New: Homebrewing Kits

[thelocalagent]

Hey guys,

Firstly can't believe I found a forum like this! Amazing...

I'm obviously new and would love any suggestions on where to get a decent homebrewing kit. Am I better off getting equipment individually?

Live in South-East Melbourne and would love any recommendations.

Thanks.

 

[chromakey]

Hi mate

Welcome to forum and the addiction.

You have plenty of choices when in comes to purchasing gear. I was given a Liquorcraft homebrew kit as a gift several years ago and that is how i got started. You can pick up full kits at Big W.

If you want to do it on the cheap, you can pick up fermenters at Bunnings. I have a few of these and they do a fine job. See this thread - http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/65117-new-bunnings-fermenter-style-containers/

Most of the other stuff you require is probably lying around your house already. Just make sure you get yourself some good no rinse sanitiser like Starsan.

 

[HBHB]

Welcome to AHB and brewing.

I'd suggest you start off with some research on here for topics like improving kit beers, temperature controlled fermentation, cleaning and sanitising extract brewing and BIAB. Don't spend a cent on anything until you know what you'd like to make and how you'd like to make it.

Once you've spent a bit of time deciding what level of brewing you'd like to pursue then you can start looking at your best options for equipment and supplies. Buy once, buy well for the long term savings.

Explore beer styles. Find a beer you'd love to be able to make well and concentrate on doing it really well. You see, when it's cold outside, raining and crappy weather and you've got to drag yourself up to the shed to bottle 60 bottles of beer, it's the enthusiasm of making something really damned good that will keep you doing it.

Up the top of the page are the AHB sponsors who support the forum and it's members. There are also other retailers on the site who currently don't support the forum financially, but support the members with positive input.

Somewhere in your surrounding suburbs I imagine there's a home brew shop. Go introduce yourself to the owners or staff and take a list of questions. You'll either find an informed fellow enthusiast brewer or you won't. If you don't, then try the next closest one. Unfortunately, the checkout chicks at Big W generally don't give a rats arse about your beer, nor do it's Peruvian shareholders.

You'd also do well to ask questions on here, where there's a combined brewing knowledge base which spans about 25 million brews. Use the search function - it will take you places.

Have fun with your brewing & enjoy the journey. It's worth every drop of blood sweat and beer.

Martin

 

[thelocalagent]

Sweet...

Thanks fellas.

Will get things rolling as soon as possible. Keep you posted! I'm just really doing my research, studying and understanding the science behind it too.

Appreciate the great help!

Ricky

 

[shacked]

Welcome mate!

The best bit of advice I got was to get a bottle tree and pump style bottle sanitiser. Makes brew day far more organised.

Cheers!!

 

[Damn]

Martin offers some sound advice. I too, rushed out and bought the deluxe basic kit (no regrets, just pricey). If your in a hurry its not a bad way to start, get a basic kit including a favorite style of beer. But what often the basic kits omit, to keep the price down, but are necessary for good easy beer making are things like bench bottle capper, heater, temperature controller etc. I wonder how many 1st (and last) homebrews that were stuffed because a lager was fermented too warm or an Ale that never fermented because it was too cold. Or the homebrewer decided to bottle into stubbies instead of longnecks and used the handcapper for all bloody 60 odd! If your patient this site can help you put a good kit together and highlight some of the pitfalls that trip most Newbies.

John Palmer has an invaluable resource online (free) http://www.howtobrew.com/ its a bit outdated as it doesn't mention methods methods like no-chilling and BIAB but still a keeper.

Good luck, you may not look back.

Damian.

 

[H0U5ECAT]

Since Kmart are clearing out their stocks on Coopers, you can get a starters kit for about $60 with everything you need.
Makes close to 3 cases.

If you're lucky, you might get the Coopers Pale Ale kit.
But you gotta be quick.

 

[Droopy Brew]

My best advice is fork out on a couple of kegs, a regulator, a pluto gun and an old fridge to keep it cold. Hire or buy a CO2 cylinder.

Brewing the beer is one part of the equation storing and conditioning is the other.

