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What is the best kit to buy to brew my own beer?

I want to brew my own beer but I don't know where to start. I've seen home kits but which one is the best? Or maybe the better question is what do I need to brew my own beer?

Mike has you going in the right direction. The list is a good start. Go to a store which has beer making supplies as they can set you up best with your brewing needs.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 11:30 am and is filed under beer kits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “What is the best kit to buy to brew my own beer?”

  1. Look up local home brewing stores in your area first and see what they can offer you. It's nice to buy local, you can often get a good price, considering the cost of shipping, and a good store will pretty much offer you lifetime service as far as helping you out and giving you advice.

    if there are none near by look up morebeer.com, austinhomebrew, northernbrewer,

    To start you need minimum:
    Fermenter Bucket/Carboy
    Bottle Bucket
    Brew Kettle
    Air lock (fill with vodka or distilled water)
    Stopper for air lock
    Ingredient kit (look for extract kits that include hops and steeping grains)
    Thermometer
    grain sock (unless you don't bother with steeping grains)
    racking cane
    siphon tubing (a like 4 or 5 feet of vinyl tubing)
    sanitizer (StarSan is great, idophor works too)
    bottling wand
    a couple cases of bottles (you can buy new bottles from stores or you can save your own if you buy and drink a lot of beer, just don't buy screw offs, Sam Adams is good beer with good reusable bottles, Grolsh is crappy but they have cool stopper bottles)
    bottle caps
    bottle capper
    yeast (type will depend on recipe)

    Expect to spend at least a hundred dollars for good equipment and ingredients. If you are not so sure about this you can start with something like MrBeer.com but those are prehopped extract kits that are not generally going to make quality product, so you might as well spend just a little more to make more and better beer.
    References :

  2. I think that the best place to start is with a copy of Papazian's The New Complete Guide to Home Brewing. The first 41 pages will tell you what you need in the way of equipment and what you will do with it. You can get some of the things at hardware stores, bakeries, and flea markets but it is easiest to buy a fully-assembled kit. I got a Brewers' Best kit as a gift and have been very happy with it. Just be sure to avoid the "toy" kits, such as Mr Beer, that brew less than 5-gallon batches.

    Papazian also has good recipes, for the most part. Select one for an all-extract ale (no grains) and list the ingredients you need. Now, go to http://byo.com and click on the Resource Guide button. That will give you links to catalogs. Try to find one that gives free shipping on large orders. Order, wait and drool in anticipation. Brew. Wait and drool more. Bottle, wait even longer. Chill, Drink. Stat planning your next batch.
    References :

  3. Mike has you going in the right direction. The list is a good start. Go to a store which has beer making supplies as they can set you up best with your brewing needs.
    References :

  4. A pack of sugar,yeast and a waterlock and your good to go
    References :
    Vote for your favorite beer!
    http://kurl.nl?54CE

  5. Depending on where you live, you probably have a local hombebrew shop in town. I'd check that out first. There's an online store called http://www.northernbrewer.com They've got everything you need if you don't have a homebrew shop nearby.

    If you want more information go to http://www.homebrewtalk.com. It's one of my favorite websites. They've got so much information.
    References :

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