This is going to be another expensive hobby

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Soulshine2

Soulshine2

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Chicago Brew Works is only a 10 minute drive from my house. I was just there a little while ago to pick up some fresh yeast so I can get something hopeful out of the Mr Beer kits I have. I also got a 1/2 pound of Briess 2 row malt and a few air-locks...just to play with . I'm already planning on getting a 5 gallon beginner kit from them , something I can build off of rather easily and its a step up from a 2 gallon plastic barrel and canned ingredients. Can't wait to get brewing. Summer is coming , I turn 50 and my son turns 21 this coming September. What a good time to do this. :mug:
 
Its the ultimate home brewers playground ...all kinds of equipment and grains ,malted and roasted already, they have a grinder right there. flavorings, spices, fruits, extracts, everything but the water. I'm going to require supervision...theres no way I could go back in alone and not come out broke.
 
It is only as expensive as you make. But either way you get to make and drink beer. Enjoy yourself and have fun. Ask questions here before you buy as I am sure someone will have answers and input so you can make a informed decisions.:mug:
 
1st. Welcome!

2nd: Buy once. Really, Buy once... figure out what you want to do, research, ask questions, look at setups, and buy once. figure out gas or electric, and batch size... and perfect your procedure before moving onto different styles, it will pay off with good and better beer in the long run. I did this when I started All grain, and I feel it paid off, my beers are consistantly good, great reviews from my LHBS and more experienced brewers, and friends that watched me start off with basic extract to going full out on my own recipes..

you are starting off with a mr. beer kit which is great! when at the store get a very accurate thermometer. that's probably one of the most important tools you can have as a brewer.

If you are near the loop, or ever up north (by six flags) we could trade and give honest feedback..

Welcome!
 
Assuming you have little to no equipment, let me suggest this kit to you:

https://www.morebeer.com/products/premium-fermonster-homebrew-starter-kit.html

It comes with virtually everything you need to brew, including an extract kit for your first brew--so you don't even have to make the decision about ingredients, and can focus just on process. The only thing it really lacks is a burner such as a propane turkey burner (for outside), or possibly you could do it on your stove if it's stout enough.

Kristiismean above has it right: buy once. Don't go cheap just to find out you want to upgrade shortly thereafter. The kit above is really a great starting place, the kettle is good, the fermenter is good--it's what I wish I'd bought when I started.

Now, who am I to say how you should enjoy the hobby, and you may enjoy piecing it all together, but as for me, I hated having to figure out all the things I needed. There's a cheaper kit from morebeer, but I'd steer clear; for the extra $100 you get a lot better equipment, something you won't regret.

Anyway, welcome, good luck, and enjoy!
 
Yes, it can become an expensive hobby, but aren't they all? Once you get a good setup and are brewing with it things get less expensive since you only have to buy ingredients. But there is always that next upgrade....for me stainless fermenters and getting my keg setup ready.
 
Welcome

This hobbie is as expensive as you want it to be. But lets say you do 60 gallons of beer (which is 1 5gallon batch per month). 1 gallon will give you about 9 to 10 12oz bottles. So for the year (using 9 bottles per gallon), you get 540 bottles. Lets say your budget is 1 dollar per bottle (which is cheaper than the store) you have $540.00 to spend. Kits are kinda expensive plus your equipment cost could push you close to that 540 mark. But they do have quiet a few kit sales and buy 1 get another half off or what not.
 
I would suggest a small, cheap 5 gallon starter kit. I started off piecing my 5 gallon brew stuff together and quickly went to an 18 gallon 3 vessel setup. Shortly after that I went to brew in a bag with the 18 gallon pot then electric. I'm now on my, hopefully, final setup. I have a 30 gallon boil kettle, 20 gallon mash tun and 20 gallon herms with an electric controller. In the beginning I would have never dreamed of having this equipment and probably thought it to be overkill. I don't think you can "buy once and cry once" from a beginners standpoint. You need to get your feet wet and figure out what you want to do.
 
