Home Brewing Starter Kits

[nfeuerhelm]

I am planning on trying out home brewing as a project this summer. I have read through John Palmer's How to Brew and poked around this and some other forums. I think I am ready to take the plunge and purchase some equipment and give it a try.

I have been looking around at home brew starter kits, and I could use some advice. I have looked around at many different kits and right now I am definitely in favor of going with a 5gal kit over a 1gal or Mr. Beer type.

I know I will need at least the following (assuming capping glass bottles):

• 5gal kettle or stockpot (10gal for full boil)
• Thermometer
• Primary Fermentation vessel with accessories (plug, airlock)
• Bottling bucket with spigot, tubing, and bottle filler.
• Racking equipment (I'm thinking autosiphon)
• Cleaning equipment (brushes, sanitizers, cleaners)
• Bottles and caps
• Bottle Capper

I also know it would be good to have the following:

• Hydrometer, test jar, thief
• Secondary Fermentation vessel with accessories
• Yeast starting equipment (not strictly a must I suppose, but I will definitely be using one)

I also plan on using a prepackaged kit for my first brew, and then transitioning to recipes. I am already planning on getting a 10gal kettle, but the rest is what gets me. I really want to balance price, equipment, quality, and upgradability (I know not an easy task). What I mean by that is I don't want to spend too much, on the very unlikely chance I don't like brewing, but I don't want to have to end up with a bunch of unusable junk after my first batch and I would like to be able to continue using most of the equipment even if I upgrade to more advanced techniques.

I have been looking at northerbrewer.com, midwestsupplies.com, and morebeer.com primarily. There have been a couple other sites I've seen, but I cannot find them in my history.

Advice would be greatly appreciated and I would definitely like to discuss multiple options and thoughts. I'm sure everyone has their own opinion here, but I want to hear from people in the hobby. Let me know if you need any other information from me.

Sorry, that got long winded.

 

[jro238]

Welcome to the hobby/obsession.

All of those stores are good--I have used them all. I would suggest you get a bottle of starsan as a sanitizer. You definitely want a hydrometer and supplies to create yeast starters are a great way to make better beer (although not completely necessary). How to brew is also a fantastic book.

You really sound like someone who will get into and enjoy this hobby. You have definitely done your research so get in there and brew!
My only advice is to recognize that everyone screws up something in their first couple batches so don't get discouraged, you will still have beer!

EDIT: a 5 gal kit is the way to go

 

[nfeuerhelm]

I've been cooking since I was 14, and while not the same, I get the accidentally screwing something up concept.

I think I am leaning toward northernbrewer, since you get one of their kits for "free" and their kit reviews seem good. I'm also leaning toward the plastic bucket for now, as I should be able to get one or two nice brews out of it and assuming it isn't scratched, will make a good spare sanitizer bucket. I believe the NB kit comes with star san and PBW (although very small amounts). I am tempted to go to a carboy kit, since most of the suppliers seem to offer reasonable or free shipping on kits (even with carboys!).

 

[gregfreemyer]

I like having a carboy, but it is rather expensive and many here don't use one at all. You can wait for brew 3 or 4 to buy (or never if you want to just use buckets). A carboy is a nicety, not a necessity.

Plastic buckets will last you way more than one or two brews. I bet mine has done 100 brews. (It was loaned to me when I started, so I'm not sure how many brews before I got my hands on it.) Nothing wrong with it as far as I know. I "scrub" it with a sponge, so there is not much reason it should get a scratch.

I did my first few brews with a 12-quart stock pot I already owned (or my wife did before we got married). I think I steeped a couple pounds of grains in a couple gallons of water. Then brought it to a boil for an hour. I chilled the stockpot in my kitchen sink with a bag of ice. Then transferred to the bucket and added water to hit 5 gallons.

