Home Brewing Help

[KarmaPolice]

Hey, I know some of you guys are home brewers so I thought I would give it a shot here. I am looking to start and need a good cheap home brew kit for my first outing.

I am a college student that loves good beer(more so then the avg college studnet). More importantly I like good beer...but good beer is expensive. Brewing my own beer should save me a few bucks while also making some (hopefully) great tasting beer.

Ok so to recap...I am looking for suggestions on a good cheap first timers brew kit. I dont want total crap but i dont want anything tooo expensive either. My favorite kind of beer are IPAs

 

[davestar]

i started with the Brewers Best kit. you can find it at pretty much any brewing store (online or brick and mortar). it's decent, but i thought the most important upgrades for my brews was Starsan sanitizer and a glass carboy.

 

[KarmaPolice]

So far I have ran out of luck on finding a local place that sells brew stuff..WOnder if there is a online list that might show me where there is one.

 

[AMCRambler]

Dude I work with sais go with an amber ale or a brown ale, something easy to make so even if you screw it up it won't taste too bad.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
So far I have ran out of luck on finding a local place that sells brew stuff..WOnder if there is a online list that might show me where there is one.

There is a locator, but I cannot remember what the site is for the life of me. My local HBS sells everything cheaper than can be found online, even before shipping.

 

[Kelemvor]

Wait for HomeBrewerDude to chime in. He always has a bunch of info.

 

[davestar]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
So far I have ran out of luck on finding a local place that sells brew stuff..WOnder if there is a online list that might show me where there is one.

there might be, but i'm not aware. google or the yellow pages will probably help you out more than anandtech...

 

[djheater]

I'm not an expert, I think if you stick to extract kits, you can get by with

This kit

You'll need to pick up the bottles, if you're enterprising you can get them for free.

If you've done any amount of reading about this, you should realize that you're not likely to save any significant amount doing it this way. If you love hobbies you should go for it.

 

[SearchMaster]

I think with IPA, he should be able to get by pretty cheaply. It's cheap to make but generally somewhat expensive to buy, and the taste is comparable.

 

[DainBramaged]

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Wait for HomeBrewerDude to chime in. He always has a bunch of info.

<intercom>HomeBrewerDude, please report to Thread 19 for customer assistance</intercom>

 

[broon]

brewboard.com is the place to go for all your questions. For supplies, try More Beer. Plan on spending about $100 to $150 to get set up on the cheap.

 

[Adam8281]

Originally posted by: djheater
I'm not an expert, I think if you stick to extract kits, you can get by with

This kit

You'll need to pick up the bottles, if you're enterprising you can get them for free.

If you've done any amount of reading about this, you should realize that you're not likely to save any significant amount doing it this way. If you love hobbies you should go for it.

I agree, that is the kit I started with. It depends on your living/dorm situation, but as a beginner, I wouldn't buy a kit that has a glass carboy (secondary fermenter). First, it takes up more room (an important consideration when I was brewing in college), and second, it adds expense, and as this is your first batch you just want to go for the basic. It's a cinch to add a glass carboy later; they're only about 22-30 dollars. Good luck, and keep us informed on how it all goes!

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
So far I have ran out of luck on finding a local place that sells brew stuff..WOnder if there is a online list that might show me where there is one.

There is a locator, but I cannot remember what the site is for the life of me. My local HBS sells everything cheaper than can be found online, even before shipping.

I believe you're thinking of this site it's good but certainly not exahaustive.

I just brewed my first batch and haven't set foot in a B&M yet I didn't use the secondary either, circumstances and general laziness prevented it I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Actually I'm going to a store tonight to pick up some 22oz bottles...
As I've said before I'm not sure of the prupose of 12oz bottles.. does anyone really drink just one??...

 

[Adam8281]

I bottle all of mine (I'm relatively new to homebrewing - I've made 7 5-gallon batches) in 12 oz bottles. While it IS a pain having to bottle 50 bottles, I find that 12 oz. is a nice to have because often I don't feel like drinking 22 oz. If you use 22 oz. bottles, you're pretty much locked into drinking the whole bottle at once, before it goes flat. Since there are about 30 22oz. bottles in a 5 gallon batch, the way I think about it is this: do I want 30 beers to drink, or 50? I know it's the same volume overall, but I for me 12 oz. is a better serving size.