Welcome to the forum and to this great hobby. That's great that your son turns 21! I have 3 sons (all older and out of the house) and when I get a chance to brew with them it's a great time well spent. Then later we can marvel and brag about the brew we made weeks later! Enjoy brewing with your son!

John
 
Welcome to this wonderful hobby! Aside from equipment, if you can source your brew ingredients for a decent price, it's not crazy expensive. But altogether it can be time consuming.

If you want to brew mostly 5 gallon batches, you need a 10 gallon kettle, especially for all grain brews. You also need a way to heat it. Depending on your heating source a tri-ply bottom may be advised.

I have an 8 gallon kettle and it's just a tad too small for the large wort boils a 5.5-6 gallon recipe demands. I brew in the kitchen on a 3500W countertop induction plate.

Read John Palmer's How to Brew. The new edition of that book is coming out soon, I'd wait for that, but in the mean time, you can find the old edition on the web, with plenty of good information.

Read HBT, do your research and ask questions. :mug:
 
http://www.chicagobrewwerks.com/sto...pment-kit-with-5-gallon-better-bottle/dp/1735

this is most likely what I will buy to get started . I have a burner and a few of the other supplies already. The reason I'm going with these guys is of course they are local ,10 minute drive if I need anything short notice(no shipping,no waiting). They've been in business 5 years and theres classes available for a mere $10 per session. Their supply house is packed and well organized and staff is extremely helpful. I told the guy there I was new to this and what I want to do .
All I meant by being expensive is I usually jump feet first into a hobby ...I already grow my own tobacco (2 years going)and I've invested a lot . Initial investment I understand to spend quality money.
I'm a carpenter and I know to buy good tools once.
 
The next step up in my opinion, is making 2 gallon batches of all-grain beer in the Mr Beer fermenter, or in a bucket and use the Mr Beer thing as a secondary (so you don't need to leave headspace). You probably have most of the equipment already.

Edit: for a typical 2 gallons batch beer, you might use 60 ounces of 2 row, 3 ounces of some kind of crystal malt, and a half ounce of hops. Less than $10. Wait, I forgot the yeast. Add another $2 for a half a packet of yeast.
 
You might want to look at the list given for that starter kit. You might be able to piece it out for less. For one skip the 5 gallon better bottle. It is for secondary fermentation, you don't need it. Skip the lab thermometer, it is too slow... get a good digital. And get Starsan instead of the Easy clean, go to the grocery store and get Oxyclean Versatile for cleaning.
 
Sounds like a great place.

My only advice is to buy a large kettle. Get a 10 gallon or maybe a bit bigger. The reason is that batches are generally 5 gallons in size. You need some headroom during the boil. Having a 10 gallon kettle is great for now and for the future.

BIAB brewing is really pretty easy and inexpensive to start with, and a lot of people stick with it even after they get a handle on AG brewing and can afford to invest in a 3-vessel system. Brewing AG will save you money you can put into a Wort Chiller, or Fermentation Temperature Control. A couple of Very Useful things!

Speaking of temp control, it may be one of the most important aspect in homebrewing. Do yourself a favor and check out some methods for keeping your beer at the proper fermentation temps. This is usually 62-65F for Ales. Maybe a simple Swamp Cooler setup to start with. This is maybe the best way to get a better tasting beer from a good recipe.

Also water is critical. Make sure you don't have Chlorine or Chloramines in your water. Even if you can't taste it, check with your municipality and find out if they have added something. If so, you can use Campden Tablets to neutralize it, or use spring water for brewing. The Chlorines react with the fermentation process to make undesirable flavors that you can easily taste even if you can't taste the chlorine stuff in your water.

