Beer Brewing Kits

[GuyMich]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here.
First of all, I'm sorry about my English, because it's not my mother language.

I'm trying to start in the world of home brewing and I'd like some tips.
I believe I should not start with more expensive equipment now, because it would be a waste of resources for someone who is just starting, so what would be the best way?

I found on the internet some manufacturing kits that are well accessible and seem less complicated.

Among the 3 listed below, which would you recommend?

https://www.amazon.ca/Brooklyn-Brew-Sho ... B00CFJLUNK

https://www.brewtek.ca/mr-beer-kits

https://www.graintoglass.ca/products/st ... c5f5&_ss=r

Thank you all!

[still_stirrin]

Years ago, decades really, I made a couple of the Coopers kits. Reasonably priced and good quality malt extract.

I suggest going to some of the many homebrewing (beer) websites and knock around on their forums. There you will gain a lot of knowldege from other beer brewers. The skills learned making beer can easily translate into the distiller’s hobby in the future. But a solid foundation of knowledge of the beer making process will help you advance here.

Good luck. Cheers!
ss

[WooTeck]

if your still kicking about id recomend a malt extract and hop beer. boiled up in your bigest pot.

[Corsaire]

A friend of mine got one of those brooklyn brew shop kits. We made it in my kitchen, with no fancy equipment. Just a stock pot, a stainless steel spoon and a cheap digital thermometer. It worked well.
The instructions were easy to follow, and you could taste the mash at different stages. I think this is a better way to go about it than the malt extracts.

The only thing you'll need to buy is a gadget to cap your beer bottles. A hydrometer would make a fine addition too. The rest of the essentials was included in the kit.

[dieselduo]

All grain brewing is way cheaper than kits and you can make your brew taste however you want. you can buy an all in one electric like the brewers edge mash and boil pretty cheap on sale. Buy grain in bulk and hops by the lb from places like hops direct.

[6 Row Joe]

The easiest way to get started is a Mr Beer kit. Once you brew a few batches you can advance to a more complicated partial mash. I have been brewing for 2 1/2 years and have had great results with liquid malt extract brews. I just bottled 4 gallons of Octoberfest a couple days ago. I have some American Lager, Orange Shandy, and Canadian Blonde in the frig. Today is International Beer day you know!

[Yonder]

Just don’t fall fer the buullllshit called Mangrove Jack. Picked up a $20 deal once...had to pour 5 gallons in the street and wash out the bottles.

[6 Row Joe]

I just started a Mr. Beer Chocolate Orange Stout this morning. The wife doesn't drink beer but she may like this one. The orange peels are soaking in Tito's for 2 weeks before they get added into the mix. The wort smells heavenly!

Chocolate orange stout.jpg4.jpg (8.45 KiB) Viewed 5077 times

[Twisted Brick]

All grain brewing is way cheaper than kits and you can make your brew taste however you want. you can buy an all in one electric like the brewers edge mash and boil pretty cheap on sale. Buy grain in bulk and hops by the lb from places like hops direct.

+1

When I started brewing I skipped the kits and extracts and went straight into mashing. I figured the extracts were limiting and since I was gonna progress to all-grain anyway, why not just start there? Aside from the valuable experience, the real benefit to distilling was I already had my malt mill, wort chiller, hydrometer, carboys, etc.

Nowadays, the amount of viable information (Palmer) to brewers is enormous.

[Birrofilo]

Among the 3 listed below, which would you recommend?

"Kit" is an ambiguous term in homebrewing.

A "Kit" can be a can of hopped malt extract with a small plastic bag of dried yeast, like in your third example, without the actual "gear".
A "kit" can be the "gear" (fermenter etc.) without the hopped malt extract.
A "kit" can be the sum of both above definitions.

The "gear" in the kit can be anything, from a little more than a plastic fermenter to an "all you need kit" including the device to apply crown tops to bottles, a hydrometer, the cylinder for the hydrometer, possibly a second fermenter.
With time, you'll discover you also want a refractometer, a pH meter (or some pH stripes), a alcoholmeter etc.

I wouldn't recommend any of the three kits if you want to distill.

You should aim at a 30 - 35 litres fermenter, which will hold around 23 litres of fermentable liquids.
The "one gallon" fermenters do not make much sense - if we exclude experiments - because there is a lot of work for very little reward.

Don't waste money in plastic bottles: reuse beer glass bottles for beer.

[Eire Whiskey]

When in England, I bought beer kits. It was a can of something. LOL I used my big Igloo water cooler to make it. I was very young at the time. All I knew was to follow the directions on the can. LOL It was good beer though, especially when at the time good beer in the states was very limited.

[serafina]

"Kit" is an ambiguous term in homebrewing.

