosion). Both were ultimately the same price, so I decided on the one from northernbrewer.

Now that that's out of the way, I'd also suggest purchasing what you need in the same order since both places have a flat rate shipping fee. I decided to just start off with an extract kit, which may or may not be a good idea (we'll see!). I've seen tons of people making very good all extract brews on here, but I also read a lot about a typical extract "twang" and so I don't expect to do it more than a couple times. It's my first beer and I'm really only hoping for it to be "drinkable." Also, it would be nice to go through the whole process once in its simplest form before moving on to the added complexities of steeping grains etc.

 

[Jmac00]

What store did you go to? just curious... Anyways, the pre-made worts may sound stupid, but i've been using them with great results...along with many ppl on here. As for the equipment...once you have the basic starter kit, you can browse around on kijiji for used stuff....i've found quite a bit on there......it adds up after a while, trust me. But for the type, if you're just starting.....do an extract canned kit for the first, then maybe do a brewhouse or Festa brew(bag in box), then maybe work your way up to partial mash....etc etc..

 

[Drew_101]

I also have done 2 brewhouse kits they are really good. I have done Honey Blonde Ale both times. Make sure you check they dates on the boxes on the brewhouse to make sure they are still good.

 

[LaurieGator]

Congrats and Welcome to the Wonderful World of Homebrewing!

What you start with really depends on your comfort level and how much you want to do. I had some brewing experience before beer and I was comfortable starting at extract with steeping grains. You put some grains in a bag, let them sit for 30 minutes at 155F then bring your pot to a boil, add some of your extract, add some hops, boil for a while, add more extract, chill, add yeast and ferment for 2 - 3 weeks. Bob's your Uncle... It's pretty easy and most of the major places have kits already assembled. I have tried AHS and the kit I tried was fantastic. I have also tried Northern Brewer for a couple of all grain kits and they were good too!

 

[phatuna]

I would suggest purchasing just a basic kit with a primary "ale pale" and a bottling ale pail that has a spigot at the bottom. Add an extract beer kit to your order like a pale ale or nut brown and you are off to the races. You can get this for less than $100 with everything you need to brew a great beer (except for a pot which many people have at home anyway).

Make sure that you enjoy the hobby first.

When you find out that you enjoy it, then, with your next order of beer, add an auto syphon and a 6.5 gallon better bottle or glass carboy.

with that, you can brew multiple batches at the same time and that will likely keep you satisfied until one day you'll wake up and wish that you had a kick-a$$ 150,000 btu burner and a brew kettle - the rest is history.

 

[ifishsum]

I agree with Laurie, you can start with as much equipment as you can justify buying and recipes as complex as you're comfortable with. Making beer with pre-made wort doesn't sound like much fun to me, but I wouldn't knock anyone for using it. After my second Mr. Beer canned kit I jumped all in to partial mash brewing because I wanted to learn how to make beer, not simply assemble it. After reading Deathbrewer's tutorial on partial mash brewing I felt comfortable moving straight into that style of brewing, and I'm still doing it.

You don't need tons of fancy equipment, either. I started with just a recycled food-grade plastic bucket fermenter, 3 gallon aluminum boil pot, 2 gallon round cooler for mashing, grain bag, thermometer, hydrometer, capper, scale, airlocks and racking cane/siphon hose. I'm still using my original setup mostly and making great beer with it. I might have spent $70 or so to get started (I already had the boil pot and the round cooler, bucket was free and I started saving recappable bottles). I've acquired a few things along the way to make things easier - a bottling bucket and fill wand are pretty much necessities if you're going to bottle. But I still spent less than the most basic starter kit at the LHBS.

 

[BrewChick]

NORTHERN BREWER: Beer Starter Kits

Buy the basic starter. It comes with an autosiphon which seems to be what people say they wish they had at the beginning. I just started myself but I bought that kit along with an extract kit from Northern Brewer and a 6 gallon stainless brewpot and a rolling pin. Got my first batch brewed for just about $200.

 

[Vairpilot]

Start off easy so you can concentrate on the process, then slowly move on up. There is a lot to learn, so the easier you make it when you are starting out the better in my opinion. Wife and I started out in January with a basic hardware kit, a carboy, and a Brewers Best brown ale kit. Starting out simple allows you to follow the basic instructions and brew a good batch of beer. Once you have a couple of kits under your belt, see if there's anything you want to change to make your brews better or increase the challenges. I moved to all grain 3 batches ago, and love it. Wife is more comfortable with extract for now, which is fine. Of course I always have to make things hard on myself, so she isn't surprised that I moved on. No matter what route you choose, just keep things clean, **keep a notebook on everything you do**, and above all have a blast!

 

[RogerMcAllen]

NORTHERN BREWER: Beer Starter Kits

Buy the basic starter. It comes with an autosiphon which seems to be what people say they wish they had at the beginning. I just started myself but I bought that kit along with an extract kit from Northern Brewer and a 6 gallon stainless brewpot and a rolling pin. Got my first batch brewed for just about $200.

If you can afford it, I would go with the delux since you get a primary and a secondary fermenter. Things not included that you will probably also want:
Star-San (don't fear the foam)
Brew-Hauler (carboy carrier changed my life)
Plastic Paddle
Wort Chiller is handy, but not necessary

As far as the beer, brown ales are pretty easy. I would get two different extract kits.

Brew the first to get your feet wet, wait two weeks, transfer to the 2ndary, and then make the 2nd. This is how I did it, the quick turn around gives you a chance to improve on everything you did the time before (plus once you get the first batch in the carboy you will already be planning your 2nd).

Good luck.

 

[Tsuyako]

I recieved my kit yesterday and this is what I bought
Brewing Intermediate Kit- with Two 5 Gallon Better Bottle Carboys :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies
I added a honey amber ale kit and it came to under $200. I also purchased two glass carboys off of craigslist for future mead making, so far everything is great.