Now my kettle is from my turkey fryer. 7.8 gallons I think. It is big enough to do a full volume boil for a 5 gallon batch. I'm moving on to BIAB now and the kettle seems a little small for a 5 gallon BIAB batch, but I need a little more experience before I say.

I used a brewers best recipe kit for my first and it was a great beer (Belgium Wit).

 

[nfeuerhelm]

I leaning toward a ten gallon so early because the biggest pot that I currently own is 8qt. That really just isn't big enough, as far as I can tell since everything I see on partial boils call for 3gal boils in a 5gal pot. I figure if I'm buying a new pot, may as well go to a ten gallon now so I don't have to purchase new equipment if I want to try BIAB or similar. I still need to check the local restaurant supply places to see if I can get a pot cheaper around here.

I know that the bucket will last longer, I just don't see myself going more than one or two brews before springing for a carboy. I could be very wrong. Also I think I will buy that locally. I won't have to pay shipping and after reading about the manufacturing tolerances of carboys I will be able to see what I am getting before I lay down money. I do have a place that sells them.

 

[flars]

A hydrometer is a necessary tool. The only way to tell when a fermentation is finished.
The beer/wine thief gets the hydrometer sample from the fermentor with the least fuss and risk of contamination.
A secondary vessel isn't really needed. Everything can be done in the primary without rushing the beer off the yeast cake.
A bench capper makes bottling easy. Keep the wing capper for insurance in case the bench capper has problems after a decade of use.
A stir plate is nice for completing starters a little sooner than other methods. It isn't necessary though. You can make a starter using the shake and swirl method with containers you already have in the house.

 

[nfeuerhelm]

I was actually just looking at thieves. I stumbled across an interesting one. Its the fermtech wine thief. It seems to be slightly different than most thieves I've seen. If I'm correct, it works similar to a giant bottle filler. It's selling point seems to be that you can fill it, run your gravity test, and return the beer to the fermentation vessel. Now this is off topic, but do folks usually return the test beer to the vessel? And how safe is that actually?

I was planning on using mason jars for yeast starters. I am thinking about getting through at least one batch before investing in a bench capper.

 

[kh54s10]

I started with Northern Brewer's Deluxe Starter Kit. It came with a hydrometer and some other stuff that is now in a separate testing kit. I opted for Better Bottles because I did not want the weight of glass carboys. Having since read the disaster threads of breaking carboy injuries, I will never own a glass carboy. I did get the 5 gallon secondary. I rarely use it for beer any more. I last used it to secondary wine.

I suggest you get a couple of primary fermenters. Once you get the first one done you will be surprised how fast 50 bottles of beer will disappear. Get your second batch started as soon as you can after the first one.

 

[flars]

I was actually just looking at thieves. I stumbled across an interesting one. Its the fermtech wine thief. It seems to be slightly different than most thieves I've seen. If I'm correct, it works similar to a giant bottle filler. It's selling point seems to be that you can fill it, run your gravity test, and return the beer to the fermentation vessel. Now this is off topic, but do folks usually return the test beer to the vessel? And how safe is that actually?

I was planning on using mason jars for yeast starters. I am thinking about getting through at least one batch before investing in a bench capper.

That is the beer/wine thief I use. Samples are for tasting, not returning. No chance of contamination and you can follow what is happening with your beer. It is interesting how the taste changes.

A gallon mason jar may be large enough. That krausen really shoots up when it is shaken.

 

[cjbalough]

Since you mentioned using lhbs for future carboy, have you considered/looked at them for your equipment? May pay a not more bit also get some " free" info and - live & In person help.

 

[nfeuerhelm]

The breakage/potential danger of glass carboys is a little scary. But they sure are cool.

I like the idea of returning samples, but it seems like a big gamble. Also taste samples do sound good. Just have to remember not to sample the whole batch.

I'm pretty sure my largest masons are quarts but I could pitch multiple jars.