A "Kit" can be a can of hopped malt extract with a small plastic bag of dried yeast, like in your third example, without the actual "gear".
A "kit" can be the "gear" (fermenter etc.) without the hopped malt extract.
A "kit" can be the sum of both above definitions.

Agreed.

To brew, you need both ingredients and equipment. The only one of the kits that you've listed here that contains quality equipment is the Brooklyn Brewing kit, but that equipment is only good for one gallon. If you stick with beer brewing, you're going to want to do batches larger than that and you will end up buying more equipment. Also, that gallon glass bottle is going to be very hard to clean. As to the Mr. Beer kit, that is entirely cheap plastic. It'll do, but good basic equipment is not much more expensive.

I would also add that all of the kits you've linked to are intended for the person who will maybe only do it once, not someone who is looking to brew regularly.

Homebrewing websites like Northern brewer will sell you good basic kits (although for some reason theirs includes a pot, which most folks don't need). I like the kit from Bitter and Esters, and I like the variety of recipes they have available.

In my opinion, someone who is serious about brewing beer needs to have:

A large pot with a lid (you probably already have this)
2 white plastic fermenting buckets with spigot attachments (these are called fermenters. Don't get the pretty looking clear carboys, they are too difficult to clean)
1 lid for one of the buckets with a hole for the airlock
1 airlock (I prefer the 3-piece airlocks)
1 thermometer (a floating thermometer is great)
1 triple scale hydrometer
1 test cylinder (it's like a large graduated cylinder)
1 bottle capper
1 siphon
Tubing to go with the siphon
1 bottling wand
A big spoon, not wood (you probably already have this)
1 bottle cleaning brush
Bottle caps
Glass beer bottles
Sanitizer, like StarSan
How to Brew by John Palmer (if you are interested in learning, this is the only book you need)

I have yet to see a starter kit that includes a test cylinder or bottles (or the book).

I think a beginning brewer is best starting out with a partial mash kit. This includes some specialty malts for flavor, but the bulk of it is malt extract, which is harder to mess up. These kits also don't require as big a pot as all grain kits do, and you don't have to worry about learning about lautering and sparging (or being set up for boil in bag) just yet. I have had great success with kits from Bitter and Esters.

Bear in mind, going forward, that this is a distilling forum and that there are other forums out there that are dedicated to homebrewing where you will probably get better answers to your questions. It is not at all clear from your post that you have any interest in distilling, so I think some folks are confused about whether you are looking for a setup that will also work for distilling.

Also, on this forum we ask that everyone introduce themselves in the welcome center before posting questions. Please do so.

[6 Row Joe]

Mr Beer partial mash Chocolate Orange Stout. Better than what I have tasted at the local microbreweries.

[Beerbrewer]

I'd add that water is very important, knowing what the PH of your mash is another valuable asset, check if your water is hard or soft and then work from there, I have hard water to I need acid to adjust the PH. As already said there are plenty of good homebrew forums out there, look for the ones with the most traffic.

[6 Row Joe]

I'd add that water is very important, knowing what the PH of your mash is another valuable asset, check if your water is hard or soft and then work from there, I have hard water to I need acid to adjust the PH. As already said there are plenty of good homebrew forums out there, look for the ones with the most traffic.

Good information. I have been using Reverse Osmosis drinking water with good results. For heavy/dark beers you can use tap water but let it air out to remove the chlorine. Some say a day, I let it go at least a week. our local brew club is lucky to have a retired chemistry professor who is now a full time brewmaster at one of the local craft breweries. He has done a lot of research on the local water supply. Interesting stuff.

[Beerbrewer]

Good information. I have been using Reverse Osmosis drinking water with good results. For heavy/dark beers you can use tap water but let it air out to remove the chlorine. Some say a day, I let it go at least a week. our local brew club is lucky to have a retired chemistry professor who is now a full time brewmaster at one of the local craft breweries. He has done a lot of research on the local water supply. Interesting stuff.

That's a useful man to have around, I tinker with the water but after 20 years of brewing I'm only scratching the surface. I go rather old school, bleach and 10% sodium metabisulphite to clean, and leave the dregs to get rid of chlorine when I brew.

[6 Row Joe]

Good information. I have been using Reverse Osmosis drinking water with good results. For heavy/dark beers you can use tap water but let it air out to remove the chlorine. Some say a day, I let it go at least a week. our local brew club is lucky to have a retired chemistry professor who is now a full time brewmaster at one of the local craft breweries. He has done a lot of research on the local water supply. Interesting stuff.

That's a useful man to have around, I tinker with the water but after 20 years of brewing I'm only scratching the surface. I go rather old school, bleach and 10% sodium metabisulphite to clean, and leave the dregs to get rid of chlorine when I brew.

Speaking of which, I stopped by the microbrewery last night with a couple beer drinking friends and we sampled and enjoyed many of their brews.
All were over the top.