Buying my first home brewing kit...help?
Hi all...new to the forum here. Came upon this site because I'm in the process of trying to purchase my first home brewing kit, and it all seems somewhat confusing with information I see on different sites.
I was hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction as far as the best kit to buy. Here are some links of sites I have found and what they offer...was wondering if someone could tell me which is the best way to go, or are they all essentially the same? Note, I know this is going to be my first kit, but I've wanted to take this up for a long time, and am looking for something that will give me the most more my money, without having to go out and purchase tons of other equipment as I gain more experience.
Thanks.
Here's what I've found so far...any recommendations or suggestions?:
http://www.homebrewery.com/beer/beer-gs … -kit.shtml
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products … rodID=6876
http://www.homebrewers.com/c=gUxr1L6qdr … ients.html
Also, which is better, the glass carboy or the better bottle?
THANKS a bunch!
I went with the deluxe kit at the Home Brewery with all the upgrades. I'm happy with the equipment I got though the ingredient kit was kinda blah. I got the Irish Red Ale. It cost me a good chunk of change to have all that shipped too. You might look into finding a local homebrew shop that will probably have a comparable kit within the same price range and then you won't have to have it shipped. I started off buying all my stuff online; equipment, ingredients, kits, etc. Now that I found a homebrew shop, I go there for everything. Plus its a great place for tips, advice, stories, recipes and sometimes free beer. As for the fermentation vessels, I think its just a matter of preference and what people have gotten used to working with. All of my carboys are glass and it works fine for me. Take some time to browse though the threads on this site. Theres a lot of good information here as well as a lot of helpful people.
Thanks for the advice. I was leaning towards the home brewery kit, though the midwestsupplies one looks identical, at a fraction of the price.
Either way, I like Lagers, and was going to order the American Lager from home brewers to start out with.
Being that I've NEVER brewed, do you have any advice as to what type of beer I should start brewing? My favorite beer is Yuengling Lager. I don't want to duplicate it, but I want to brew something similar to it that I can call my own.
Would you be able to tell me if a lager is a good beer style to start with, or is there something easier that I should start with to get my first batch done?
Thanks again!
You are going to need to cool a lager for an extended period of time, which is probably difficult without a refrigerator or freezer with enough room for a 6.5 gallon jug. I have yet to brew a lager for precisely that reason, and it seems even less likely now that summer approaches in sunny los angeles. I would recommend an ale or a stout or something to start. Less equipment, less processing, less to go wrong. Good luck man, you are going to have some fun.
randyfolds wrote:
You are going to need to cool a lager for an extended period of time, which is probably difficult without a refrigerator or freezer with enough room for a 6.5 gallon jug. I have yet to brew a lager for precisely that reason, and it seems even less likely now that summer approaches in sunny los angeles. I would recommend an ale or a stout or something to start. Less equipment, less processing, less to go wrong. Good luck man, you are going to have some fun.
Thanks...any recommendations on a good stout or ale to start with? Something that I should be able to get close to right on my first shot and that has a lager feel to it?
Always good to see a new brewer!
I personally use plastic buckets for fermenting. Mostly because they're a lot easier to clean than a carboy, since you can just easily reach into the bucket and wipe off all the fermentation gunk.
As for a good ale style to start with, it depends on your preference. From what I read, Yuengling is light, slightly malty and grainy, with little hop presence. That sounds like a Cream Ale to me. But finding a local homebrew shop is the way to go. The knowledgable owner of a local homebrew shop should be able to direct you to a great recipe that you'll enjoy.
Getting any recipe right on your first shot is more about procedure than ingredients. Practice good sanitation. Thoroughly aerate your wort. Pitch enough yeast. Be patient, and it will come out great!
Nuno wrote:
Either way, I like Lagers, and was going to order the American Lager from home brewers to start out with.
Being that I've NEVER brewed, do you have any advice as to what type of beer I should start brewing? My favorite beer is Yuengling Lager. I don't want to duplicate it, but I want to brew something similar to it that I can call my own.
http://www.annapolishomebrew.com/shoprecipekits103.asp , look on that page for item
Item #71591a - Pennsylvania Lager Recipe Kit. This is reputed to be a Yuengling clone.
I like Yuengling a lot myself. I only get to drink it when we visit the in-law's in PA,
so I'm sorta torn, you know ? 
If you live in a cool climate and have a place to lager in secondary that you can keep
down around 40 degrees for a few weeks, it shouldn't be hard to make, but I'm a beginner myself. I found some other Yuengling clone recipes by searching the web, that use ale yeasts, which might be a solution ?
Whatever you brew, I bet it tastes good !
Frozentech wrote:
Nuno wrote:
Either way, I like Lagers, and was going to order the American Lager from home brewers to start out with.
Being that I've NEVER brewed, do you have any advice as to what type of beer I should start brewing? My favorite beer is Yuengling Lager. I don't want to duplicate it, but I want to brew something similar to it that I can call my own.http://www.annapolishomebrew.com/shoprecipekits103.asp , look on that page for item
Item #71591a - Pennsylvania Lager Recipe Kit. This is reputed to be a Yuengling clone.
I like Yuengling a lot myself. I only get to drink it when we visit the in-law's in PA,
so I'm sorta torn, you know ?
If you live in a cool climate and have a place to lager in secondary that you can keep
down around 40 degrees for a few weeks, it shouldn't be hard to make, but I'm a beginner myself. I found some other Yuengling clone recipes by searching the web, that use ale yeasts, which might be a solution ?
Whatever you brew, I bet it tastes good !
Frozentech...this is great...Thanks SO much. Unfortunately, I live in NJ, so keeping it somewhere around 40 might be rough, but I'll have to search for some that use ale yeasts like you mentioned...thanks so much.
Guess I'll make my decision soon on which kit to go with, but from the sounds of it, it doesn't look like I can go wrong with any of the one's I've researched so far.
I'm sure I'll be around a lot as I start learning the brewing process...thanks again all!
if its your first batch i would go with a brown ale. this type is one of the most forgiving!! i use midwest supplies myself they are cheaper than my lhbs. welcome to the world of homebrewing its great.
stubbs wrote:
if its your first batch i would go with a brown ale. this type is one of the most forgiving!! i use midwest supplies myself they are cheaper than my lhbs. welcome to the world of homebrewing its great.
Thanks. Unfortunately, there aren't any lhbs near me, so I'm going to have to order online. Good quality stuff from midwest? Happy with it?