Disappointingly, my lhbs is a friar tuck. So I don't know what their knowledge level is, but it is definitely not their prime concern. I will have to see. I just wanted to find out what kind of prices I can get online and then checking local after I have a better list. Though I will definitely be using them for the software side of brewing since if I decide I want to brew "now", I don't want to have to wait for my ingredients to ship.


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[Clonefan94]

Lot of good replies here. All I can say though, is that if you are planning on buying a 5 gallon pot, because you don't have one already. Skip that and buy a 10 gallon instead. You'll be happier with a full boil. Skip the carboys for now/secondary and grab a banjo burner instead. IMO, the price difference is negligible, yet will give you a much better introductory brewing experience. You just won't need a secondary vessel off the bat. For beginning brews, primary for 3 weeks, then package.

 

[teckmaster0179]

Look into getting some fermcap. It doesn't matter how big your pot is, you risk boilover which sucks. Fermcap will prevent it nicely. Also, santize everything.


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[GCGBrewing]

Welcome to the hobby! You could probably get a 5g pot fairly cheap, compared to the cost of a 10gallon. In the unlikely event you don't get into the hobby, a 5g pot is still small enough to use for cooking ears of corn, or manicotti or lasagna noodles. I think I bought mine years ago for only $25-30 new. You might even be able to find a used one on craigslist, a thrift store, etc. A lot of brewers move from 5 to 10 gallon batches, and in that case a 10g pot wouldn't be enough.

For the racking equipment, I started with the auto-siphons, but went to a stainless steel racking cane some years back. You can start a siphon easy enough with a turkey baster.

I'd definitely take a look at craigslist, and see if anyone is trying to offload some homebrewing equipment. You may be able to pick up some fairly cheap. I just got a 3rd sankey keg to complete my all-grain setup, and it only cost me $50 for it. Once I drill the hole in it, and add a weldless valve, it will be my HLT.

 

[fletchergsmith]

Hydrometer is the only verifiable way to know what's going on in your beer. Definitely get one if your worried your samples will take away to much of your product pick up a refractometer. Cheap ones have been known to turn up on eBay and amazon.

Definitely get the ten gallon kettle if you decide to go up to all grain it will still work out for you.

There are a few good DIY stir plates on this site mine cost me a grand total of 16 dollars to build plus 3 for a stir bar. Flasks are nice and make me feel like a mad scientist but mason jars work just as well. It's not required but it won't set you back to much so maybe after your first couple batches put one together it also opens the door for harvesting yeast from commercial beers.

One aspect I haven't seen addressed is your burner. I started on the stove but almost immediately moved outside to propane. Swmbo was very grateful for that, she didn't care for the smell or the mess. A turkey fryer is a cheap alternative I picked one up from walmart including a 7.5 gallon aluminum kettle. Also picked up a new propane tank together running about 100 bucks. The regulator is frustratingly a pos with an idiotic 15 timer, but is easily replaceable. I would not buy it again though the dark star for Midwest is probably a lot better and notice more but the kettle is decent.



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[nfeuerhelm]

Thanks for all of the advice everyone.

Lot of good replies here. All I can say though, is that if you are planning on buying a 5 gallon pot, because you don't have one already. Skip that and buy a 10 gallon instead. You'll be happier with a full boil. Skip the carboys for now/secondary and grab a banjo burner instead. IMO, the price difference is negligible, yet will give you a much better introductory brewing experience. You just won't need a secondary vessel off the bat. For beginning brews, primary for 3 weeks, then package.

I'm looking at something in the 8-10 gallon range. I don't plan on starting with a secondary.

Look into getting some fermcap. It doesn't matter how big your pot is, you risk boilover which sucks. Fermcap will prevent it nicely. Also, santize everything.

I looked at fermcap. For the price it definitely looks like it will be worth a try. SWMBO would not like caramelized wort on our stove top.

