Below is the FYI pm I send to people. You should be able to brew good quality beer for about for approx $25. If you get into all grain brewing, you can get down to about $15 for 2 cases (the standard 5 gallon batch makes a little more than 2 cases). Also, read Palmers how to website..
http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html
---------------------------
this is a pretty generic pm I send to people, the original recipient had a pretty big budget IMO ($200 IIRC), but you should still be able to get a sense of the basic EQ that is needed.
let me know if you have further questions...
--------------------------------
Look in your yellow pages under beer, for a local homebrewing store. Most large cities have at least 1. Buying local will let you customize your EQ a bit, but might cost you more. However, you will have a place to go to for advice and returns if necessary.
any brew kit that has:
a 7 gal primary fermentation bucket (plastic), lid, air lock.
a bottling bucket (has a little spigot...should not be used as a primary fermentation bucket because the spigot may slowly leak)
a 5 gal glass carboy, with air lock and stopper
a 6 or 7 glass carboy, with air lock and stopper
hoses
brushes for cleaning
a quality book (Papazani has a good one, as does Palmer). don't buy homebrewing for idiots.
sanitizer
long handled, strong spoon (not wood).
Throw in a couple of beer kits (Kolsch, IPA, Porter, Stout are all easily doable for a newb) too, so you can brew ASAP! these run about 20-30$ and brew 5 gallons each. They include extract, hops, yeast, and directions.
There are a few things that can really improve the experience of brewing. in the order of least to most expensive they are:
1. an autosiphon. only 10$ or so. great tool.
2. turkey fryer! (lowes has em for 30ish) they go on sale this time of year. (think they are about 30-50$)
--->lets you brew outside, avoiding nasty boil overs on the stove top
--->includes a 7 gal brew pot and nice thermometer (usually not included in brew kits (see above))
3. flip top bottles (avoid the hassle of capping) OR
4. mini draft system (little kegs that fit in the fridge and hold about 1.25 gallons) OR
5. a kegging system ($200), requires an extra fridge, but negates the cost and hassles of bottling.
there will be some things in the kit that you may NOT want such as regular bottles, caps, and a bottle capper. MAYBE you can trade up on these to flip tops.
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/
---> they have a decent kits
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/
----> decent kits, has one with a tapadraft minikeg system, and one with a kegging system
http://www.northernbrewer.com/starterkits.html
--->also has a kit with kegging eq included.
Facebook
Twitter