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: Adam8281
I bottle all of mine (I'm relatively new to homebrewing - I've made 7 5-gallon batches) in 12 oz bottles. While it IS a pain having to bottle 50 bottles, I find that 12 oz. is a nice to have because often I don't feel like drinking 22 oz. If you use 22 oz. bottles, you're pretty much locked into drinking the whole bottle at once, before it goes flat. Since there are about 30 22oz. bottles in a 5 gallon batch, the way I think about it is this: do I want 30 beers to drink, or 50? I know it's the same volume overall, but I for me 12 oz. is a better serving size.

Ha.. this reveals two things to me.
1) Why I can't seem to shed that 20 pound tire around my waist.
2) My wife habitually 'samples' (steals) whatever it is I'm eating or drinking.. :| (though she won't take my whiskey, at least that's still sacred.

 

[Beattie]

You can find a basic kit on any of the internet brew stores. If you have a home brew store near where you live, then that's even easier. Pretty much all the kits will be similar, a fermeting bucket, hoses, hand capper, hydrometer, simple stuff. You will still need a kettle to boil the wort and of course ingredients.

check out here: http://northernbrewer.com/starterkits.html

 

[MikeMike]

barleywines FTW!!

 

[KarmaPolice]

Thx for the help guys. I am still looking for a local place to buy this stuff. I have tried google and yellowpages...no luck so far

 

[MikeMike]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
Thx for the help guys. I am still looking for a local place to buy this stuff. I have tried google and yellowpages...no luck so far

ARREST THIS MAN!!

 

[KarmaPolice]

?

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
?

He talks in maths!

 

[KarmaPolice]

Originally posted by: djheater
I'm not an expert, I think if you stick to extract kits, you can get by with

This kit

You'll need to pick up the bottles, if you're enterprising you can get them for free.

If you've done any amount of reading about this, you should realize that you're not likely to save any significant amount doing it this way. If you love hobbies you should go for it.

I dunno. I see that there is money needed upfront to buy the equipment...(about 70 bucks) but then the extract you need to brew the beer is usually around 20 bucks. Now yes this would be a ok deal if it just brewed one case..but as I understand it...one brew = about 2 cases.

2 cases of good tasting beer for about 25 bucks doenst sound bad to me

EDIT: Haha yes..radiohead rules.

 

[Adam8281]

Oh yes, you certainly save money doing it this way. My batches of homebrew make 48-52 beers (2 cases + a couple), and the ingredients usually run about $30 for me (sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less, depending on the number of ingredients and the shipping costs). So, at $30/50 beers, that's $0.60/beer - pretty stinking cheap for some of the best beers I've ever had in my life. Sure, I had to invest in equipment, which cost me about $60, but after 7 5-gallon batches I've more than made up for the initial equipment cost. Homebrewing is DEFINITELY a more economical way to have great beer (although I suppose time=money, and it does take a bit of time to homebrew)

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice

Originally posted by: djheater
I'm not an expert, I think if you stick to extract kits, you can get by with

This kit

You'll need to pick up the bottles, if you're enterprising you can get them for free.

If you've done any amount of reading about this, you should realize that you're not likely to save any significant amount doing it this way. If you love hobbies you should go for it.

I dunno. I see that there is money needed upfront to buy the equipment...(about 70 bucks) but then the extract you need to brew the beer is usually around 20 bucks. Now yes this would be a ok deal if it just brewed one case..but as I understand it...one brew = about 2 cases.

2 cases of good tasting beer for about 25 bucks doenst sound bad to me

EDIT: Haha yes..radiohead rules.

You should get 50 or so 12 oz beers out of a 5 gallon batch

I would break down your costs like this:
Equip $70
Bottles $20
Kettle $25
Beer Ingred's $25 (yeast)
= $140 \ 50 $2.80

After five batches you're FINALLY getting down to under a buck (that's what I define as a good deal), and that's IF you don't screw up any batches, and if you're doing that much you're going to want to buy another primary, more bottles, etc...
(spend a couple of weeks before you get your kit scrounging up bottles and a kettle and you're way ahead of the game )

I'm just saying that you should not get into the hobby primarily to save money, you should do it because you'll get good beer, and will enjoy doing it... which it sounds like you will!

:beer:

 

[KarmaPolice]

Yeah i know i wont save that much. I also like having some good hobbies liek this..and i just love beer...