Welcome to the hobby! You could probably get a 5g pot fairly cheap, compared to the cost of a 10gallon. In the unlikely event you don't get into the hobby, a 5g pot is still small enough to use for cooking ears of corn, or manicotti or lasagna noodles. I think I bought mine years ago for only $25-30 new. You might even be able to find a used one on craigslist, a thrift store, etc. A lot of brewers move from 5 to 10 gallon batches, and in that case a 10g pot wouldn't be enough.

For the racking equipment, I started with the auto-siphons, but went to a stainless steel racking cane some years back. You can start a siphon easy enough with a turkey baster.

I'd definitely take a look at craigslist, and see if anyone is trying to offload some homebrewing equipment. You may be able to pick up some fairly cheap. I just got a 3rd sankey keg to complete my all-grain setup, and it only cost me $50 for it. Once I drill the hole in it, and add a weldless valve, it will be my HLT.

As far as kettles go, I'm looking in the 8+ size for the flexibility. I would like to be able to do full boils and if I go with a 10gal I should be able to BIAB. It would be a bit big for the kitchen, but I wouldn't need to replace it as soon as a larger. I also like the idea of five gallon batches since it's 2 cases of beer (which even if it goes quick) gives me the opportunity to start another batch. I like variety in my beer.

An autosiphon seems like a great thing for starting out. Depending on how they are to clean, upgrading to stainless steel might be a great idea.

I hadn't thought of Craigslist, but I might have to do some checking on there.

Hydrometer is the only verifiable way to know what's going on in your beer. Definitely get one if your worried your samples will take away to much of your product pick up a refractometer. Cheap ones have been known to turn up on eBay and amazon.

Definitely get the ten gallon kettle if you decide to go up to all grain it will still work out for you.

There are a few good DIY stir plates on this site mine cost me a grand total of 16 dollars to build plus 3 for a stir bar. Flasks are nice and make me feel like a mad scientist but mason jars work just as well. It's not required but it won't set you back to much so maybe after your first couple batches put one together it also opens the door for harvesting yeast from commercial beers.

One aspect I haven't seen addressed is your burner. I started on the stove but almost immediately moved outside to propane. Swmbo was very grateful for that, she didn't care for the smell or the mess. A turkey fryer is a cheap alternative I picked one up from walmart including a 7.5 gallon aluminum kettle. Also picked up a new propane tank together running about 100 bucks. The regulator is frustratingly a pos with an idiotic 15 timer, but is easily replaceable. I would not buy it again though the dark star for Midwest is probably a lot better and notice more but the kettle is decent.

I always enjoy DIY projects, hence home brewing. I will have to look into a stir plate.

Well right now, purchase or not, I'm confined to the stove top. 2nd floor apartment and there is a city order disallowing grills and burners on balconies made of flammable materials. Mine is a wood deck type. I know that may limit my ability to do full boils. Disappointing my stove is electric; although, it does have a crazy powerful 12" burner. This has no problem boiling 2gals of water, but 5 is a lot more than 2.


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[gregfreemyer]

I leaning toward a ten gallon so early because the biggest pot that I currently own is 8qt. That really just isn't big enough, as far as I can tell since everything I see on partial boils call for 3gal boils in a 5gal pot. I figure if I'm buying a new pot, may as well go to a ten gallon now so I don't have to purchase new equipment if I want to try BIAB or similar. I still need to check the local restaurant supply places to see if I can get a pot cheaper around here.

I know that the bucket will last longer, I just don't see myself going more than one or two brews before springing for a carboy. I could be very wrong. Also I think I will buy that locally. I won't have to pay shipping and after reading about the manufacturing tolerances of carboys I will be able to see what I am getting before I lay down money. I do have a place that sells them.

Is your first brew going to use separate hops or will the hops be in the extract?

If the hops are already in the extract the primary purpose of the boil is to sanitize the extract. In that case you could do a 6 quart boil I suspect with no loss of flavor.