Good luck and Cheers! :mug:
 
Soulshine2 said:
http://www.chicagobrewwerks.com/sto...pment-kit-with-5-gallon-better-bottle/dp/1735

this is most likely what I will buy to get started . I have a burner and a few of the other supplies already. The reason I'm going with these guys is of course they are local ,10 minute drive if I need anything short notice(no shipping,no waiting). They've been in business 5 years and theres classes available for a mere $10 per session. Their supply house is packed and well organized and staff is extremely helpful. I told the guy there I was new to this and what I want to do .
All I meant by being expensive is I usually jump feet first into a hobby ...I already grow my own tobacco (2 years going)and I've invested a lot . Initial investment I understand to spend quality money.
I'm a carpenter and I know to buy good tools once.
Click to expand...

I understand the desire to patronize a local retailer, and in general I applaud such efforts. However, i'd never recommend such a kit. Among other things, it doesn't have a long spoon, there's no chiller, and there's no boil kettle. If you look at the kit to which I referred earlier in this thread, it has all of those--plus it doesn't use a pail for a fermentation vessel.

HBT is replete with threads from new brewers using pails who cannot tell what's happening in their fermentation bucket. Maybe it's not bubbling through the airlock, for instance, and they can't tell if there's nothing happening inside or if there is simply a bad seal lid-to-bucket. Using a clear fermenter like the Fermonster means you can monitor what's happening, you'll learn more (IMO) about the brewing and fermentation process as you can watch what happens in the fermenter, it's easy to clean, and you don't have the "what's happening" questions. You know what's happening.

IMO, that's a kit designed to get people into brewing for limited cost, while being a kit they'll outgrow and likely regret buying. In other words, it's hitting a price point, not a quality point.

You know to buy good tools once--well, IMO this kit isn't that.

My 2 cents, in the end, we all make our decisions and own them. Good luck!
 
Soulshine2 said:
Chicago Brew Works is only a 10 minute drive from my house. I was just there a little while ago to pick up some fresh yeast so I can get something hopeful out of the Mr Beer kits I have. I also got a 1/2 pound of Briess 2 row malt and a few air-locks...just to play with . I'm already planning on getting a 5 gallon beginner kit from them , something I can build off of rather easily and its a step up from a 2 gallon plastic barrel and canned ingredients. Can't wait to get brewing. Summer is coming , I turn 50 and my son turns 21 this coming September. What a good time to do this. :mug:
Click to expand...

I still use at least half of the starter equipment that I began with. Mash paddle, buckets, hydrometer etc. And thats after I have over a grand in new equipment that I just bought. grainfather + ssbrewmaster bucket.

As long as you dont get bored of the hobby, your equipment will last damn near forever.

also that kit mongoose posted is far better than the brewers best one for not much more.
 
My GF wanted to buy a Harley. But she decided to buy a Honda Rebel to learn to ride, then she would sell it, get her money out of it, then buy the HD once she learned to ride. Well, she was ready to move up in 6 months but had a heck of a time selling the Honda starter bike. She ended up losing half of what she paid on a HD trade in. Lesson learned.....take your time and buy what you really want to begin with. Starter kits rarely provide premium kettles and other equipment since they tend to appeal to the beginning brewer. Learn the ropes at places like brew clubs or this forum, then buy the equipment you want one time.
 
mongoose33 said:
I understand the desire to patronize a local retailer, and in general I applaud such efforts. However, i'd never recommend such a kit. Among other things, it doesn't have a long spoon, there's no chiller, and there's no boil kettle. If you look at the kit to which I referred earlier in this thread, it has all of those--plus it doesn't use a pail for a fermentation vessel.

HBT is replete with threads from new brewers using pails who cannot tell what's happening in their fermentation bucket. Maybe it's not bubbling through the airlock, for instance, and they can't tell if there's nothing happening inside or if there is simply a bad seal lid-to-bucket. Using a clear fermenter like the Fermonster means you can monitor what's happening, you'll learn more (IMO) about the brewing and fermentation process as you can watch what happens in the fermenter, it's easy to clean, and you don't have the "what's happening" questions. You know what's happening.

