Which beginner kit (from limited options where I am located)

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deeve007

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Hi fellow beer lovers!

I'm sure the "which kit" has been asked a few times, but possibly not by someone in my current location, Buenos Aires in Argentina. My Spanish is "okay" but not quite good enough to understand everything I need...

I have a bar owning friend here that recommended this kit:

But a home brewing friend of mine (from Australia) says that looks a bit big for a first time brewer, so I've found these kits from another supplier here:
So I'm trying to work out the main differences in the various price points, and which kit will provide me with all that I'd need to brew my first beer at the lowest price entry point, but have what I need. I don't really need to buy a big pot to boil as I have one of those...

Any help/guidance would be mightily appreciated!

Dave.
 
First, welcome to HBT!

Much (if not all) depends on how dedicated you are to brew your own beer, and the availability of needed ingredients. If you want to just try it to see if you like it, brew a few small batches on the stove in cooking pots you probably already have.

Regarding those brew equipment kits:

1) You don't really need 2 kettles. One larger kettle is generally more useful.

2) and 3) That's a 'Mr. Beer' kinda kit. Not really brewing, just dissolving premade canned extracts and sugar. Doesn't make good beer.

4) Most money is in the kettle and... the bench capper! For beginning brewers, that capper (~$50-60 in the US) is overkill, relatively expensive for what it is, while they tend to break (plastic parts under stress). An all metal wing capper (~$15 in the US, Morebeer.com) is all you need to cap bottles. I still have and use that one after 10 years. It can't break. Plastic ones are cheaper, I just don't like the feel of them.
That kettle seems to be made from fairly thin aluminum. It can be used, but if you're serious about brewing, go with stainless. How about a restaurant supply store, surplus, flea market, classifieds (e.g., Craigslist), etc.?

The choice of kettle is important when brewing and the size needed depends on what size batches and brewing method you want to do. You also need a suitable heating source. For example you can't boil 5 gallons (20 liter) on many kitchen stoves.

Most beginning brewers do partial boils using (unhopped) extracts, with or without steeping grains. A 4-5 gallon (15-20 liter) kettle is fine, so is probably a kettle found in a thrift shop, flea market, or "grandma's basement" that was used for canning. Then when those brewers get more advanced (after 2-20 brews), and want to do full volume boils or all grain they need a bigger kettle, certainly when 'brewing in a bag' (BIAB). So now there's another money outlay needed.

Have you read up on homebrewing? Do you have access to the ingredients needed?

There are 4 main kinds of brewing:
  1. Pre-hopped canned malt extracts, sugar, with perhaps some dry extract - Doesn't need to be boiled, just mix in warm water and chill. Does not make very good beer, while ingredients are way overpriced. The "illusion of brewing beer" is what sells those cans and ingredient kits. If you really like beer, buy it or brew better, real beer (options 2-4, below).
  2. Extract brewing - Boiling wort made from malt extracts with hops for 30-60 minutes. You can brew lots of good and excellent beer that way. Many styles can be brewed that way, but not all. The better recipes use some steeping grains for better flavor.
  3. Partial Mash - Like extract brewing, but a good % of the fermentables come from mashing (base) grains. This expands the types of beer that can be brewed. Since one needs to mash, most move on to 4 (below) sooner or later.
  4. All Grain - The sky's the limit beer style wise. Brew in a Bag (BIAB) is a very popular take on this, as everything is done in a large boil kettle. For 5 gallon batches a 10-15 gallon kettle is recommended. And an adequate heat source to boil that volume. You also need a chiller, although no-chill is a really viable option if water is scarce.
You can ferment in a large plastic (food grade) bucket with a well closing lid, no need for fancy "fermenters." Buckets are easy to clean too. Bonus: They come with a built in handle!

Read up around these forums for ideas and practical applications that may suit your style and setup. The more you know...
 
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AND go to youtube and watch partial grain or extract brewing, by people who are doing it. Watching is almost as good as doing, and you will see that there are things you may already own or have easy access to.
Example: you can use a food grade (important to use food grade and know what a used pot was used for) Bucket to brew in, but a Water bottle like at an office will work better, because you can seal it better and monitor it.
IF you can make a box of macaroni and cheese and save left overs well, you can brew beer!
 
One thing new homebrewers face is how much to spend and on what--and what makes it tough is the tendency to spend as little as reasonable to see if one likes it before spending a lot of money on it only to find out one doesn't want to continue.

And often...that can work at cross purposes to enjoyment. I think you should try to not cheap out (assuming your resources will permit it), and buy quality. The only thing that buying cheap did for me was to give me equipment I replaced and on which I regretted spending that money in the first place.

A few things I'd suggest you look for:

1. A 10-gallon or 38-liter kettle. That will allow you flexibility to do all-grain brewing using something called "Brew in a Bag" which is an all-grain approach but using simpler equipment than a traditional 2- or 3-vessel system. You can do everything else you'd want to with a 10-gallon kettle, but it will allow you to grow if you want. It will accommodate 5-gallon batches.

1a. I think a kettle with a ball valve is very valuable.

