Beginner Kit

[DeanB1886]

Hi all

New to this. Intending on brewing lager.

Looking for some advice on the best beginner kits around. Do they all tend to include all of the equipment required?

Ideally I would like to buy my own recipe to begin with. Would you advise against this?

Would it work out just as cheap to buy all of the equipment myself? Wouldn't want to spend any more than £80 to begin with.

Any advice is appreciated, being completely new to this.

Thank you!

 

[HarryFlatters]

Are you planning on kit brewing or all grain?

 

[Brianbrewed]

I use these guys

https://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/beer-cider-starter-equipment-c-4.html

I wouldn't start off on a lager.
Pale Ale or something similar is more forgiving.

 

[AXW123]

It would be likely to be just as cheap to buy your own kit. I definitely wouldn’t try and do your own recipe. You want to end up with something you like and that is successful. So work with someone else’s expertise either through a quality kit or a tested all grain recipe with decent yeast. There is nothing worse than your first attempt being undrinkable it would be very discouraging.

 

[Mangold]

Your budget will get you started with kit brewing rather than all grain, in my opinion.

You can buy starter packages from most places, but Essentially you will need:
A fermenter (food grade bucket)
A hydrometer to measure the alcohol content
A sanitiser
A paddle to allow you to mix it
A kit you want to brew

A lager kit requires you to have better control of the temperature you will brew at. Most will repurpose an old fridge or freezer for this and fit it with a temp probe (such as an inkbird) and a tube heater.

As mentioned, a pale ale kit is more forgiving if you can't control the temperature.

You will also need to consider how you want to serve the beer. If you want to bottle you will need 40 pint bottles, a bottle capper and a syphon. If you want to keg, you will need to source that.

That will all probably take the best part of your £80.

 

[terrym]

@DeanB1886
Suggest you read this
Basic beginners guide to brewing your own beer from a kit - The HomeBrew Forum
If you are intent on doing a lager kit, most lager kits come with an ale yeast to allow fermentation to proceed at room temperature. If that is the case as you will find in the instructions, ferment at the bottom of the suggested temperature range. Next if its a one can don't use all sugar as an addition to the kit can contents, use half brewing sugar, and half light or extra light spray malt (also known as dried malt extract or DME). And take time with all stages, many on here suggest two weeks in primary, two weeks to carbonate, and two weeks to condition before you get to try the first one. Finally I suggest you defer any decision to buy a plastic barrel and stay with bottles until you find your feet. Certainly PBs are not best suited to storing lager.

 

[DeanB1886]

Thank you for all of your responses.

I prefer the sound of all grain brewing. Kit brewing sounds like less work? My impression is it’s more of a pack bought beer?

I wouldn’t be creating my own recipe, sorry. I mean I would rather buy the ingredients and make the beer rather than buy starter kit with the recipe included (is this kit brewing?)

Would I require the same equipment for all grain? Would you recommend starting off with kit brewing? Would I be able to use some of the equipment used for kit brewing when I make the change to all grain?

Thank you for the list of equipment required for kit brewing. I will be using that if I decide on kit brewing.

I have a spare bridge in my garage which I intend on using for temperature control. Would most recipes require a tube heater (I assume this is to heat the fridge to specific temperatures?

I will stay away from plastic barrels and thanks for the link.

So many questions, hope I haven’t put anyone off! :)

 

[terrym]

@DeanB1886
Sort of order of complexity as follows
1. Liquid Malt Extract (LME ) kit brewing. You either buy a one can or sachet (e.g Wilko, Coopers, Simply etc) of hopped LME but you then have to add other sugars and/or malt extract to make up the ingredients, or you or buy a 'premium' kit (e.g Youngs, Festival etc) where everything is in the box, sometimes including hops. The basic equipment is listed to brew these is in the link in my post #6 above. Takes about one hour to get a brew going, perhaps less,
2. Extract brewing. You use LME or Dried Malt Extract in a boil with hops. You can buy LME and/ or DME and hops separately and make up your own recipes , but some homebrew suppliers will sell you 'kits' with everything in, sometimes including grain to steep. More complicated than kit brewing and will require a stockpot, and possibly bags for the hop over what you have fro kit brewing. Takes about 2 hours to get a brew going. Not as popular as kit brewing or AG but works for some.
See here for more
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/a-simple-guide-to-extract-brewing.75501/
3. All Grain (AG) brewing. Can be done as stove top using BIAB (brew in a bag) for small volumes say 5 litres. Or at the other end in specialist kit like a Grainfather which costs £00s. At its simplest you only need a bag and a stockpot for small volume AG brewing over equipment fro kit brewing. Takes a minimum of about 3 hours start to finish to get a brew on since there is a grain mash stage followed by the hop boil. AG brewing tends to deliver better beers than kit and some extract beers, and for that reason many serious homebrewers eventually end up there. But its not for everybody due to time and often space constraints. This might be useful
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/have-a-go-at-simple-ag.51779/

My recommendation to anyone starting homebrewing without any previous experience is to buy the basic equipment set up and start on LME kits. You can make good beer with some kits, certainly premium kits (although there is an element of you gets what you paid for), and when you have gained some experience you can then decide what you want to do long term.

 

[DeanB1886]

That's answered so many questions. I feel as though I'm ready now, thank you!