IMO, that's a kit designed to get people into brewing for limited cost, while being a kit they'll outgrow and likely regret buying. In other words, it's hitting a price point, not a quality point.

You know to buy good tools once--well, IMO this kit isn't that.

My 2 cents, in the end, we all make our decisions and own them. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Good points, and I also agree that seeing what is going on in the fermentor is educating, and it's also fun and interesting. However, it doesn't really affect the beer in the end (or shouldn't).

Buckets are cheap and they work. There is a good chance it will leak and you won't see the bubbles in the airlock for the whole fermentation. Big deal. I would rather put the extra $$ towards something more useful like a chiller and educate the new brewer to NOT use the airlock as a guide. They can upgrade to a Stainless bucket, plastic conical, glass carboy or BMB or whatever later if their bucket doesn't serve them well.

That's my 2 cents on it.

OP as you can see, there are many different ways to brew good beer. Keep reading and getting people's opinions and advice you will surely come up with what works well for you, even changing it over time, likely.
 
It's not as expensive as collecting cars... :D welcome to the hobby and the forum. I know what you mean, it seemed like every time I went to the. LHBS I dropped around $50 and even more once in a while. Same thing when shopping online. Now that I pretty much have what I need for equipment I just need ingredients and spend $20 or less per visit. (For 2.5 -3 gallon batches) I reuse yeast which saves $8 here and there.
 
kh54s10 said:
You might want to look at the list given for that starter kit. You might be able to piece it out for less. For one skip the 5 gallon better bottle. It is for secondary fermentation, you don't need it. Skip the lab thermometer, it is too slow... get a good digital. And get Starsan instead of the Easy clean, go to the grocery store and get Oxyclean Versatile for cleaning.
Click to expand...

Exactly my thoughts. Kits are kits, one size does not fit all.

+1 on a digital thermometer. I'm using the CDN DTQ450X, I bought for $16 off Amazon. There are others, better and pricier ones.

Make your own (PBW) brewery cleaner from Oxiclean Free with some TSP/90 added to it for extra oomph.

Kit price is fair, but includes some substandard quality items you want or need to replace, or items not needed.

Contents:
• 6.5 gallon "Ale Pail" Primary Fermenter with Grommeted Lid $12-16
• 6.5 gallon "Ale Pail" Bottling Bucket with Spigot $13-16
xx 5 Gallon Better Bottle Carboy ==? "Secondaries" are rarely needed
xx "Home Beermaking" Book ==> Get the new, 4th edition of How to Brew (out in June 2017)
xx Easy Clean No- Rinse Cleanser ==> Use Oxiclean Free / Get Starsan
xx Drilled Rubber Stopper
• Triple Scale Hydrometer ==> you may want a slightly better one $10-14
• Siphon Hose and Shut-Off Clamp $3
• Twin Lever Capper ==> Flimsy Red or Black all plastic. You can get a better metal one for $15-18
• Liquid Crystal Thermometer $2 This is a stick-on
• Lab Thermometer ==> Get a better, digital one $16
• Brew Paddle $5 This is a 24" long plastic spoon
• Airlock $1
• Fermtech Auto Siphon ~$10, or get a Stainless racking cane for $14
• Bottle Filler ~$3
• Bottle Brush ~$3
xx Equipment Instructions ==> ??? / No value

At the maximum estimated price with replacements for better, omitting items not needed: Total around $111, possibly less.
 
Yep, I usually spend more than $50 on a visit. Much if that is usually sacks of grain, but there is usually a toy or device I want to try. Good thing I usually buy bulk or plan ahead and only go about 4 times a year. Even a plan to only get a couple of specialty malts turns into a $50 bill by the time I leave!

Be aware that some recipes are WAY more expensive than others. Usually the more malt and hops you need, the more it's going to cost you. You could see a difference of 2-3 times the cost in some cases. By being just a little careful, though, I can make Two-Hearted IPA for about 1/3 the price of the store, and it's darn close to the original in flavor.
 