2. I don't know what fermenters are available to you, but those with the narrow neck like shown in the $200 kit are hard to clean. If they're glass, they're potentially dangerous. There are plastic fermenters with wide mouths that are easy to clean, and can't injure you. Something like the fermonster.

2a. I like spigots on my fermenters. Much better than trying to use a siphon.

3. An immersion chiller is a valuable addition, but the one shown in the $200 setup looks like junk. You *can* make your own out of copper tubing, many have done that.

Those are some ideas; whatever you do, allow this to be fun. It should be. It's fun to learn, to explore, figure out what you want, and eventually, to brew beer.

Brewing is supposed to be fun. In the immortal words of the Beatles, "Let it BE!"
 
Equipment kits are compromises, a marketing tool, a strategy. It's the illusion of home brewing that sells kits, whether brewing is for you still needs to be explored. That's why I mentioned brewing a few small batches on the stove first using what you have.

Unless an equipment kit contains exactly what you want, and is offered at a discount price that's impossible to pass up, chances are you'll end up with inferior products, you want or need to replace at later point, possibly as soon as after your first brew. A good example is that bench capper, which looks great, good for marketing (the illusion, remember) but it doesn't brew beer. Maybe they overstocked those and need to move them, on the consumers' dime.

Availability of ingredients
This is paramount, and with that quality and cost. Dry Malt Extracts (DME) are pricey here in the US, around $4 a pound (retail). I can only imagine what they run where you are. Grain (malted grain, exactly) may be be much easier to obtain and hopefully at decent pricing. That would help making your decision. How about hops? Yeast?
Stay away from canned (liquid) malt extract, any of it. If that stuff isn't super fresh (dates mean diddly squat), it's lousy.

Thank you, @mongoose33 for your take on this, adding many valuable pointers. Yeah, that chiller looks like it was bent by a 12-year old around an old lamp post.
 
Came across this article/minimum equipment list: https://homebrewanswers.com/minimum-equipment-all-grain-brew/

I'm liking the look of this, nice simple & cheap setup (in amount of materials, not neccesarily quality as you say).

Anything wrong with the advice in this article?

(and very appreciative guys, I've been around pro brewers a little and the one thing I love is their openess to help others, which I can see in the home brew arena too... :) )
 
@deeve007 That blog article ^ looks pretty solid. There are a few details one may want to do differently, but generally it's a good BIAB method.

Yup, a stock pot! And a suitable bag (large paint strainer bag) or sew one from a piece of voile curtain material.

You can keep the kettle (if it fits) in a pre-warmed but turned off oven to keep the mash temp better during the hour rest.
Or wrap a sleeping bag or thick blanket around it, as well as cover the lid with something insulating. Anything to keep the heat in.

It sound like you ready for brewing, hanging out with pro-brewers is infectious. Can you get a decent size kettle? How big of batches do you want to brew?
The kettle determines your brew size pretty much. Or just brew 2 smaller (1/2 size) batches and combine in the fermenter. Many ways to do this.

As the writer said, you need a few other pieces, like a thermometer, hydrometer, airlock, fermenting, bucket, etc. You can probably buy those loose, no need to buy an equipment kit with half the stuff being inferior or you don't need/want.

Start collecting recappable bottles (no twist offs)...
 
I like the sound of the smaller batches, then being able to 1) learn from mistakes quicker, and 2) brew more varied beers in a shorter timeframe, even experiment once I've got the main process down pat.

And I can buy 10l recipe kits here easy enough, until I'm experienced enough to purchase the ingredients seperately, eg: https://thebeercompany.com.ar/producto/pale-ale-2/

So yeah, I think it's just about buying the basic items I need and jumping in now!

Appreciate the help!
 
That list is ok, but it's for..2-gallon batches. Is that what you want?

Here's the best beginner's kit I've ever seen; it includes an extract kit, worth probably $30, so all of it is $209. Free shipping too.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/premium-home-brewing-kit.html

Now, I know that doesn't help you in Buenos Aires, but if you look at the list of items, it's what I'd consider complete with these minor exceptions:

1. The kettle is 8.5 gallons. I'd do 10. If you want to do 5-gallon batches and BIAB, a 10 is really what you want.

2. No heat source, so you need a way to boil the wort.

3. No BIAB bag. Paint strainer bags, you can make your own as @IslandLizard notes.

4. No bottles, though they do include caps and a capper.

There really is no wasted crap in the list. I'm going to reproduce the list of components here, with comments where I think comments are worthy
  • 7 Gallon Fermonster fermenter with built in spigot, stopper, and airlock
  • 8.5 Gallon Stainless Steel Brew Kettle w/ thermometer port, stainless ball valve, internal volume markers, Silicone handle grips (I think 10 gallons is better)
  • Copper Wort Chiller for quick cooling
  • Food Grade Bucket for bottling
  • Mesh bags for grain and hops on brew day
  • A Thermometer for easy temperature management
  • Hydrometer for making key sugar measurements
  • Transfer Tubing
  • Bottling Wand with shut off valve
  • Sturdy Bottle Capper
  • Bottle Caps
  • Bottle Cleaning Brush
  • Star San Sanitizer for true sanitizing (Star-San is the gold standard)
  • Large Stainless Steel Spoon for mixing
  • Craftmeister Cleaning Tablets for super easy cleaning (PBW is the gold standard)
  • Delicious American Pale Ale recipe kit with yeast
 
That list is ok, but it's for..2-gallon batches. Is that what you want?