If you have separate hops, then the main purpose of the boil is to extract/cook the hops flavor. If your pot is tight, you could heat to 210 or so and get that done without worry of a boil over and losing less water to evaporation. My wort doesn't boil until 220 or so due to it not being pure water.

My first kit said to use 2 gallons minimum for the boil. I did that my first few brews, then went to 3 gallon and now I'm experimenting with full volumn boils, but my pot is barely big enough so I did a 6 gallon boil last time, then added a little post boil water to get back to 5 gallons after the transfer to the fermenter.

Fyi: if/when you go to all grain, the boil suddenly becomes critical and you don't want to play games. You need a rolling boil to off-gas specific off-flavors. With extract brewing that is done before you get the extract.

 

[TimFarAway]

Your LHBS may have a class. Mine does a couple per month on saturdays for a few hours. Could be a good way to see how to brew & then decide what you need.

 

[Clonefan94]

An autosiphon seems like a great thing for starting out. Depending on how they are to clean, upgrading to stainless steel might be a great idea.

The key to autosiphon cleaning is attacking it right away. Worst case scenario, just have a bucket with some clean water in it handy and as soon as you are done, put it in there and give it a couple of pumps, then you can let that sit for a little bit before you can actually clean it. As long as I don't let anything dry on it, I've never had an issue getting it spotless pretty easily.

I just dump from the boil kettle to the fermenter though, so I don't use my autosiphon for that. The only time it gets use is in transferring from primary to either keg or when I do secondary. So, when doing that, I always have a couple of gallons of water with PBW in it. I usually stick it in that, give it some pumps to get the solution inside the tube then let it sit.

Then, as I'm cleaning my primary, I fill the bucket that had PBW in it with clean water, then just let that run through the siphon into the sink. Doing this, I've never had to scrub the thing, except for the cap on the end, and the plunger at the end of the cane. You want to make sure you get all the crud out of those

 

[gregfreemyer]

This has no problem boiling 2gals of water, but 5 is a lot more than 2.

A full volume boil is more like starting with 6 1/2 or so gallons.

You loose a gallon or so to evaporation and then you leave some water behind in the boil kettle because of settlement. The big surprise to me is you also lose a quart or more just to cooling. ie. hot water is less dense than cool water so the volume shrinks when you cool your 5 gallons to room temp.

As I said, I'm just starting to try full volume boils, but it is a lot of water to heat.

And if you do BIAB, you heat about 7 1/2 gallons of water to 165 or so before you put the grains in. About a gallon of that water gets soaked into the grains and is lost from your final production.

If your stove is going to take an hour or more to heat 6 1/2 gallons of wort from steeping/mashing temps to a boil then you will not be a happy camper.

My stove took forever with just 3 gallons of steeping/boiling water. That's when I made the move to outside with propane.

fyi: I only did 3 brews on the stove, so I never used any tricks of using 2 burners, etc.

 

[NickTheGreat]

That is the beer/wine thief I use. Samples are for tasting, not returning. No chance of contamination and you can follow what is happening with your beer. It is interesting how the taste changes.

I also use that thief, and agree with the tasting.

Also, it seems with mine, I get too much 'junk' in the thief if I stick it in all the way ( ). So I typically take several samples and fill my hydrometer sleeve with them.

 

[nfeuerhelm]

Is your first brew going to use separate hops or will the hops be in the extract?

If the hops are already in the extract the primary purpose of the boil is to sanitize the extract. In that case you could do a 6 quart boil I suspect with no loss of flavor.

If you have separate hops, then the main purpose of the boil is to extract/cook the hops flavor. If your pot is tight, you could heat to 210 or so and get that done without worry of a boil over and losing less water to evaporation. My wort doesn't boil until 220 or so due to it not being pure water.

My first kit said to use 2 gallons minimum for the boil. I did that my first few brews, then went to 3 gallon and now I'm experimenting with full volumn boils, but my pot is barely big enough so I did a 6 gallon boil last time, then added a little post boil water to get back to 5 gallons after the transfer to the fermenter.