Oh, and i don't want sound like I'm discouraging you from the kit that Mongoose linked. It looks like a great kit. Some good quality items in there and the kettle should be big enough to suit your needs unless you go up to 10 gallon batches.

My discussion about fermentors was only meant to imply that seeing the active fermentation isn't making or breaking the batch you brew. I have a Plastic BMB and love it, although when my wife and kids got it for me they got the 5 gallon version, so I use it for dry hopping, small batch primary, etc. It's too small to use as a 5 gallon primary (unless I use fermcap to control foaming, but I don't really want to.)

The fermonster is a very inexpensive option to start with. I really like my Stainless Chapman Bucket, but I wouldn't necessarily start with one for the $$.
 
Kettle wise, if you don't have a decent sized pot yet to get started, you can buy a 4-6 gallon kettle in Walmart (stock pot) or restaurant supply store for $15-20.

Many items in the kit you can even do without. Or look on Craigslist, there are often people selling their brew equipment, for less than half or even a smaller fraction of what they paid for it.

Again, many ways of tackling the hobby. But make sure you like it enough before investing big money.

In the end, ingredients will consume most money for each batch. Equipment is mostly a one time investment. My first brew cost me over $15 a pint. And after some upgrades and extra equipment, we were drinking $30 pints for a while. :D

It's down to about $1 a pint now, unless it's a NE IPA, they're $1.50.
 
It can be totally cheap and actually save you money...or it can get really as expensive as you want.

For now, i'm in the group of people that would have been worse off if I had bought all that great beer in the store instead of making it myself.

This might change in the summer as i've got my eye on a bulldog brewer electrical kettle.
 
I don't know how anyone could call brewing expensive, but perhaps I am doing it wrong. It is definitely a time investment, but I mostly brew in winter and spring, and it is extremely painful when I run out of homebrew in august or september and have to buy store-bought beer for a month or so. I spend literally twice as much when I'm not brewing, and the beer is not as good.

In 26 years of brewing, I'm pretty sure I haven't spent $1000 in equipment yet, so even if I amortize that over the couple hundred batches I've done, it's still way less than half the price of store-bought beer, and much better.
 
Morrey said:
My GF wanted to buy a Harley. But she decided to buy a Honda Rebel to learn to ride, then she would sell it, get her money out of it, then buy the HD once she learned to ride. Well, she was ready to move up in 6 months but had a heck of a time selling the Honda starter bike. She ended up losing half of what she paid on a HD trade in. Lesson learned.....take your time and buy what you really want to begin with. Starter kits rarely provide premium kettles and other equipment since they tend to appeal to the beginning brewer. Learn the ropes at places like brew clubs or this forum, then buy the equipment you want one time.
Click to expand...

Lesson learned, buy a USED rebel to learn on, or borrow/rent someone else's bike for a couple months.

Life is full of accounts of disasters from people who tried to learn on a big bike.
 
If you're going to brew 5 gallon batches, I recommend getting a 6 or 7 gallon plastic carboy. They have several models there at Chicago Brew Werks. Use that for a primary and you can watch the whole process, and you won't need a secondary; just a bottling bucket. (I often bottle straight out of my primary, putting priming sugar in the bottles)

I have 4 gallon plastic carboys -- translucent plastic, so I can't really see what's going on in there -- and 3, 5, and 6 gallon glass carboys. Glass is heavy, slippery, and breakable, so I'm trying to get away from using them for beer; save them for bulk aging wine.
 
motosapiens said:
buy a USED rebel to learn on, or borrow/rent someone else's bike for a couple months.
Click to expand...

Great example. For a new brewer to rush out and buy equipment sight unseen may lead to poor choices....maybe not, but chances are some things will never be used. I know starter kits are very common as I bought one too. Once the OP knows the various brewing systems commonly used, he/she can make solid choices based on experience. Until I watched a buddy do BIAB, I never would have predicted this would be my long-term choice of systems when I began.
 
