Starter Kit vs "More Advanced Brewery"??

[NickyBobby]

Hello, I am very interested in starting my own home brewery. However, with this interest has come a lot of questions. I am not sure what I should get and would greatly appreciate some advice.

1. Should I buy a starter kit or should I build my own 3 tier system or similar?

2. What should I try to brew first? Are there some beers that are more simple for someone getting started?

3. What else should I be looking out for?

Thanks,

NS

 

[veritas524]

A book would probably be your best first purchase. Check out WWW.howtobrew.com

 

[rambler]

Howdy!, Its always good to see someone else interested in the hobby. If you are interested in brewing beer i think it would be prudent to start simply. There is a lot work and complication involved , not only in the three tierd system, but also in all grain brewing. If you have never done this before than just keep it simple. Buy a kit and follow the directions and get a feel for it. Your local home brew shop (LHBS) should have extact kits all made up and if not they can help get one made up. Ales are easier to make than lagers , so i would start there. There are a lot of different kinds of ales and most of them are similar to make , so pick one than sounds good to you, this is after all your custom brew. The biggest thing you need to learn starting out is SANITATION. If you can establish good sanitation practices that will alleviate a lot of problems down the road. RDWAHAHB

 

[jtkratzer]

Have your brewed at all before? If not, get a book and a starter kit. Brew a few beers, simple extract beers and show yourself you can do that before investing possibly thousands into a multi-tiered all grain system.

 

[bthomas9]

As a new brewer my self, I thought of the same thing. I ended up with a starter kit, but with some extras. I bought the complete home brewery kit from Williams, because it came with the 8 gal brew kettle w/valve and wort chiller...along with the other stuff. Also bought a carboy, racking gear and bottle sanitizer and tree. The best and most helpful things so far, beside the How To Brew book have been the chiller, and the bottle sanitizer and tree. They make my life easier.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[DemonIAm]

Reading the stickied threads in the top of the Beginner's Beer Brewing Forum. The tips and tricks in there will give you a great knowledge base.

I'm in an apartment, so stove top brewing just makes sense to me, making the "Kit" worthwhile.

If I had the room, I would have started out doing all-grain, and building a nice system.

 

[RM-MN]

You really aren't giving enough information for anyone to advise you. What is your level of expertise? Have you brewed before or are you just starting out. Do you intend to drink the beer you brew, share with a few friends or supply the whole neighborhood? Are you independently wealthy or just one of us poor schmucks? Retired or working 70+ hours a week? Living in Mom's basement or have a mansion with plenty of room? How are we supposed to guess?

 

[NickyBobby]

Thanks for the information.

RM-MN, I plan on drinking with a few friends but the way these guys drink beer, it may as well be the whole neighborhood! I have never brewed beer before and I am not independently wealthy but I do not mind spending decent money on a good product/ setup. I have helped a friend brew his first batch with a starter(extract) kit. It was fun but not that much to it. My main concern is getting the kit, then in 3-6 months wanting bigger and better and having no use for the kit. I already have 3 kegs that I can convert to cut down on some of the cost of brew kettles.

Thanks

 

[gregpio85]

If you've got the kegs and space, why not start with one keg and extract batches to get your process and sanitation down. As you get more experienced, you can expand into AG by adding your mash ton and lauter ton.

 

[jtkratzer]

Thanks for the information.

RM-MN, I plan on drinking with a few friends but the way these guys drink beer, it may as well be the whole neighborhood! I have never brewed beer before and I am not independently wealthy but I do not mind spending decent money on a good product/ setup. I have helped a friend brew his first batch with a starter(extract) kit. It was fun but not that much to it. My main concern is getting the kit, then in 3-6 months wanting bigger and better and having no use for the kit. I already have 3 kegs that I can convert to cut down on some of the cost of brew kettles.

Thanks

There are lots of people on the forum that mostly do all grain and occasionally do an extract brew. You can always gift the stuff or sell it if you "grow out of it."

 

[ongreystreet]

Thanks for the information.

RM-MN, I plan on drinking with a few friends but the way these guys drink beer, it may as well be the whole neighborhood! I have never brewed beer before and I am not independently wealthy but I do not mind spending decent money on a good product/ setup. I have helped a friend brew his first batch with a starter(extract) kit. It was fun but not that much to it. My main concern is getting the kit, then in 3-6 months wanting bigger and better and having no use for the kit. I already have 3 kegs that I can convert to cut down on some of the cost of brew kettles.

Thanks

How did your friend's first batch taste?

 

[Yooper]

A starter kit generally contains some items everybody needs- a fermenter, a bottling bucket, a siphon set up (get an auto-siphon!), an airlock, etc. Those are items I still use each time I brew.

In addition to the basic starter kit, you'll need a brewpot. If you already have a big stockpot or canning pot, you're all set. Otherwise, you'll need a big pot.

That's all you need for an extract batch.

Even if you want to do all grain, you'll still need all of those items anyway!

 

[D_Struct]

Make sure you pick up a hydrometer, as well.

 

[Gfunk]

I got my starter kit from morebeer.com. it had everything I needed for extract brews except the bottles. I think the only thing I bought seperate was the fitting to hook my chiller to the faucet.