Yeah I think after weighing up pros & cons, it is what I want to start with. Creating ~10 litres (18-20 bottles) would last me a couple of weeks drinking at least, and then I can try a completely new beer style rather than have to wait such a long time to finish all the beer I make.

Add to that I'm here now for just 6 months more, I'm not looking to make a huge investment, more to learn, with the investment coming once I'm back home and settled.

But do appreciate that list, great refererence even on a smaller scale!
 
The sanitizer you point to is translated as "Starsan," but it doesn't look like what we get here at all. Neither is the company ("Five Star") mentioned on the label. It says to use at 0.5-1% dilution, which is way higher than we do. I doubt it's the same product.
Can you get the real brand StarSan?

In comparison, the Starsan we get here is diluted 1 fl oz per 5 US gallons of water (30 ml per 19 liters) that's a 0.16% working solution, and is truly non-rinse.

That fermenter (large plastic bottle) with the narrow neck... Hard to clean + no way to get to the nut on the spigot, to remove and clean it.
I'd take the cylindrical fermenter with the wide lid, you can stick your arm in it to clean and tighten the nut on the spigot.

Thermometer is glass, very fragile! It may be accurate though. I'd probably look for a digital one around US$15:
https://www.amazon.com/CDN-DTQ450X-ProAccurate-Quick-Read-Thermometer/dp/B0021AEAG2/ref=pd_sim_k_6
I've used one of those for many years until I finally bought a better/faster/more precise one for $80 (Thermapen Mk4).
 
May not have any option with the sanitiser but will be asking some pro brew mates here about that.
(and it's very unlikely the same product, lots of local versions of foreign brand name products exist here due to very high import duties & taxes)

And limited with thermometer options here for an affordable price, but will see what non-glass options there are.

[edit]
Oh hang on, this isn't too expensive: https://minicerveceria.com/medicion-y-control/423-termometro-digital-con-sonda
[/edit]

I'm also thinking that getting my ass moving on trying a first brew with all those items costing around just US$50 is what I need and then once I've actually seen how "easy" the main part is I can delve into the errors I made, or the steps that could be improved with better equipment, and potentially see what I can have "muled" from the US (smaller items). It's one thing to read about and watch others doing it, quite another to learn from doing it yourself, as I'm sure all you experienced guys know.

Appreciate the advice once more!
 
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I'm also thinking that getting my ass moving on trying a first brew with all those items costing around just US$50 is what I need and then once I've actually seen how "easy" the main part is I can delve into the errors I made, or the steps that could be improved with better equipment, and potentially see what I can have "muled" from the US (smaller items). It's one thing to read about and watch others doing it, quite another to learn from doing it yourself, as I'm sure all you experienced guys know.

Yep, at some point you've got to stick your oars in the water and start rowing. I think you've done some nice due diligence here.

Once you've done this one time so much more of what you read will make sense based on your experience with it.

And FWIW: one of the fastest ways to speed up the learning curve is to watch someone do a brew day. Is there anyone there you could watch, or have kibbitz when you do it? I've gotten the sense there is nothing like that, but if there is.... When I started brewing I watched a friend do an extract brew day. It made so much that much easier to understand.

Alternatively, there may be some Youtube videos that might be helpful on that. I have no suggestions there, and the difficulty is finding a video where the person knows what they're doing.

Good luck; I'm anxious to see how this all works out for you. It's exciting!
 
Thanks mate! The "brew days" I can watch here are of large, professional brewer setups (I have a few friends that own breweries here), which is great to watch but not that relevant to home brewing... ;)
(actually got to see a colab between local brewer Dos Dingoes run by 2 guys that lived in Australia for a decade, and Australian brewer Bonehead Brewing, who were in town for an "Extreme Beer" event a couple weeks ago... very cool to watch and just listen to the stuff they were discussing)

And have found loads of great stuff on Youtube once I really identified what I needed to watch (helped by the above info and other stuff on this site), so feel like I've watched a few home brew days... hence next step, give it a go!!

I'll probably take some photos at least (maybe not video) and document a little for other first timers if it ends up being worthwhile doing so (depends if it goes well or not... ;)).
 
Iodine/Povidone based sanitizers are very good too. Just not quite as easy as acid+surfactant based sanitizers like "Starsan."
Yes, ask your pro connections, maybe they can fill you a bottle with the good stuff.

Careful, those probes may not be submersible. If any water/wort can go inside that probe, it's toast. If it hasn't a good seal, a dab of silicone will seal it.
 
Well materials purchased and on their way... and all up cost me around ~US$60 with everything I need (I think ;)), much cheaper than the "kits" I first posted about and with only the stuff needed. And at that price if I need to buy a couple more things no big deal...

Thanks all for your help... and I will obviously report back once I've done my first brew, or if I have any questions during the brewing/fermenting ...etc.
 
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