Homercidal said:
Sounds like a great place.

My only advice is to buy a large kettle. Get a 10 gallon or maybe a bit bigger. The reason is that batches are generally 5 gallons in size. You need some headroom during the boil. Having a 10 gallon kettle is great for now and for the future.

BIAB brewing is really pretty easy and inexpensive to start with, and a lot of people stick with it even after they get a handle on AG brewing and can afford to invest in a 3-vessel system. Brewing AG will save you money you can put into a Wort Chiller, or Fermentation Temperature Control. A couple of Very Useful things!

Speaking of temp control, it may be one of the most important aspect in homebrewing. Do yourself a favor and check out some methods for keeping your beer at the proper fermentation temps. This is usually 62-65F for Ales. Maybe a simple Swamp Cooler setup to start with. This is maybe the best way to get a better tasting beer from a good recipe.

Also water is critical. Make sure you don't have Chlorine or Chloramines in your water. Even if you can't taste it, check with your municipality and find out if they have added something. If so, you can use Campden Tablets to neutralize it, or use spring water for brewing. The Chlorines react with the fermentation process to make undesirable flavors that you can easily taste even if you can't taste the chlorine stuff in your water.

Good luck and Cheers! :mug:
Click to expand...
First of all, would this be a better starter kit?
http://www.chicagobrewwerks.com/store/brewers-best-deluxe-equipment-kit/dp/1734
second, we have (limestone bedrock in this county)well water with a water softener. I filter through a PUR. No chlorine .
I will say this much - the Safale-US-05 yeast I got there yesterday because the yeast that came with the kits were almost 3 yrs old , was bubbling away nicely this morning. Which tells me the guy gave me something I could use to make even an old kit come to life. I realize that I have at least a week before I can taste anything to tell for sure.
 
Soulshine2 said:
First of all, would this be a better starter kit?
http://www.chicagobrewwerks.com/store/brewers-best-deluxe-equipment-kit/dp/1734
second, we have (limestone bedrock in this county)well water with a water softener. I filter through a PUR. No chlorine .
I will say this much - the Safale-US-05 yeast I got there yesterday because the yeast that came with the kits were almost 3 yrs old , was bubbling away nicely this morning. Which tells me the guy gave me something I could use to make even an old kit come to life. I realize that I have at least a week before I can taste anything to tell for sure.
Click to expand...

You're going to the brew store in person, so there's no real need to buy a kit. That kit still has stuff you probably don't need, and other stuff you'll want to upgrade. One 6.5 gallon bucket is probably useful; don't know why you'd need two. If you use glass carboys, you *need* handles for them. It would still be better to use a plastic one. You will drop and break a full glass carboy eventually :(

I've been using a spring-loaded bottle filler for years. Last time I was at the LHBS, I bought a new slightly different one that doesn't have a spring and you can top up your bottles with it. It's amazing how much better it works than my old one. It fills a lot faster, and the shutoff doesn't leak.

I bought one of those auto-siphons a year ago and it's a piece of junk. I've gone back to using a plastic racking cane, which is cheaper anyway.

You also want a digital thermometer instead of an old-fashioned glass laboratory thermometer. You can get that from Amazon if CBW doesn't sell them.

What are you using for a boil kettle? Will your stove boil that much?
 
Yes it can be expensive. I just purchased a 20 gallon brew kettle (SS Brewtech) from Morebeer.com. This is to replace my keggle, which is functional but I wanted less dead space (from the concave bottom) and what not. Plus I wanted something slightly larger since I do BIAB and wanted to squeeze some more wort/grains into the mix to get more into the fermenters. Now the keggle will go up on Craigslist if no one from my home brew club is interested in it.
 
