point me in the right direction

[ninhydrin]

Hi all Im brand new here, I did look for a beginners thread but didnt find one so hopeing someone will take 2 minutes to point me in the right direction.

Im looking to start my first home brewing and just looking at a beginners kit, I dont want to make the mistake of buying without advice so Im wondering if someone can recommend (the best) starter kit. I was looking at the cooper 2 barrel starter kit for around £60. Im I looking at a good brand here or should I be looking at anything else.

 

[dennisking]

Might be worth looking in the how to guides, there are a few bits about kits there.

 

[ninhydrin]

thanks i will have a look now, I thought this might be one of those annoying questions to the regulars of the board

 

[dennisking]

This is a user friendly site but also people are normally happy to help, most start with kits but I didn't so can't be a great help.

 

[BigYin]

Welcome to the rest of your life :thumb:

To start brewing kits I recomend you look for a starter kit that contains as much of the following as possible - probably won't find one that does it all though..

the beer kit - a two can kit that would normally retail around £20 or more
a 23 litre plastic fermenter bucket with lid, a bung and airlock
a plastic stirring spoon
a thermometer
a hydrometer and trial jar
a 'wine thief' or turkey baster
Campden tablets
VWP or other steriliser
Syphoning tube, or tap and little bottler

Remember that once the kit has brewed you will need to transfer the beer, leaving the sediment behind, into either bottles of a pressure capable keg of some kind.

I started by buying shed loads of 1 litre fizzy water bottles from Asda, and bottled in them.

From there I collected enough glass beer bottles for the next brew, and bought a crown capper and caps.

Then I got some plastic King Kegs, and finally I invested in Cornie kegs - if I'd known then what I know now - and had the money - I'd have gone straight for the Cornies!!!

Good luck, enjoy, and don't be afraid to ask - remember - the ONLY stupid question is the one you DON'T ask :thumb:

 

[ninhydrin]

ah cheers big yin thats exactly what i was looking for now its time to read and read some more, as you say Iv had/got maaaaany hobbies and always start off with kit that I wished Id payed a little more for at he start, I dont want to make expensive long term mistakes this time round :thumb:

this is what comprises in the kit i seen as mentioned above:

Kit contains:

* Woodfordes Wherry Premium Beer kit
* Barrel with Pin Valve Cap
* 33Ltr Fermenting bin + airlock
* Paddle
* Syphon
* Steriliser
* Hydrometer
* Thermometer
* Trail Jar
* 1 Gas charge + converter

so guess it would be a good starting pack

 

[Dave1970]

You could go cheaper by not bothering with the barrel & gas.

I made a Woodefords Admirals Reserve kit a couple of months ago, most went into a plastic keg and I just did 2 bottles. I was very happy with the keg beer tasted great and is sadly now finished :cry:
Just after the final pint from the barrel I had one of the bottled pints...what a difference, the bottled beer was so much better, genuinely as good as a lot of decent bottled beers you'd buy in the supermarket.
So it's bottles wherever possible for me now, I'll keep the barrels for short term use, like if I was making some beer for a party.

I'd go for a no barrel kit and spend some of what you save on a crown capper & some caps & then save your bottles and ask a friendly landlord if you can get some of their empties.

 

[ninhydrin]

cheers dave something to bare in mind, although Im looking at how much those corny kegs are and all the things that are needed alongside it, I take it if i get a corny keg I wont need a barrel?

 

[Dave1970]

The cornies are stainless steel barrels, originally designed for soft drink dispensing. You need an external gas supply probably from a big pub type CO2 cylinder. They're clearly bloody good given all the experienced people on here that rate them but you're talking about quite a bit of cash to get set up...more than i can spend at the moment...I'm just getting the kit together to go over to all grain from kits...I have 1 kit left to make and then its over to the dark side!

 

[ninhydrin]

Good luck going over to the dark side haha
I can afford the corny keg but no idea how much the CO2 cylinders and regulators are or how to obtain them, are they safe as houses or are there any safety concerns with them in the home?