Fyi: if/when you go to all grain, the boil suddenly becomes critical and you don't want to play games. You need a rolling boil to off-gas specific off-flavors. With extract brewing that is done before you get the extract.

I believe the kits that I have been looking at from northernbrewer, midwestsupplies, and morebeer (the kits my LHBS carries) are all LME, hop pellets, and specialty grains. I still need to nail that down exactly. I know I will have to upgrade from the stove top at some point and gas would work once I have a place to use a burner, but boy I would love to build something like theelectricbrewery.com.

I will have to check the stove's paperwork to find the wattage of the big burner, or time boiling a gallon and extrapolate.

Your LHBS may have a class. Mine does a couple per month on saturdays for a few hours. Could be a good way to see how to brew & then decide what you need.

My LHBS is mostly a liquor store, and I know they have wine and cheese tastings and beer tastings on the weekends but I have never looks at their whole events schedule. I will have to check that out. They don't seem to post online. I will have to see if I can find a paper calendar in the store.

The key to autosiphon cleaning is attacking it right away. Worst case scenario, just have a bucket with some clean water in it handy and as soon as you are done, put it in there and give it a couple of pumps, then you can let that sit for a little bit before you can actually clean it. As long as I don't let anything dry on it, I've never had an issue getting it spotless pretty easily.

Isn't that how it goes for everything that needs to be cleaned in life? Haha

A full volume boil is more like starting with 6 1/2 or so gallons.

You loose a gallon or so to evaporation and then you leave some water behind in the boil kettle because of settlement. The big surprise to me is you also lose a quart or more just to cooling. ie. hot water is less dense than cool water so the volume shrinks when you cool your 5 gallons to room temp.

As I said, I'm just starting to try full volume boils, but it is a lot of water to heat.

And if you do BIAB, you heat about 7 1/2 gallons of water to 165 or so before you put the grains in. About a gallon of that water gets soaked into the grains and is lost from your final production.

If your stove is going to take an hour or more to heat 6 1/2 gallons of wort from steeping/mashing temps to a boil then you will not be a happy camper.

My stove took forever with just 3 gallons of steeping/boiling water. That's when I made the move to outside with propane.

fyi: I only did 3 brews on the stove, so I never used any tricks of using 2 burners, etc.

I was meaning 5 gallons more in reference to the batch size not the actual amount that would be on the heat. I was writing while riding the bus to work. Although, will a slow heat from steeping temp to boil effect the beer at all? That would be nice to know.

Of any forum that I have been on, I think you home brewers have been by far the most helpful to a newbie.

If you had to put together a kit for a beginner, what would you include? I know this question has as many answers as brewers, but it would be nice to know. You can go generic or brand specific, I'm just curious.

 

[Trox]

Kit for beginner:

1 primary fermentation vessel (6.5-7.5 plastic bucket is what I would suggest)
1 Auto-siphon w/vinyl tubing
1 Hydrometer
1 hydrometer test tube (or can use the tube the hydrometer comes in if it is a single tube and not split in 2)
1 boiling pot (size is variable depending on heat source, propane burner 10 gal, gas stove 8 gal pot, electric stove 6 gal pot)
1 bottling bucket with spigot
1 bottling wand
1 capper
48-56 bottles
enough caps for the bottles
1 kitchen scale
1 thermometer
1 long spoon (preferably stainless steel about 21" long)
cleaning powder
4 oz+ Star-San
1 bottle brush

That is everything I believe a new brewer should have to get started (I might have forgotten somethings, but don't think so). Nice thing is if you decide homebrewing isn't for you then you should be able to sell all of that for close to what you paid for it.

I started with a kit from Midwest Supplies and my brother in-law got one from Northern Brewer, and they are both nice starting kits. You will add to/upgrade as you go, but that is the nice thing about this hobby you can expand as you wish as you go.