Morrey said:
My GF wanted to buy a Harley. But she decided to buy a Honda Rebel to learn to ride, then she would sell it, get her money out of it, then buy the HD once she learned to ride. Well, she was ready to move up in 6 months but had a heck of a time selling the Honda starter bike. She ended up losing half of what she paid on a HD trade in. Lesson learned.....take your time and buy what you really want to begin with. Starter kits rarely provide premium kettles and other equipment since they tend to appeal to the beginning brewer. Learn the ropes at places like brew clubs or this forum, then buy the equipment you want one time.
Click to expand...

I own a Harley , my second one in fact. I had a Honda Shadow to begin on ,didn't have any trouble selling it. I then bought a 02 Heritage Springer which I owned and rode for 70K miles in 10 yrs and then traded that in for my current 15 Ultra Limited hats already been to CO and back. Theres no way I would have started on an Ultra so that point was entirely invalid. But I get what youre saying. I'm a carpenter and I know to buy the best tools instead of cheapies repeatedly. I realize you guys have all sorts of room to do this , I have a kitchen and not much left of a garage . I don't need to make more than 5 gallons . I'd settle for a case at a time so with 2 Mr Beer fermenters I'd split the batch . I can't be spending that much for beer making supplies. I can buy a lot of beer for $225 and only use up a fraction of space. Its not that important.
 
Do you already have a 12 quart or larger kettle that will fit on your kitchen stove? That would boil enough wort to do 2 gallons of all-grain beer in your Mr Beer fermenter. Two gallons is almost a case of beer.

I have an 8 gallon kettle that I bought used, but my kitchen stove won't bring it to a full boil even on the high-output burner. So i'm using a 22 quart canner that I already had. That limits me to 4 gallon batches, but that's okay. I can brew 5 and 6 gallons in the summer, when I'm brewing outside anyway.
 
If you are thinking about growing your equipment and you enjoy the hobby so far may I suggest going to all keg based equipment. Get a burner and a keggle. These will be good for extract @ 5 gallons, then also good for BIAB/lautering all grain 10g later on. Ferment in Sanke kegs. Glass is dangerous and awkward to handle/clean. There are soooo many reasons to ferment in steel, but my two favorite are the ease of sterilizing (steaming on a burner) and safety (especially when moving in and out of keezers/fridge for temp control). You can get 15.5 g or 7.5 g for either 5 of 10 g batches.

Like many people have said, buy once.
 
I really appreciate what some of you are trying to tell me but let me reitterate...I don't want to take up every square inch of my empty space OR spend all my money on beer equipment . I have 2 stainless steel pots that hold 4 gallons each , the 2 - 2 gallon kit barrels to open ferment in and a couple food grade 5 gallon buckets with lids right now to make a case each . I'm fine with that. I do have a digital thermometer . I don't have an auto-siphon but I do have a shake siphon...it has a copper end with a glass check ball in it and you just shake it up and down to start the siphon, siphons 4 gallons in less than a minute. Best siphon mechanism I've ever spent money on. I could see buying the 6.5 gallon pot and fermenter for head space to make 5 gallon batches . 10 gallons is really pushing it. Our stove is new last year and has a high output burner. I also have a propane burner so boiling 5 gallons is not a problem. Not trying to open a micro-brewery here ,just a hobby. Scale it down for me please, fellas. As I said this supply house is 10 minutes away local and they have supplies on hand and can offer all the personal help as I need it. They sell these kits as a convenience to piecemeal equipment purchasing. I don't see why they would sell a kit that had to be immediately upgraded right away . Right now ,I am waiting for these Mr Beer kits to finish out to see if I even want to continue on to 5 gallon batches. Wife likes the banana /clove of Hefeweissen and I plan on working up to a batch of that ,her birthday is end of March. If that turns out to be what I hope , it will be easier expanding to the bigger size kit equipment. Shes already questioned me about "another big hobby?"
Don't take any offense guys, I'm just wetting my whistle right now. I'll test the waters a bit before I dive in head first. I really do appreciate all the comments and advice.
 