 

[Moley]

If you buy from Norm (see the “Links” button top left and the second listing down) he quite often sells his kegs complete with a pair of disconnects.

You will need at least one pair of disconnects, that's a grey ‘gas in’ and a black ‘liquid out’. You will also need a regulator (around £40 from Norm) and a tap for dispensing. Taps are likely to cost you anywhere from £15 - £40 according to type.

If you ever quit brewing, all of the above can quickly be sold on through this forum for most of your money back.

I paid £25 refundable cylinder deposit + £15 for the gas to a local cellar gases supplier, prices may vary and you need to shop around in your own area.

High pressure cylinders need to be treated with respect, drop one on its valve and it will go through you and the wall. If the gas leaks into an unventilated confined space and you enter that space, that will also kill you quickly and efficiently.

My own cylinder is restrained so that it can't fall over, and as it's in an unventilated cellar I only turn the gas on when I want to carbonate a keg or top up my dispensing pressures, the lines don't leak and I have no concerns for either my own or my family's safety.


Sorry if that sounds too alarming, valves are shrouded so that they shouldn't be damaged unless you're stupid enough to drop one on its head from a great height. With a little care and common sense, risks can be reduced to almost nil but there are risks if you fool around with something you don't fully understand.

 

[ninhydrin]

blimey, yeah it has the scare factor like when you talk about death haha
Maybe not one for the cupboard under the stairs then :hmm:

 

[BigYin]

Lots of people use Cornie kegs, and while I've heard of people leaving the gas supply on, and a slow leak on the keg letting the gas cylinder empty, I've never heard of anyone suffering ill efects...

Bare in mind that CO2 os NOTHING like as dangerous as CO (carbon monoxide) - and loads of us have gas fires, gas cookers and gas central heating - all of which, if badly maintained, can produce carbon monoxide, with fatal results.

So, don't fret - If you have a cornie setup, it does cost a bit to get the initial setup, but it's well worth it in the long run, and as Aleman correctly says, the kit will sell easily for almost exactly what you paid for it, so it's all good :mrgreen:

I never leave the gas on unless it's for a few hours of force carbonation, otherwise it's easy to just switch the gas on to pour a pint and then straight off again :drink:

All that said, unless you have somewhere naturally cool to store it, or space to put a fridge specifically for the cornie(s), and you like chilled beer, then bottles might be a better starting point :thumb:

 

[Archtronics]

I'm paying around 120ish for a full set-up from Norm for a corny, obviously he is a little more expensive on gas etc but I am going for ease of use atm until I have a secure home. I would advise getting a youngs el cheapo barrel and using that for secondary ferment then bottling if you wish. :thumb:

Plastic barrels are perfectly reasonable for lower carbonation beers and providing you drink them sharpish.

 

[PhatFil]

plastic barrels are fine 2 start off with if you do get stuck in and invest into corny kegs great but i bet you will still chuck a brew into the plastic barrel you started off with..

with corny kegs the shopping list will grow n grow to include taps drip trays beer cooling beer line cooling, secondary regulators as soon as you want 2 different gas pressures.. because if you want a the best pint you can get you will be looking at spending either a fair amount of pocket money or spending ages bargain hunting on ebay n bootsales..

The kit is as safe as houses as long as you take basic precautions. chain your top heavy co2 cylinder to the wall for example tho an 18inch bit of chain from the hardware shop is just as good as the £25 bespoke co2 chain sold by some...

I luv my shiney kegs, but am aware i bought into the system blind (my own fault) not fully realising the full cost I have kegs the connectors a font and taps beer chillers............. and while they may keep an ale sound for a year or more, i have yet to leave a brew in the keg for longer than a month...

if you do start to brew and keg into cornys you will always find a use for your number 1 plastic keg, perhaps even the start of you home built all grain kit even :)