Hello / Question

[Noldar]

I would first like to say Hello to everyone! I've had a great time browsing the forums and absorbing quite a bit. My first question is this ...

I have a $200 budget that I can spend on Brewing Kit for Beer plus first set of bottles / bottle caps. I'm going to be brewing as my primary hobby, so I'd like something more than a basic newbie kit. I've looked on these boards and the equipment board and still at a loss as to what to buy.

Any help would be appreciated along with Pros and Cons Thanks for the help to a up-in-coming Beer Brewer.

 

[david_42]

Get the basic newbie kit with Better Bottles. Buy How to Brew by Palmer. A 30-40 quart kettle and a propane burner. A couple extra large grain/hop bags. And an immersion wort chiller. (I think we are over $200)

Start saving up for your keggerator, kegs, fermentation cabinet, lagering fridge ...

And a new garage to put it all in! Welcome to the best tasting money pit ever.

 

[Sean]

http://www.northernbrewer.com/starterkits.html

Any of these kits will get you started. Not that I'm plugging that site, but it was convienient to cut and paste. I would suggest 2 glass carboys, and you might be able to put this 'starter kit' together cheaper than offered on this site. Better to give a local brew shop the business anyway. Any 3 - 4 gal pot will do for extract recipes, I would check with a restaurant supply co. for a heavy duty stock pot when you want to try an All grain recipe. As for bottles, save bottles you buy, (not screw tops) and if you talk to a bartender at a nice restaurant, best around NY eve, he/she will probably save you champagne bottles, most of which can be recapped with a standard beer cap. And, the larger the bottle, the fewer you have to fill. One other thing to consider is a bottle tree to dry the bottles.

 

[chask31]

Instead of a bottle tree I just put my bottles on the rack in the dishwasher to let them dry. (I dont sanitize them in the dishwasher...I just put them in there to dry)

 

[Noldar]

Thank you for the quick responses! Reading what you have posted ... would this be a wise selection?

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=3316

I prefer the Better Bottles over Glass just for its unbreakableness and light weight.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I buy at midwestsupplies, but I do not recommend anything other than glass carboys...but that's just me.

I also recommend buying the largest package (as far as what the package offers) you can afford because you'll probably end up buying it anyway. Getting it in a "kit" should be a bit cheaper than 1 piece at a time.

Other opinions on the subject WILL follow...

 

[ajf]

I don't quite understand why you need a 6g better bottle and a 5g better bottle and a 6.5g fermentation bucket and a 7.6g bottling bucket.

Either the 6g better bottle or the 6.5g fermentation bucket is redundant.

You may want to replace the capper with a bench capper, and you will need some sanitizer (most people here use Iodophor or Star San)

For a kettle, (if you don't already have one) the cheapest way to go is a 30 qt enameled steel preserving pan which is fine for extract and partial mash brews (but not for all grain).

If you have a reasonable stove in the kitchen, you won't need a propane burner.
If you can bring 3g of water to a vigorous boil on the stove, you don't need propane. If you can't, or you want to brew outside, then you will need a propane burner.

Then you will need a whole bunch of bottles. Don't use the twist off cap bottles.

One last thing is a bottle rinser. It makes thing so much easier when cleaning bottles.

Hope this helps

-a.

 

[chask31]

Yes the 6g better bottle and the 6.5 fermentation is definitely redundant. I noticed that also, but in the future it wont be a problem for him because he can have two primaries going at once.

I usually brew in my kitchen but today I brewed on the burner of my grill outside. It was nice. The kitchen didnt heat up and i was outside enjoying memorial day (as much as one can while studying for the bar exam.)

 

[brackbrew]

I started brewing with all glass (6.5 gallon Primary and 5 gallon Secondary) and I SWEAR BY IT!!! Get as large of a stock pot (stainless steel, of course) as you can. I just recently expanded to a sabco keggle to do full wort boils and it has generally improved the quality and stability of my beer.

As for books, I started off with Papazian "New Complete Joy of Homebrewing" but also have Dave Miller's "Homebrewing Guide," which is a GREAT resource. A subsciption to BYO is good, also. That should supply more than enough reading material.

The other necessities would be a thermometer of some kind, a hydrometer, a funnel and an autosiphon. That's about all I started off with 6 years ago and I've never looked back

That's not to say I never had a bad batch, though, hehe.

At any rate, GOOD LUCK and...

BREW ON

 

[BadKarmaa]

Those are some great suggestions. However, if your buying your start up kit online be weary of shipping costs. They can quickly exhaust your two bill budget. You're much more likely to get more bang for your buck by piecing it together from want ads and HBS and don't forget eBay. I purchased my start up kit on morebeer.com and paid way more than i wanted to cuz of shipping. So i suggest you start with the bare minimum and gradually build up your setup. It will grow quicker than you think.

 

[Beer Snob]

One last thing is a bottle rinser. It makes thing so much easier when cleaning bottles.

-a.

You know.... I have one of these... I can honestly say I have never used it... came with the kit many years ago when I got it. I was going through things the other day and was like... hey... that's a bottle washer... I wash my bottles when I use them so never seem to have the problem....

 

[ajf]

You know.... I have one of these... (a bottle rinser) I can honestly say I have never used it... came with the kit many years ago when

I agree they are not necessary when you have enough bottles and treat them with respect, but when starting out, and getting bottles that have not been treated with respect, they can save a lot of time. They are also great for rinsing carboys. If you've never used it, then try it. You might be surprised.

Yes the 6g better bottle and the 6.5 fermentation is definitely redundant. I noticed that also, but in the future it wont be a problem for him because he can have two primaries going at once.

Agreed, but it would be better to have two buckets or two carboys depending on your preferences.

-a.

 

[Noldar]

Thank you for more reading material! I'm quite a book worm and will go look into those tomorrow. I'm also going to go to my local HBS and see what they have.

Again, thank you for the quick, very helpful responses. I'll be purchasing a kit in the next week (after I decide which one) and look forward to brewing my first and sharing my experience

cheers!