I'm thinking back to when I started brewing, about 15 months ago. I'm up to my 28th batch, 25 of which have been all-grain. So I'm experienced to some degree, but I also remember very well what it was like to start out.

If you don't want to spend much, then just go w/ the kit from your local store. You can solicit advice here until you're blue in the face, but you already have enough. Just get the cheapest option you can, try it, then upgrade as you want, and consider the wasted money on the cheap stuff the price you had to pay.

So, what do I know now that I wish I'd known back then? You're getting lots of advice in a similar vein here, not just from me. Overall, what people are suggesting (for the most part) is that you go higher in quality.

***************

Interestingly, there's a conundrum here. I think that the better the equipment--up to a point--the more likely you are to enjoy the hobby. Case in point: chilling the wort. You can try the no-chill approach, but that means you have a kettle of cooling beer sitting around for a day. Or you can try to chill in a sink w/ water and ice. That'll work, but it'll take an hour or two. Or you can buy a chiller you run off a sink or outside hose, and chill in under 15 minutes. Depends on how long you want your brew day to be, I suppose.

Suppose during your first brew day it takes 7 hours. It might, actually. Do it on a weekend day just in case. At the end of 7 hours, you have made beer (well, not yet, not until bottled and carbed, add 3 weeks).

You look at that 7-hour investment of time and say, for a 5-gallon batch, "What the heck--7 hours to produce 50 bottles of beer? I might as well buy it." And there you are.

I brewed Sunday. 4 hours. I set up the night before, and it went like clockwork on Sunday. I didn't lose the day, I have some great beer going in the fermenter, and I'm looking forward to brewing again this weekend. Why do I do this? I LOVE my beer, I think it's wonderful to have my own excellent beer on tap at my beck and call.

Will a 7-hour brew day dissuade you? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe you can see efficiencies in how you might do things differently (you will). Maybe you can see different equipment that might help. And maybe you find it so interesting and cathartic that the 7-hour time period is more like meditation.

In the end, again, you get to decide what you want out of this. All the rest of us can do it relate our own experience and what it taught US.

*************

I've had a few big hobbies. It's part of what makes life fun for me. I suspect you, too.

*************

One other consideration: suppose you decide you don't like this. You'll want to sell your equipment, right? If you buy quality equipment now, there's a market for it. For cheap stuff, probably not so much.

Of course, if you're like me, you might see any "loss" as the price you paid for having an interesting learning experience. I once bought a Hi-Point pistol (cheap, cheap, cheap) because I'd read online there were ways to make it a great performer, with some mods and polishing of parts and so on.

Well. I found that the pistol would jam using my own handloaded ammo (a truncated cone bullet if that matters), but would shoot commercial fine. I sold that pistol and took about a $40 loss on it--but I considered the learning and fun of trying to make it work well worth the $40. Heck, people spend that going to the movies, and what do they have to show at the end of it?

So, to each their own. The only guy you have to please here is you.
 
z-bob said:
You're going to the brew store in person, so there's no real need to buy a kit. That kit still has stuff you probably don't need, and other stuff you'll want to upgrade. One 6.5 gallon bucket is probably useful; don't know why you'd need two. If you use glass carboys, you *need* handles for them. It would still be better to use a plastic one. You will drop and break a full glass carboy eventually :(

I've been using a spring-loaded bottle filler for years. Last time I was at the LHBS, I bought a new slightly different one that doesn't have a spring and you can top up your bottles with it. It's amazing how much better it works than my old one. It fills a lot faster, and the shutoff doesn't leak.

I bought one of those auto-siphons a year ago and it's a piece of junk. I've gone back to using a plastic racking cane, which is cheaper anyway.

You also want a digital thermometer instead of an old-fashioned glass laboratory thermometer. You can get that from Amazon if CBW doesn't sell them.

What are you using for a boil kettle? Will your stove boil that much?
Click to expand...

mostly agree with you, but auto-siphons are an amazing invention worth every penny.
 

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