Newbie advice

British_ale_head · Mar 23, 2014

I'm new to brewing beer so I would like some advice on what I should do first:

Option A:
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/beginners-kits/beer/ale-starter-kit.html

I like the look of this because it is designed for beginners and looks like it will be beneficial.

Option B:
http://eartheasy.com/eat_homebrew.htm

I like this because it will be cheaper, but it probably has fewer instructions then option A.

I'm also up for other suggestions.

Yooper · Mar 23, 2014

They both look like hopped extract, no boil type of ingredients. While that would make beer, the quality isn't the same as a "real" ingredient kit of extract, hops, and perhaps some grains, and yeast.

The hopped kit is a can of hopped liquid extract, and you stir in water and sugar to make the wort. It's like opening a can of canned soup or something.

Where are you located? I'm in the US so I probably have different options for purchasing than you do, but if you let us know where you are we may be able to come up with a good quality kit that will make good drinkable beer.

British_ale_head · Mar 23, 2014

Thanks for the quick reply Yooper. I was planning on making basic beer before moving on to hops or grains.

I'm located in England.

dkevinb · Mar 23, 2014

Option B will probably make something that resembles beer, but I don't think I'd want to drink it. They make it sound like hops are optional. They're not. You either have to use pre-hopped malt extract or add the hops to the boil. Plus I don't like the instructions to "leave the lid on loosely". I know not everyone believes in airlocks here, but I do.

Option A looks like a very basic set of equipment plus a can of pre-hopped malt extract and some yeast. As Yooper says you can make better beer but it will be drinkable. Many, if not most, home brewers start this way. I did. You can brew the first kit, see if you like the hobby, then move on to buying your own ingredients.

Yooper · Mar 23, 2014

British_ale_head said:
Thanks for the quick reply Yooper. I was planning on making basic beer before moving on to hops or grains.

I'm located in England.

Yes, I understand what you mean. But beer does have both hops and grain it it!

What I mean is that the quality of those canned tins is not very good. While it is simple, I've never found that a drinkable beer came from those.

With a "kit" like this: http://www.brewersbestkits.com/recipes.html using this equipment: http://www.brewersbestkits.com/equipment1.html, a very good beer would be made.

In general, with the ingredients I liked to, you'd steep some grain, then remove it and bring it to a boil and add hops and malt extract and boil for an hour. Cool it, add water up to 18 liters, and then add yeast. It's not exactly as simple as the tinned stuff, but the quality is 100 times better.

I'm just not sure what you can get in the UK besides the Coopers and John Bull junk.

British_ale_head · Mar 23, 2014

Yooper said:
Yes, I understand what you mean. But beer does have both hops and grain it it!

Whoops lol, I didn't know that I use to drink beer and ale not thinking about what's in it untill recently.

I might go with option A to see if I like the hobby before going on to brewing proper ale with boiling ingredients

My aim is to one day make a chilli ale to beat my girlfriends dad's chilli and strawberry ice cream.

Thanks for the help Yooper and dkevinb

dkevinb · Mar 23, 2014

Your best bet really would be to try to find a local home brewing supply shop. They'll have the equipment and ingredients, as well as good advice, for making "proper" beer. You can do what's known as "extract" brewing, which is quite a bit easier than "all grain". It's not much more difficult than using the kits, but it makes better beer.