I noticed you said you are thinking of brewing on an electric range; chances are you just won't have enough power to do full boils on it (actually I would be surprised if you could). If all you can use is the electric range then you'll want a 6 gal pot; this will keep the heat loss from the pot to a minimum, and do partial boils. You could also see about making some heat wands to help bring your wort to boiling if you want to do full boils; will need to do some research on how to make them since they aren't sold over the counter I believe. You could also looking into getting an induction element which might be a better investment than using heat wands. Here is a good article on it if that route might interest you:

https://byo.com/component/k2/item/2967-induction-heat

Which ever route you choose welcome to the hobby/addiction. If you have any other questions first do a quick search here (probably 98% of a new persons questions have been answered multiple times already) or ask away; most of us don't bite.

Edit: One thing I should point out is from what I saw looking around buying a beginner kit is generally same price or even cheaper than buying each piece separate; unless you are willing to wait around for the separate items to go on sale.

 

[fletchergsmith]

Most beginner kits I've seen come with most the stuff you need and is all pretty good

Thermometer
Capper caps
Fermenter
Auto syphon w/ bottle filler
Sanitizer
Maybe a bottling bucket

They do need supplemented

Hydrometer and test jar
Kettle
Bottles
Priming sugar
Scale

Bottles are easily source from your recycling bin and table sugar can be used for bottle priming but corn sugar seems to be the preference

There are also a few things you most likely already have that you'll want handy on brew day

Funnel
Sieve or strainer
Spray bottle

Starter kits are nice and upgradable. I've certainly upgraded a lot since I bought one but I still use everything it came with


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[nfeuerhelm]

Trox, I know it is highly unlikely that my stove top is going to be sufficient for a full boil. If I can get a cheap 5 gal kettle, second hand or on sale or something to do better than my 2 gal pot. I am, however, contemplating getting a 10gal kettle and going electric. I can do 1500W of power right to the water/wort on 120V. That should take a bit over two hours to take 8 gallons of water from 60 to boiling. Even with a SS kettle and all the fittings and electronics I should be able to spend less on that set up than an induction burner alone.


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[gregfreemyer]

If you're serious about going electric check out Bubba's Barrels elements with an integrated thermostat:

It is bigger than you talked about, but it sure would be cool to have:

http://www.bubbasbarrels.com/6-kw-immersion-heater-w-thermostat

(I have no first hand experience, but would love to have a setup with that as the heat source.)

I think just one would handle your 10-gal pot just fine.

On the other hand, I think you are jumping the gun. Brewing beer is fun even if you start with 1-gallon capacity. You could have setup a full blown 1-gallon BIAB system cheap and have been brewing beer by now. 8 pints to the gallon, so it is a great way to jump in cheap and learn the ropes and try lots of beer styles cost effectively.

I brew with 2 buddies, so we typically split a 5-gallon batch 3 ways. That is not all that different from doing one gallon batches by myself.

And if you like to experiment you can use that 1-gallon setup for the long run to do small test batches. A full 5-gallon batch costs about $40 on average for me and I doubt I am including all the costs. So far I've drank all I've brewed, but some of it wasn't my favorite beer so 5-gallons was a lot.

Greg

 

[fletchergsmith]

One gallon set up is a quick cheap way to get started but it still takes a huge chunk out of the day for only eight beers. I tried it and it wasn't time efficient enough for me, you can always split the difference and go for three gallons.


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[GHBWNY]

I was actually just looking at thieves. I stumbled across an interesting one. Its the fermtech wine thief. It seems to be slightly different than most thieves I've seen. If I'm correct, it works similar to a giant bottle filler. It's selling point seems to be that you can fill it, run your gravity test, and return the beer to the fermentation vessel. Now this is off topic, but do folks usually return the test beer to the vessel? And how safe is that actually?

I was planning on using mason jars for yeast starters. I am thinking about getting through at least one batch before investing in a bench capper.

