Hi all! Newbie Kit advice wanted...

[rooob2001]

A quick hello from me. I am completely new to home brewing, but fairly experienced in drinking (ales) in the Cambridge area :

I was hoping to get a starter kit for Christmas but didn't in the end. As a result I now have the freedom to choose my own starter kit and buy any additional bits and bobs to improve the likely output of my first attempt.

Any advice on the best starter kit I could buy and any modifications I could try to avoid any substandard parts/ingredients that come with cheaper kits would be greatly appreciated! I had my eye on the Wherry kit.


Rooob

 

[mickeyt69]

I would strongly recomend the brupaks kits(fixby gold or clone vally bitter) most hardwear is good just some wil last longer than others. the only thing i would recomend to improve the taste would be to buy some morgans finnishing hops for your kits these made the biggest difference to me when i was brewing kits. Alterativley you could buy a muslin bag(29p) and some hops and just dry hop the beer by putting the hops in the bag and putting them in the fermenting bin. hope this helps cheers happy drinking : :drink:

 

[Baz Chaz]

Hi Roob

I re-started brewing in August after a break of maybe 30 years :!: I used the kits from the Brupaks Brewers Choice range, I made 2, Best Bitter & the IPA, they were pretty reasonable, certainly drinkable :thumb:

clicky bit

However due to being a weak willed individual I was dragged kicking and screaming by them undesirables on this forum :whistle: I went to 'The dark Side' after the two kits and never gone back, it really is a different brew


So my advice to you is not so much the kits as the hardware in which you brew your kit, you really don't need much other than a big bucket, fermentation vessel, thermometer, hydrometer and stuff you can scrounge from the kitchen for the kits mentioned above, plus bottles or a keg oh yes and ......... brewing gear breeds I think, but as a well known telly ad says 'but you're worth it' :lol:

I would keep your kit equipment simple and read tons on here before you progress too far in any direction but the stuff you do get firstly think long term, you never know where you might end up

 

[adrianmole72]

I agree with Baz; I've been reading up for ages, and have all the gear to go AG now, just need to put it all together !!

All the best :

Stephen

 

[stevander74]

Hi Rooob
Welcome to the forum
Ive been kit brewing for 6 months(i think) and have had varying degrees of success and ive found the blokes (and blokesses) on this forum to be a very friendly and helpful bunch and i think you will too.
I dont know about "starter kits" but heres what youll need to get started with kits.

Kit For brewing: A fermenting vessel (5 gal plastic bucket with lid), a long plastic spoon (for stirring), a thermometer and a hydrometer (for checking starting gravity and final gravity to work out alcohol strength)
and of course a beer kit and required sugars. 1 can kits require 1kg of sugar to be added. you can use normal granulated sugar(ok), brewing sugar(better) or a beer enhancer kit/spraymalt(better still). your local homebrew shop will supply these.

you will also need something to put your finished beer into, either bottles or a keg whichever you prefer, and a syphon hose to get the beer from FV to keg/bottles.
you can get all the kit you need from your local homebrew shop.

Also there is a good how to guide for kits on the forum, check that out.

hope this helps and good luck with the brewing :thumb:

Steve :

 

[rooob2001]

Wow, thanks for the amazing response everyone. Very useful. I think I mis-understood the lingo a bit as when I meant 'kit' I also was referring to hardware. But now I can see it is clear that with a bit of reading on this site I will get all the hardware seperately myself allowing me to start off with some brew kits and move on to more serious stuff from there! I don't like doing things by halves (bud-um tish!).