getting into the hobby?

[rmuk82]

Hi

I would like to get started in the hobby and would like to brew lager

I have looked at my local wilko store

what ideally should I look at getting to get started?

Should i use a barrel to store in or are bottles better?

Thanks very much

 

[crofty83]

TBH bottles are better than barrels as they hold the carbonation of the beer better. I used bottles on my first brew but then couldn't be bothered sterilising god knows how many bottles to do the next lot so I bought a keg :

 

[rmuk82]

was thinking bottles but ill need loads for 40 pints worth :lol:

 

[Baz Chaz]

Bottles or barrel ........... personal choice really

I bottle all my ale, it takes a little longer to bottle rather than put in a keg (I bottle 23ltr in just over an hour these days) and it takes a little while to build up a stock of 'empties' at first :!:

but

I can take half a dozen bottles round with me to a party or a bbq, give the odd one away as a tester, conditions in the bottle for as long as you care to leave it, doesn't need topping up with co2, can have several different brews to offer, easy to store.

 

[critty]

rmuk82 where do you live?

I bought some stuff from wilko's and to be honest I think it's a bit of a rip off. I went and bought a starter kit from a local brewing store and found it to be far cheaper, £50ish from wilko's and £28 all in pretty much from local home brew store. Also follow what the guys say about bottles. I looked into a pressure keg and the guys on here explained that bottles would be better. So I got a few boxes of Coopers 500ml PET bottles with caps. £10.50 per box but you can feel the quality in the bottles.

 

[rmuk82]

I live in newcastle, the youngs kit they wilkos had in was £28 then the enhancer for about £6 then I would need bottles capper and caps?

 

[critty]

I live in wakefield so bummer your not close enough to some of the stores round here. The youngs kits are far cheaper from home brew stores. The same barrel from wilko's I have seen a good £5 cheaper from other places. Shop around on the net, seen a few good "starter" kits from a few online vendors, and you will find you will get more from them than the wilko's one.

The coopers plastic bet bottles come with screw caps and are reusable. The class bottles and some plastic bottles will need metal caps and a capper. Capper are around £10 with about £1 for caps. It all depends what you are looking for.

 

[Baz Chaz]

Capper are around £10 with about £1 for caps. It all depends what you are looking for.

Can I offer the advice of buy once and buy well :!:

Some in the past have bought a capper where you hammer the cap on, others have the 2 lever type, but I along with many on this forum use a bench style capper, very quick and easy to use, it's a little more expensive, but once you have it you'll never want (or need) to replace it and it is a very effective bit of kit :thumb:

Same with most things really, I've done it myself years ago when brass was tight, bought cheap, but then eventually ended up spending as much (or more ) as if I'd bought decent kit in the first place :!:

 

[rmuk82]

thanks very much, just came across a coopers starter kit which comes with bottles for about £70 does this sound good?

 

[critty]

Capper are around £10 with about £1 for caps. It all depends what you are looking for.

Can I offer the advice of buy once and buy well :!:

Some in the past have bought a capper where you hammer the cap on, others have the 2 lever type, but I along with many on this forum use a bench style capper, very quick and easy to use, it's a little more expensive, but once you have it you'll never want (or need) to replace it and it is a very effective bit of kit :thumb:

Same with most things really, I've done it myself years ago when brass was tight, bought cheap, but then eventually ended up spending as much (or more ) as if I'd bought decent kit in the first place :!:

Sorry Baz Chaz thats what I was aiming for

rmuk82 if it's the one I am thinking of, I saw the similar sounding one with some bottles, then yeah I can't see anything wrong with it :)

 

[Duncs]

Don't bother buying bottles, pubs throw them away, if you ask nicely you can get as many as you want.

