Brewing beer at home

I want to learn how to brew my own beer….which starter kits are the best/most legit?

…I’m looking for one in the >$200.00 range. I’ve heard that the “Mr. Beer” set-up is total BS, and it really more of a children’s hobby kit than an actual set-up that helps you learn the brew process.

What’s your upper limit? Greater than $200 leaves you several options.

This plus some odds and ends (brew kettle, ingredients, other optionals) puts you just over $200…

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/starter-kits/deluxe-beer-starter-kit.html

This eliminates the need for bottling which in my opinion makes brewing a billion times more enjoyable but is more in the $500 range with all the other stuff…

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/starter-kits/ultimate-starter-kit.html

You could jump straight to all grain which I guess isn’t for everybody but I personally feel it’s a more authentic and open ended way of brewing. This would be an addition to tack on to the other starter kits for about…
+$200 (5 Gallon)

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/deluxe-ags-5-gallon.html

+$250 (10 Gallon)

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/deluxe-ags-10-gallon.html

Basically any kit you find though is going to be lacking various things which are either required or typically recommended.

Brew kettles come in all shapes and sizes. I’d recommend just about anything of 7 gallons or larger. Ideally you’d want something with great thermal dispersion like a copper bottom stainless steal kettle but cheap aluminum pots get the job done just as well. You can buy them seperately or a common trick is to get a turkey deep frying kit since having an outdoor burner is nice as well.

A turkey frying kit will be about $60 and really top of the line brewing kettle can easily be a couple hundred dollars.

If you plan to go all grain it is effectively required to have a “wort chiller”. This is a device which lowers the temperature of your boiled wort very quickly which you will come to find is both good for your beer and a pretty convenient tool. These are $60-120 but can also be made relatively easy if you do some reading…

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/standard-chiller-3-8-x25-with-vinyl-tubing.html

Again with grain you may want to consider getting a grain crusher. Adjusting your crush level can alter your yield so it’s nice to have some say in the matter. You can buy pre-crushed grain so this is more of a luxury I suppose.
$130

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/barley-crusher-w-7-hopper.html

Aside from that you’ll just need ingredients. You can pick up kits for as little as $25 or you can purchase all the bits seperately, it’s up to you and infinitely customizable. The Northern Brewer kits are quite nice though for the most part, a good starting point at least.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/recipe-kits

I would also recommend “How To Brew” by John Palmer for a great brewing reference.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/how-to-brew-by-john-j-palmer.html

…and the web link, much of the book is available to view online.

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

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