New brewer

[Justin koenig]

Looking to jump into brewing. were do I buy a good brewing start up kit that will have everything I need? and any other advise to gaining knowledge on beer making?

 

[flars]

Looking to jump into brewing. were do I buy a good brewing start up kit that will have everything I need? and any other advise to gaining knowledge on beer making?

Northern brewer has 15% off until midnight tonight, central time, for orders of $75 or more. Makes it free shipping plus a little more.

John Palmer's "How To Brew" is a good reading resource.

Complete start up kits are usually not complete with some essentials. Often do not include a hydrometer or the best sanitizers.

Just a starter reply. Ask more questions as you start your research into the world of home brewing.

 

[pshankstar]

Welcome! Are you looking into starting with extract or jumping straight into all-grain? Ask questions along the way! We all were newbies at one point too.

Morebeer has some good starter kit options. @flars option at Northern Brewer is another good option with their promotion going on right now. Just know Northern Brewer was bought out by AB Inbev, some won't buy from them anymore b/c of that.

As stated above too, there will be some items missing from these kits. Do your research and figure out what additional items you may need. i.e. bottles, caps, hydrometer, cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, etc...

 

[RPh_Guy]

I got the premium starter kit from morebeer. It has everything needed for extract brewing 5 gal batches. I added a cooler for a mash tun (all grain) and a few other gadgets for convenience.

You CAN brew all grain with:
A 2-3 gal kettle.
A 1- gal fermentor, airlock, stopper
A BIAB bag
Mini auto-siphon and tubing.
Thermometer
Sanitizer
Bottles, caps, and capper.
A bottle wand helps immensely.
Hydrometer is highly recommended.

 

[Kent88]

Your local homebrew supply and homebrew club are great resources.

 

[Renegade Brewer]

Kent is absolutely correct. Check your local homebrew shop. Not only should they have everything you need to get rolling, but they should also offer beginner classes with some hands-on interactive courses. Your local shop will also be a wealth of knowledge for you as well. They should also be able to give you information on any local clubs you have in the area.

You can shop at northern brewer if you choose, but you’re giving your money to InBev by doing so

 

[troglodytes]

Welcome!

There are already good suggestions here on some good starter kits. I personally started with the Northern Brewer Deluxe kit and while it did provide everything I needed at the time, I can say with honesty that the only thing from that original kit I still use is my bottling bucket and the 6.5 gal glass carboy (and that's only because I use them exclusively for sours).

One thing that I learned a little too late is that you don't want to have to rebuy things, so just get what you will eventually need in the first place. Now, this doesn't make sense to do right off the bat if you are a brand new brewer and you don't know whether its really for you or not; or if this is going to be a very once in a while thing that you get around too, yada yada yada. But I realized after my 5th extract batch that I was going to want to brew all-grain for various reasons, I learned that I hate glass carboys for various reasons, I wanted to more scientifically track everything, essentially I began to slowly switch out everything I used from that deluxe set and now use completely different equipment.

If I were to purchase a setup from the beginning with the knowledge I have today, I would probably take RPh_Guy's suggestion and start with small batch, BIAB setup. You get to save the money by going all grain from the beginning. You get to save money because it is a small batch setup. Everything can be done on the stovetop and brew day lengths are going to be shortened. And one big upside is that if you do fall in love with brewing, you haven't spent a ton of money on your starter kit. Even if you eventually scale up your setup, that small batch setup will absolutely still be useful. I can't tell you how many times I wish I had one for experimental batches that I just don't want to risk 5 gallons on.

 

[Renegade Brewer]

Good advice from the poster above. I start many of my newbies on 1 gallon starter kits which offer high quality ingredients. Honestly, most the time customers will taste one of our beers we have on tap and opt for that kit in a 1 gallon recipe. It’s really easy to scale down from 15 gallons to 1 gallon and the customer knows what that beer is supposed to taste like before he or she buys it.

Again, that’s an experience you can usually only get from a local shop. I also always recommend taking a class or two no matter what size or which method you are starting with. Your local shop will teach you the fundamentals which will set you up for success in your first batch

 

[Justin koenig]

Thanks for all the information guys..i do own a kegerator and would like to be able to transfer batches right into a keg vs. Bottling. I also do have a local shop that I will contact for more help getting started. Thanks for all your help and knowledge it's appreciated

 

[troglodytes]

Justin, you're new to brewing and starting right off with a kegerator?? But you'll miss out on the joy of bottling day!

Edit: BTW, bottling day is another reason I would lean toward small batches. Bottling a 12 pack would be so much less cumbersome than a 50 bottle batch.

 

[jbraaten]

I have said this a bunch, but from an equipment standpoint, you rarely can go wrong with Craigslist.