 

[mason]

Do what I did. Save a little and bite the bullet. I bought my setup, a beer kit, enough bottles for 2 kits and everything else I needed. I then religiously saved all tj3 bottles from the real ale I drink. I picked up 2 cheap plastic pressure kegs on eBay.
For your next few batches budget for buying 40 glass bottles with each
After doing that for a few kits, and saving bottles at home, all of a sudden you have a couple of hundred bottles and you can drop to simply buying a kit and odd bits like stuff for carbonation and bottle caps.

So it takes a few batches and some expense on setup ans bottles but after 3 or 4 batches you are down to the 'advertised' 45-60p/pint level.

 

[mason]

Read that back and it sounds arrogant.

Not saying I am right, that was simply my experience as a novice. I am now 4 kits drunk and brewing 3 kits at once to get a stock built up to get some age on it.

There will be cheaper ways, but I found spending extra each kit for your first few means you very quickly build up all the stuff you need to het a good cycle of brew/age/drink going. Now way of avoiding the fact you need a big stock of bottles and/or kegs.

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome, I prefer barrels just because I find bottles a pain in the ****.

 

[jonnymorris]

Bottles are better for lager. You'll be able to get more fizz in them. You'll also be able to chill them in the fridge.

Good advice about the capper though you may want to do a few brews and get hooked before investing. The plastic PET bottles are fine to be starting with.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Dieseljockey]

Hi & welcome.. :thumb:

You've got a load of info there to think about, all good I may say.

Can I offer the advice of buy once and buy well :!:

Some in the past have bought a capper where you hammer the cap on, others have the 2 lever type, but I along with many on this forum use a bench style capper, very quick and easy to use, it's a little more expensive, but once you have it you'll never want (or need) to replace it and it is a very effective bit of kit :thumb:

Same with most things really, I've done it myself years ago when brass was tight, bought cheap, but then eventually ended up spending as much (or more ) as if I'd bought decent kit in the first place :!:

I've done the same. you just waste money, well said Baz :thumb:

 

[Barticus]

thanks very much, just came across a coopers starter kit which comes with bottles for about £70 does this sound good?

I bought that a couple of weeks ago and really like it. Go on you tube and search Coopers starter kit and you will see a few videos of people using it.

If you can get to the big Tesco at Kingston Park you could probably pick it up today.

Seems well made to me.

 

[Mr BR]

as somebody who also likes brewing lagers as i think was mentioned further up the thread bottles for lagers as the kegs just wont hold the pressure ,if you are doing ales then a keg is ideal but buy one with the co2 injector cap which will allow the ale to stay fresher for longer and protect from any nasties good luck and in no time at all you will be sipping a pint and brewing with the best of them it takes time to build up all the bits and bobs that you want and need to make it easier :thumb:

 

[TRXnMe]

As another new brewer I'm finding the real challenge is to ferment and mature faster than I want to drink the stuff :)

As I like ales I'm bottling 25% and kegging the rest out of each brew, the theory is that the ale matures better in the bottle than it does in the keg. In practice, I can't be arsed to sterilise more than 10 ~ 15 bottles per brew and a keg can be cleaned and sterlised in very little time :)

 

[Andyhull]

Bottles for me at the moment.

I bought a starter kit from my local home brew shop, it came with 40 coopers brown 500ml pet bottles or a starter keg, a kit, a 30ltr FV, plastic long handled spoon syphon and tube with tap and a tub of VWP steriliser, it should have been £49.99 but i upgraded to a premium kit so was £59.99

I have bottled my last 2 brews and i find them great as you can chill down as many or as little as you want to drink in the fridge, there is no need to recarbonate and any you don't drink can be returned to storage. (unlikely) :lol:

I have also managed to drink my way through 32 bottles of Bombardier and Directors and will endevour to store 8 bottles of each brew i do in glass bottles for long term storage (we'll see how long long is)

In the future i would like to have several Cornie kegs filled and still bottle 8 bottles from each brew for long term storage but drink fresh from the cornie.

Thats my plan but, IMO bottles give a better brew.

Andy