Pages: 1 2
Commercial Brew Kits?
I'm looking for opinions on commercially available brewing kits like Mr. Beer. I've been using Mr. Beer for some time now. While I enjoy the convenience of everything, there's definitely better equipment out there. But how much better is it? For a casual homebrewer who's never going to enter contests or get more than ankle-deep in homebrewing, is it worth upgrading?
I thought about Mr. Beer, but I think it is worth getting your own equipment. Most home brew stores will offer ingredient kits which are just about as easy. I know Northern Brewer has extremely easy kits to use.
The full brewing set-up would be the way to go, in my opinion. You have a lot more versatility, and more control over the fine points of your brew. It may not seem like much at the moment, but the limits on a system such as Mr. Beer may become apparent very quickly.
Also, never say you will never enter competition or get more than "ankle deep" in homebrewing. ONe never knows exactly where or when the brew bug will strike. You will want to keep your options for expansion open.
what's a "mr. beer" kit like? is it one of those pre-hopped, no-boil thangs?
I noticed a significant difference in the quality of beer when I went from extract only to extract + specialty grains. There is very little extra work involved with steeping the grains and I am very happy with the conversion. I guess the next step is all-grain.
BTW I buy all my kits from Austin Homebrew supply
jamebow wrote:
what's a "mr. beer" kit like? is it one of those pre-hopped, no-boil thangs?
Nothing you want. Nuff said.
They are a poor mans beer kit. Ok, maybe not THAT extreme. In my opinion, they are a beer kit you will find at Walmart, Costco, Kmart, or wherever, designed to get you interested in making beer.
I have never met one brewer who had anything good to say about them.
Essentially, they are a 2.5 gallon "party pig" made of PET plastic, with a tap and filler cap, a dozen (?) large plastic bottles, and some kits with different flavors. I forget exactly what the beer kit includes, but its like yeast, energizer, beer mix, and some other crap. They make quite a few flavors.
I read that the inventor made this strictly to get people intrigued about homebrewing so they would end up going full scale. True or not, I don't know.
Don't waste your money on Mr. Beer. For just a little more money, you can make better beer and much cheaper too.
Cranus wrote:
I noticed a significant difference in the quality of beer when I went from extract only to extract + specialty grains. There is very little extra work involved with steeping the grains and I am very happy with the conversion. I guess the next step is all-grain.
BTW I buy all my kits from Austin Homebrew supply
Oh yes, those specialty grains can be! Crystal 20L - 180L, chocolate, vienna, munich, carapils, biscuit, melanoidin, whatever. Very cool to use!
BTW, once you go all grain, you can skip the steeping if you want. Figuring you steep between 150 and 160 degrees, well you mash between 140-160, with 152 being pretty average. Perfect for steeping.
I throw all my steeping grains in the mash. Saves me a half hour of manual steeping.
I wasted a few batches on all grains learning, but now that I have done dozens that way, I am very happy I converted. Best decision I made, next to kegging.
even a casual homebrewer will get swept up in the joy of homebrewing with all the gadgets, and kettles, and grain bags, and all, once he/she has tasted how good a beer can be when you brew it exactly how you want it!!!
seriously, even if you just want to brew 1 beer that you like to drink and you only brew twice a year. upgrade because it will give you the freedom to brew any beer you want. you can brew simple beer that is only malt extract and water, or you can brew something a bit more time and effort consuming, using any of the specialty grains, a variety of different hops flavors and styles, and the multitude of different spices, herbs and flavorings.
the difference between mr. beer and everything else is choice. its kinda revolutionary.
I'm in need of cheapest true brew beer kits. Do you know any site in which I can buy it online?
Not only cheap but of high quality equipment. I'm tired of borrowing equipment of my neighbor. I want to have my own. A penny of your thoughts?
myca wrote:
I'm in need of cheapest true brew beer kits. Do you know any site in which I can buy it online?
Not only cheap but of high quality equipment. I'm tired of borrowing equipment of my neighbor. I want to have my own. A penny of your thoughts?
Cheap and quality should never be in the same sentence. You get what you pay for.
My initial kit was 2 stage including plastic primary, glass carboy, bottling bucket, 2 brushes, bottle caps, capper, racking tube, one step cleaner, airlock, hydrometer and a simple book. That ran me $95. You can get them a little cheaper. I have seen single stage for as little as $50 online, but then you have to add shipping.
I don't buy things like that online, but I have read numerous good reviews about Austin Homebrew and Midwest Supplies. Although, I do buy my hops from www.freshops.com ... really cheap!
You could actually buy some things locally. I bought 5 gallon paint buckets, HDPE 2, food grade, from Walmart for about $5 each. You can only get things so cheap. I devised a way to get an initial setup going for about $40, but I recommend just buying a kit instead.
I can't stress enough, QUALITY over CHEAP. If you choose single stage, I would expect to shell out a minimum of $80, that's a $50 kit and $30 for a SS brew pot. As for bottles, get them from friends. I bought some bottles, but the majority I asked coworkers for. Give me some bottles, I will fill a sixer or so with beer, and give them back, but I want to keep the bottles.
Anyway, those are the places online I have heard the most good about.
But I'm sure there are many more.
Pages: 1 2