I think I'm going to start brewing this year.

[antone112]

I searched for some home beginner kits and came across this.



Brewing Starter Kit : Midwest Supplies

Would this be a good stater kit? Or should I look elsewhere?

 

[Cobrabit]

Yes, it is a good starter kit and is basically an industry standard for beginner kits. You will have to add a brew kettle (around 4 gallons), bottles, and ingredients, but that kit has everything else you would need until you get the fever and decide to upgrade to all-grain and kegging. I know Midwest also has starter kits that come with the kettle, bottles, and a recipe, so you may want to look at that add on if you don't already have a kettle.

I order a lot of my ingredients from Midwest and have been very satisfied.

 

[mem49er]

I wish to raise my glass to you, gentleman. I got a friend that brews but haven't had time to check it out with him. Sounds interesting, though.

 

[757Hokie83]

I searched for some home beginner kits and came across this.



Brewing Starter Kit : Midwest Supplies

Would this be a good stater kit? Or should I look elsewhere?

looks good. the starter kit that i got 5 or so years ago had all the same stuff, except instead of a plastic fermentation bucket, i got 2 glass garboys, 5 gal and 6.5.

 

[Sleepy T]

Happy brewing Antone! I got into about a year ago and it has quickly become my biggest hobby. What are you doing about bottles?? I drink alot of commercial craft brews and save all of my bottles (no twist offs). It is a bit of a pain in the ass to soak and get the labels off of them, but you can save alot of money if you do that, especially if you like to show off and pass some of yours away to your beer snob buddies. Better yet, if you have the jack..go ahead and get a keg set up. I still haven't been able to do it due to $$$. :frown: Hopefully Santa will bring me some beer stuff.

The starter kit looks about like what I have..

 

[sooner78wakeboard]

I am thinking about it as well. After checking out this forum in addition to having friends to do it, I am intrigued.

 

[757Hokie83]

 

[wartyOne]

Two big pieces of advice.

1). If you have a spare fridge, you can control your fermentation temperature with this Analog Temperature Controller | MoreBeer. This is important for several reasons, most of which revolve around hot fermentations producing esters (not always bad, but sometimes inappropriate), and the ability to cold crash your beer (dropping everything out of suspension; this leads to having bright beer).

2). If you think you'll get hooked, don't even bother with the starter kit. Spend more up front. In two months you'll be glad you did. Stainless is expensive, and all grain brewing takes hours. Start out bigger and work into your system.

 

[wartyOne]

Happy brewing Antone! I got into about a year ago and it has quickly become my biggest hobby. What are you doing about bottles?? I drink alot of commercial craft brews and save all of my bottles (no twist offs). It is a bit of a pain in the ass to soak and get the labels off of them, but you can save alot of money if you do that, especially if you like to show off and pass some of yours away to your beer snob buddies. Better yet, if you have the jack..go ahead and get a keg set up. I still haven't been able to do it due to $$$. :frown: Hopefully Santa will bring me some beer stuff.

The starter kit looks about like what I have..

Some good advice in here. Go the keg route if you can. You can always take a growler to a party.

If you can't go the keg route (money, fridge; whatever), then getting bottles this way is a great idea. I recommend Dos Equis Amber for this. The labels aren't terrible to remove, and the bottles are exactly what you're looking for, plus the beer isn't expensive. When you soak the bottles, get the water as hot as it will go (not as hot as you can stand); the hotter, the better. The heat breaks down the glue that holds the labels on. Use a green scrubbing pad (the 3M heavy duty pads) to remove stubborn labels/glue residue.

Also, you're going to get some advice from books/brewers telling you to stay away from certain processes because they're difficult. Don't be afraid of a difficult process. It will make you a better, and more diligent, brewer.

Finally, hop socks are totally fricking unnecessary. They're a waste of money unless you are using whole hops/hop plugs. If you use hop pellets (and almost everybody does), just dump them into the boil. You can "whirlpool" them out of solution by spinning your boil before chilling (if you have an immersion chiller, spin after you chill).

 

[757Hokie83]

shit...if you're going to bottle, save yourself the headache...spend a few bucks and buy the liter sized bottles....cleaning and sanitizing all those 12ozers is such a pain in the ass

 

[wartyOne]

shit...if you're going to bottle, save yourself the headache...spend a few bucks and buy the liter sized bottles....cleaning and sanitizing all those 12ozers is such a pain in the ass

Word.

Bottling sucks ass. Like, convict ass.

 

[wartyOne]

Here's the deal. I'm going to tell you to spend more up front. That's good advice, unless you're a "I can't really make a decision, and don't like to commit" kinda guy/girl. Go overkill from the start. You'll save money, and be happier with the product in the long run.

Of course, I'm being persuaded into this "advice-giving" by somebody else who has a multiple keg setup in their house.

Kegging is so much more satisfying. Bottles do suck.

Apples are awesome.

I kinda like Garfield.

Go 9ers.

I should have stopped drinking a few hours ago.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[757Hokie83]

this is what i referenced when building my kegerator

MikeBeer - Chest Freezer Kegerator

i've only got 2 on mine at the moment, but plan to expand at some point

 

[sooner78wakeboard]

I am going to be honest, it may sound lame but I will leave it to you guys to make the beer. Beer is so good and delicious, I'd be afraid I'd just jack it up. Let alone there are so many great micro's out there that I just want to try them all. (Yeah, its much more expensive). The concept is intreging, especially with my love of beer.

Good call on saying buy a fridge for it. The only place I would have room is in the garage and our garages in Oklahoma get hella hot in the summer/fall.

 

[Sleepy T]

I am going to be honest, it may sound lame but I will leave it to you guys to make the beer. Beer is so good and delicious, I'd be afraid I'd just jack it up. Let alone there are so many great micro's out there that I just want to try them all. (Yeah, its much more expensive). The concept is intreging, especially with my love of beer.

Good call on saying buy a fridge for it. The only place I would have room is in the garage and our garages in Oklahoma get hella hot in the summer/fall.

Really, it is a ton more expensive to buy the beer when you really think about it. But it is quite expensive to buy all of the good equipment up front. From what I have seen in my short time, if you buy a kit (or build your own) for a 5 gallon batch, it will usually run you somewhere in $30-$50 range (depending on what type and if it is all grain or extract).. averaging out to about $4-$6 range for a sixer as opposed to $8-$12 in the store.

I've done the math, once I get a grain mill (soon) and a higher BTU burner, I will be able to buy the base malts (50lb) and some hops (1lb) in bulk, make 8-10 gallon batches (of kick-ass beer) at around $2-$3/sixer. I have quickly learned is that it can be very time consuming, so you have to kinda enjoy brewing and making something that you can call your own. The time restraints is my main reason for starting soon to brew bigger batches and getting a kegging apparatus A fucking SAP.