Learner brewer help.

[hippytyre]

Hello,

I'm hoping to start brewing my own beer from home and I've been looking around at the various kit beers. Would it be better to buy a "brewing kit" that contains all the tools I would need or buy all the bits and bobs separately so that I end up with a better quality setup?
I just watched a few youtube videos and one guy was demoing a Coopers micro brewery kit and that looked like a decent setup.
I've never tasted a home brew but I'd like to start with something light as I'm not really into the taste of dark ales etc. The kind of beer I drink normally is Czech Budvar, Tsing tao, and Budweiser.


Thanks

 

[Sean_Mc]

Some of the starer kits seem very reasonable and contain items you can reuse over and over again.
Off the top of my head the basics you'll need are
Fermenting bucket....about £8
Hydrometer......................£3
Trial Jar...........................£2
Syphon tube.....................£2
Plastic spoon....................£1
Thermometer....................£3
Sterilising powder..............£1.50

When it comes to bottling and you can't get enough brown glass bottles, you can use 2ltr plastic pop bottles, just keep them out of sunlight.
Not a big lager drinker, but go for decent one. Obviously premium kits cost more, but well worth the extra cost imho

 

[Moley]

Obviously premium kits cost more, but well worth the extra cost imho

But everything you need should be in that kit and you haven't got to buy sugar, brewing sugar, beer enhancer or more malt extract.

To be perfectly honest, I've only done one Premium kit, but it was so much better than a Budget kit.

 

[queues likely]

from my virtually non experience(but learning quick) it seems to come down to water prep, and yeast selection. A kit with a simple ingredient content seems a stable platform.
Edme does seem like a good starting point.

 

[Tony]

Clockwork Orange?

:whistle:

 

[hippytyre]

My avatar? I suppose it does look a little like something out of that film but it's actually just a picture of my eye. I have girly eyelashes

 

[Samarith]

I think the gear you get comes down to budget and how serious a hobby this is going to be.

I considered a microbrewery kit myself but I am too lazy to bottle 40 pints and I found the plastic barrels a bit of a disappointment (bear in mine we're talking 25 years ago), so having listened to the veterans rave about cornie kegs I dug deep and blew my birthday budget on one. I'm not saying that the other options are not workable but its worth remembering that lager type beers are usually served heavily carbonated, plastic kegs go to 15 PSI but a cornie is good to 120 PSI.

I spent about £130 getting the cornie, gas, FV, beer kit plus other bits and pieces but I know I love brewing and won't regret the investment. Last year I blew £500 on a blacksmithing course, which I enjoyed but will probably never use unless we have a nuclear war and I survive (kinda wish I'd decided to restart brewing last year, that would have paid for a sweet AG setup ).

 

[hippytyre]

I ended up getting the kit I mentioned, the Coopers micro brewery. I'm not sure how involved I'll get in it all but while waiting for my first brew I've already ordered my second kit :)
It's probably cost me about £80 so far to buy everything and that includes my second kit so hopefully it'll all turn out ok. I just took a hydrometer reading after 5 days now and its at 1010, I'm thinking this is a good sign.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Clockwork Orange?
:whistle:

I also thought that :hmm:

 

[Moley]

It's probably cost me about £80 so far to buy everything and that includes my second kit so hopefully it'll all turn out ok.

So your average is already down to £1 a pint and you've got the equipment to use over and over again. :

I just took a hydrometer reading after 5 days now and its at 1010, I'm thinking this is a good sign.

This is a good sign :thumb:
It may still go just a little lower, I don't brew or drink lager but the two Cooper's kits I've tried finished at 1.008
Leave it for another 2-3 days and see if you get the same reading, then it's ready to bottle or keg.

 

[Brew Richard]

Hello,

I'm hoping to start brewing my own beer from home and I've been looking around at the various kit beers. Would it be better to buy a "brewing kit" that contains all the tools I would need or buy all the bits and bobs separately so that I end up with a better quality setup?
I just watched a few youtube videos and one guy was demoing a Coopers micro brewery kit and that looked like a decent setup.
I've never tasted a home brew but I'd like to start with something light as I'm not really into the taste of dark ales etc. The kind of beer I drink normally is Czech Budvar, Tsing tao, and Budweiser.


Thanks

hmm, Tsing Tao beer.

 

[hippytyre]

My girlfriend is Chinese so I spend a lot of time being dragged around Chinese supermarkets. I found Tsing Tao that way, don't you like it?

 

[Parva]

You lucky bugger! :) I wish I had a chinese girlfriend to drag me around chinese supermarkets. I've been in them and marvel at the stuff they have to offer, I only wish I knew what you were supposed to do with it! Chinese food I absolutely adore and it's one area of cooking that I have a terrible understanding of and wish I had a chinese friend to educate me. All sounds good to me. :)

 

[Brew Richard]

My girlfriend is Chinese so I spend a lot of time being dragged around Chinese supermarkets. I found Tsing Tao that way, don't you like it?

I prefer home brewed beer to those mass produced.

 

[Tony]

You lucky bugger! :) I wish I had a chinese girlfriend ..... and marvel at the stuff they have to offer, I only wish I knew what you were supposed to do with it!

You talking about the supermarkets or the women?


:rofl: