New to HomeBrewing

[Kyle Leonard]

Hello Everyone from Cape Town South Africa,
I have been interested in the home brewing concept for a couple of weeks now
finding information on the web and watching videos almost every day and trying to learn as much as i can. I just love craft beer going to all the local breweries in Cape Town and chatting to the brew masters when i can, I would love to make my own but WOW its daunting as i'm not sure were to start this journey. Should i buy a homebrew kit or assemble my own by buying the equipment required. All the help i can get would be awesome.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

There's no definite starting point. Start where you feel most comfortable. A lot find it easier to start with an extract kit or two and go from there. Watching videos and asking questions here are great resources.

Good luck and enjoy your new hobby. It's pretty awesome

 

[Kyle Leonard]

There's no definite starting point. Start where you feel most comfortable. A lot find it easier to start with an extract kit or two and go from there. Watching videos and asking questions here are great resources.

Good luck and enjoy your new hobby. It's pretty awesome

Thanks for the encouragement Floppy, i was also thinking its best to rather start with a Homebrew kit to get the ball rolling. With regards to a brewing pot stainless steel pots are very expensive in South Africa do you think its wise to purchase a aluminum pot cause those are a lot cheaper or should i rather just invest in a stainless steel pot. What would also be an ideal size pot to get for me to start with?

 

[homebrewer_99]

That's difficult to answer. Fact is, your choices are only limited by your bank account.

The amount of equipment you require depends on how (Brew kits versus all grain) you want to brew.

 

[brewbama]

Buy once cry once. Don’t buy cheap crap in a starter kit. You’re gonna replace it later anyway just buy the good stuff up front. Like Brew Kettles, CO2 regulators, fermenters, and on and on. Just go ahead and get the good stuff. If you find out you don’t like to brew you can sell it. Nobody wants crappy starter kit stuff so you won’t get any money from the cheap stuff anyway. At least you can recoup some of your outlay.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Aluminum is just fine. Although you can get away with a 2 or 3 gallon pot and top up with water, it's always best to boil as close to full boil as you can. If you plan on doing 5 gallon batches, I would go no smaller than a 10 gallon pot. This will ensure you have enough room for steeping grains, boil off, and future ready if you go all grain.

 

[catdaddy66]

Welcome to Homebrewtalk! This is a great (and terrible!) hobby but if you enjoy cooking then brewing dovetails nicely with all of the techniques in the kitchen.

Certainly I recommend starting with extract, if for nothing else but to practice you process. Once you solidify the process the recipes can just be "plugged in" to that process. All grain brewing allows you to change and control more variables and ultimately make better beer imo.

I started with amber ales and stouts and was amazed at how good they turned out. There will be low points but HBT has unlimited knowledge on all things regarding home brewing. Ask all the questions you want and you will learn everything necessary to making great beer. Good luck!

 

[Kent88]

Whatever you are comfortable with. I know I have made a few significant changes to my system since I started.

I used to make 2.5 gallons of kits that used hopped malt extract. Then I switched to 1 gallon kits of extract with steeping grains and made a few attempts at proper mashing. I have now mostly settled into 3 gallon batches where I use a 3 gallon insulated cooler to mash in and supplement with extract.

Consider how much you know about different styles of beer, how much you drink, how much you could share, and maybe how much you're willing to pour down the drain if you have a bad batch at some point.

 

[Tbagger]

I'm a jump in head first kind of guy. I recommend getting the best equipment you can afford from the start. It'll save you a lot of money in the long run over continuous small upgrades until you get where you are happy. Buy once, cry once.

The big decisions will be the style you want to brew, all grain, BIAB, extract, partial mash. After that you will have to decide the type of setup you want. Are you going to heat with your stovetop, a gas burner, induction, electric elements? If you choose all grain are you going to want a HERMS/RIMS system or a insulated cooler?

The hobby can be as simple or as complicated as you want but coming to the decision of what you want can be a difficult decision. Whatever you choose, if you are serious about brewing, I would recommend getting the best available gear within your budget.

 

[Leezer]

Like you, I read a lot, mostly on here, and watched some YouTube videos. I also read John Palmer’s How to Brew, and was fortunate to have a friend who brews and was nice enough to answer a lot of questions. I bought a basic kit for one gallon extract batches because I wanted to be sure I liked doing it first. The kit was not expensive, I already had a kettle in my kitchen I could use, a small batch is easy to do right on the stove and cools quickly in an ice bath in the sink. For me it was a great way to get comfortable with the basic process. I moved on to 2.5 gallon biab eventually, set up a fermentation chamber, and just recently bought kegging equipment. It was an approach that worked for me.

 

[ncbrewer]

There are so many things to consider, I don't know where to start. All the responses above are good. I'll just say welcome to HBT.

 

[MaxStout]

Lots of good advice here. Welcome to the forum!

 

[Chris Walker]

When I started brewing years ago it was with the prehopped liquid extract tins. Whilst this is certainly an easy introduction with lower equipment requirements I persevered for a long time chasing a brew that didn't have the "Homebrew" taste. They were mostly drinkable and OK, but definitely identifiable as Homebrew. With mediocre results (to my taste) I stopped brewing for a while.
In my time away from brewing I started baking bread and grinding my own flour and so when I got back into brewing beer I decided to dive straight into all grain. From everything I have read, I do believe it is possible to get excellent beer from extract, although I do understand regular extract brewing is very different from pre-hopped tins and I had only tried the latter. Anyway, I just wanted to give AG a try!
From the first batch I have been blown away by the difference in end product. I have not had a single brew with the Homebrew "twang" and I am now at the point where I much prefer my now beer to any regular pub.

My point is sometimes I think it is easy to get put off new hobbies when expectations outstrip results and not every method works to everyones tastes. You need to experiment a bit and find out what works for you (in terms of end product.)
The one thing you can do to try and reduce entry costs is keeping batch sizes small. 2 to 3 gallons is great and you can user a regular stove to cook it up. You actually don't need a huge amount of equipment to start and I would build your own kit. You can experiment with a few methods including BIAB. When you decide on what works for you you can always scale up the sizes and the smaller stuff is never wasted - it's always nice to put a small batch together for testing out recipes etc...

 

[bigrbuk]

I'm still early into the journey (8th brew is on) but I can tell how I approached it.

I bought a coopers home brew kit - fermenter, hydrometer, plastic bottles, pre-hopped extract + enhancer, carbon drops etc. Basically, your first brew in a box. It was what it was, pretty bland homebrew, perfectly drinkable but definite homebrew.

Over time I've upgraded bits, bought a second fermenter for doing secondary ferments etc, I also managed to get a second hand fridge for £15 so I could try lagers and I bought a cheap pot for doing late extract mashing on the stove top.

Small increments in skillset, knowledge and equipment = increments in taste. Finger crossed the Bo Pils I just started is the best brew yet.

Good luck