 

[NickyBobby]

My friend's batch turned out ok but it looked dirty to me. Tasted ok but looked like it needed to be strained. Never the less, it has the bug in me and I am ready to take on the challenge myself. The best part, I think, is my fiance is all about this and wants to help! We have converted half of my shop into a pseudo man cave with a woman! She has pretty much gave me the green light on doing whatever I want to do with this and actually sent me pictures of the Brutus 10 and said that is what she wants. Do you guys think that is overkill for a newbie?

 

[gregpio85]

As my old man says, "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right." Especially if you've got the green light from the old lady.

 

[jtkratzer]

My friend's batch turned out ok but it looked dirty to me. Tasted ok but looked like it needed to be strained. Never the less, it has the bug in me and I am ready to take on the challenge myself. The best part, I think, is my fiance is all about this and wants to help! We have converted half of my shop into a pseudo man cave with a woman! She has pretty much gave me the green light on doing whatever I want to do with this and actually sent me pictures of the Brutus 10 and said that is what she wants. Do you guys think that is overkill for a newbie?

It might not be overkill, but it very well could be overwhelming. With that kind of equipment, you're getting way beyond basic extract homebrewing and into the levels where you can worry about water chemistry, precision temperature control, etc. You can do all of those things with extract brewing, but if you're going to be putting that kind of money into equipment and haven't even brewed an extract beer as simple as a hefeweizen...just seems like a lot to put into something you've never done before.

Being a firearms guy, I compare this to putting $10,000 into a race gun and equipment for reloading to shoot competitions without having ever shot a gun before.

If you're fiance is on board and money isn't an issue, or the thought of taking a loss on the equipment if you don't like or have the time for all grain brewing, go for it.

Do yourself a favor and get some books and do some all grain with someone who knows what their doing so you don't blow any confidence you have with bad beers by jumping way off the deep end from the beginning.

 

[ongreystreet]

My friend's batch turned out ok but it looked dirty to me. Tasted ok but looked like it needed to be strained. Never the less, it has the bug in me and I am ready to take on the challenge myself. The best part, I think, is my fiance is all about this and wants to help! We have converted half of my shop into a pseudo man cave with a woman! She has pretty much gave me the green light on doing whatever I want to do with this and actually sent me pictures of the Brutus 10 and said that is what she wants. Do you guys think that is overkill for a newbie?

The reason I ask about the quality of your friend's brew is that if the brew day didn't seem very eventful, he might have been taking short cuts.

I invited a friend over for my last brew and I think he was taken back by the amount of work (cleaning, checking temps, taking readings, measuring, weighing, etc) to do an extract brew.

I think this question comes up often, start with extract or go straight to all-grain. The way I see it, if you take the time to understand what you are doing, instead of just following someone's directions, you can handle either. I can testify that you can make great beer with extract and partial mash.

 

[KevinM]

From what I've been seeing, there's nothing wrong with starting small. Even 1 gallon extract batches are pretty useful. Anything you buy for a small batch will certainly be just as useful when you're making 5 gallon batches and all grain batches.

I just moved up from 1 gallon batches and the only losses I can think of would be the plastic water bottle jugs I used for a few ciders and one batch of beer. (And that's cause I just didn't feel like keeping 10 of them around.) Even if you get a 1 gallon growler to ferment in, nothing wrong with using that to transport beer from a keg later on. (My 1 gallon pot was a plain cooking stockpot to begin with.)

More than likely, you'll be doing 5 gallon batches, so whatever pot/keg you use will be as useful to you for extract, as it is for doing all grain. Same thing with a burner if you do gas. (You'll probably use that burner for frying things and even cooking too.) You can convert those kegs, but you can also consider using them as fermenters I think.

If you find some sort of great deal on the whole 3 tier system, kegs, 20 pound tanks and so on, sure (you know, if someone's giving it to you for free), but if they're full price, there's really not that much of a need to hurry and get those. You're not going to waste anything by starting with extract, plus you'll get to practice, not worry about mashing, protein rests and so on.

I can't think of one thing you wouldn't use from a kit that you wouldn't still use. With maybe the exception of the fermenting bucket *if* you're using a keg to ferment somehow. And maybe a racking cane/siphon *if* you're pushing the beer from keg to keg with co2. And that'd be pretty minor in cash anyways.

I had to buy everything separate because I *can't* use the kit (or I'd have to toss or give away the malt extract and special grains if I did, cause I'm allergic) and it kind of annoyed me because I had to buy everything that was in a kit. Even as I mention this, I think it could have been cheaper had I done that instead of buying everything separate.

I'm touching on partial mashes or at least using specialty grains now, and I'm using the 1 gallon pot for that. And on doing a batch recently, I used too much water since I didn't consider the water from the partial mash/sparge and used my 1 gallon growler for the extra fermenter along with the 5 gallon keg. I still expect to use my 1 gallon jugs for smaller test batches too. Eventually I'd like to go with more grain, and eventually I may get a MLT, but everything else is still going to be used.

 

[thisgoestoeleven]

I started with a kit put together by the proprietor at my LHBS. Came with a fermenting bucket, bottling bucket, racking cane and tube, airlock, capper, and a few other do-dads. It also came with the Papazian "Complete Joy of Homebrewing." I started with an extract recipe with specialty grains. I like recipes like that, because they offer the simplicity of setup and procedure that comes with extract brewing, but the specialty grains allow for some creative flexibility in terms of flavor. Just my 2 cents