I use a 10" (250ml) clear plastic test cylinder and turkey baster (both sanitized) to draw my sample for gravity readings. The cylinder works better than the plastic storage tube the hydro comes in. I draw and measure a sample a few days after end of ferm and again 3 days later for confirmation ferm has stopped, for which I have to extract a total of 12 oz. of wort. However, I DO NOT return the sample to the wort, but put it in a glass with a piece of plastic wrap over it and chill it in the fridge. Obviously, it's not "finished" beer, but it IS beer. And there's nothing like the aroma and flavor of a successful effort in homebrewing. I'll sit down that night and sip it while imagining the final product is only going to get better.

 

[nfeuerhelm]

You all make good points for going smaller. I guess my worry with smaller was that it would become useless quickly, but I like the idea of being able to try new recipes (after I try a kit of two). I don't have a ton of space, but I will have enough to have multiple varieties going at the same time. Though, all the advice on gear will be helpful as I build up. And if I like brewing and still want to go electric I can build a 10gal electric wort kettle while still being able to brew.


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[JBOGAN]

Better Bottles are all i use and they take away the chance of mutilating yourself with a glass carboy. It is a valuable thing to see the full process of fermentation for your first couple brews.

 

[nfeuerhelm]

Thanks for the help everyone. I am currently thinking that a one gallon kit from northern brewer will be great for me to start. My DIY side is already itching to build a 3 gallon electric BIAB kettle, but that will have to wait.

On a five gallon set-up I would definitely be able to take hydrometer readings without worrying about end yield too much, though on a one gallon set-up I really don't want to loose a couple bottles worth to testing. I think I might go with a hydrometer. I know that having to extrapolate FG from the reduction in sugars isn't great, but I think that is one step better than just not testing at all. I've looked at other articles here on getting FG from refractometers. Have you guys have much luck?


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[flars]

One gallon of beer in a one gallon jug doesn't leave much room for the krausen. Start off with a blow off tube instead of the airlock.
Check your local delis and grocery stores for 2 gallon food grade buckets to use as a fermentor. I have several which only cost $0.50 apiece.

 

[nfeuerhelm]

I was planning on doing that actually. NB actually sells two gallon buckets with pre-drilled lids. The price is reasonable enough that it might be worth buying over spending my time to source one (even if it's free). Then I'm debating getting a second one and putting a bottling spigot on it. I might wait on that though as if I'm going to do secondary in glass jugs and the bottle yield is so low it might be worth it to siphon rack from the jugs and use the bottle conditioning tabs instead of mixing my own priming sugar. Also it will probably just be worth getting a 6.5 gal bottling bucket for bottling and sanitizing anyway.


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[fletchergsmith]

I've got several 3 gallon buckets from a friend who works in food service. All for free and delivered, most contained pickles so I soaked them in oxyclean for a few days to remove the smell. I've got one with a 2 dollar bottling spigot from Midwest on one and a few more more as small primaries with air locks. I use the I gallon glass jugs for secondary fermenters. It works well for a 3 gallon recipe and allows for more experimentation in dry hoping and spicing or different techniques of bulk aging.

So possible start with the I gallon stater kit then add more gallon jugs and plastic fermenters as you go when you inevitably find more techniques and recipes you want to try.
A large kettle can allow you to upscale your batches to make your brew day more productive while be able to use the same smaller fermenters just more of them


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[flars]

When you get your equipment do a practice run, post boil procedures, with plain water. The bottle filling, if you use a siphon, can be the trickiest part because of the potential for oxidation.
A second pair of hands to help is good.

 

[nfeuerhelm]

I hadn't really thought of it, but a practice run definitely is a great idea.

I'm still planning on doing one gallons for now, but when I have the space and money to do 5 gallons right I will definitely move on up to that. Plus I have a mini fridge that should nicely fit 2 gallon jugs. I might have to see if I can pull that out of storage and find a place for it.


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