I bottled my first 2 brews. It was a pain in the arse, I had bottles and shit lying around everywhere in the kitchen in various stages of yeasty mutiny, I had to wait for 4 weeks for the beer to come good (ish) and the beer didnt taste as good to boot.
I got a cheap kegging set up of gumtree and a fridge and never looked back. I will usually fill 2 or 3 bottles if there is left over in the fermenter and stash them away for a rainy day but honestly kegging is the way to go.
It is quicker, you can drink your beer within a couple of days of kegging, you dont have shitloads of bottles to clean and it is simply more impressive to pour a beer from a keg than trying to strain off the last few ml out of a bottle while trying to keep the yeast out of it. I find the beer tastes a lot better out of a keg as well.

Fermenting wise- look for a fridge that will hold at least one fermenter, preferably 2 and search Ebay for STC1000 temp controller. Temp control is everything in fermenting so for no more than $100 you should be able to get this set up ($50 for the fridge and $20 for the controller). Then search here for STC1000 for details of how to wire it up.

 

[Damn]

Since Kmart are clearing out their stocks on Coopers, you can get a starters kit for about $60 with everything you need.
Makes close to 3 cases.

If you're lucky, you might get the Coopers Pale Ale kit.
But you gotta be quick.

Yep, get the pale ale kit, that's an excellent start.

 

[GNU]

Kmart in boronia has 2 kits left at $65 each

 

[3136]

Hey there, I'm totally new to this as well, I really didn't want to piss around with lots of bottles or a massive keg in the fridge with a gas bottle next to it, just would not have gone down well with my wife.
So I bought two of these set ups http://www.ibrew.com.au/collections/tap-a-draft-portable-draft-system/products/tap-a-draft-beginners-kit
I have only just kegged my first brew, it seems to pour just fine, you need 2 mini gas bottles to force carb, or carb naturally and use 1 gas to dispense.

I think you need to ask yourself
How much room you have to put aside?
How much money you want to spend?
How much spare time you have to make each brew?

If you do decide to buy a second fridge look at it's energy rating, a 20 year old fridge will gobble power like the cookie monster.

 

[Grott]

The brew kit, you will need for kegs anyway, however before spending a fair bit of money on a kegging system I would do a few brews in bottles, glass or PET ones so you get your routine/ setup right and produce a beer you enjoy. Once you have done this and are happy with the outcome, by all means go into legging, partials and or all grain. I believe you should get it right before spending more money and extra effort and only a few brews should be needed to achieve that.
Cheers

 

[barabool]

Now - People don't yell at me but I had also been thinking about what the basic cost to get into basic beer brewing would be.

Below is the bare bones - you will end up with a very average tasting beer - but if you are on the tight budget - this is what you can do.
If you are a person who won't get discouraged and on a tight budget - try the kit below then build on it with suggestions from the forum.
If you get easily discouraged - spend more.


Basic Brew Setup:
Bunnings Camp Container (brew Bucket): $16
Coles - Cooper's Ale Kit - $13
Airlock - $3
Grommet: $1
Coles - Sugar 2 kg- $1.80 (for bottling as well)
Coles - Bleach - $1.30 (sanitation)
Bottles - recycled - 0$
Caps - $4
Hand capper - $4
Total: $44.10

 

[H0U5ECAT]

At least with the kit from coopers, you will get everything you need as a start up.

Besides my keezer build, the only other things I've purchased were

3 more fermenters,
Bench Capper and,
a thermometer.

Plus more ingredients for more beer.

 

[mxd]

Now - People don't yell at me but I had also been thinking about what the basic cost to get into basic beer brewing would be.

Below is the bare bones - you will end up with a very average tasting beer - but if you are on the tight budget - this is what you can do.
If you are a person who won't get discouraged and on a tight budget - try the kit below then build on it with suggestions from the forum.
If you get easily discouraged - spend more.


Basic Brew Setup:
Bunnings Camp Container (brew Bucket): $16
Coles - Cooper's Ale Kit - $13
Airlock - $3
Grommet: $1
Coles - Sugar 2 kg- $1.80 (for bottling as well)
Coles - Bleach - $1.30 (sanitation)
Bottles - recycled - 0$
Caps - $4
Hand capper - $4
Total: $44.10

you can save 10% with gladwrap

I would add a hydrometer

 

[fixa4377]

Iv'e just as of a few weeks back finished my first kit beer,, me and the BIL got his old coopers kit and bought it back to life with some intense cleaning and sanitising, then headed to the local home brew shop, The fella there was great, put up with our newbie questions and was very patient, took a phone call off us also half way through,

searched this forum ALOT, asked a few questions, and it was underway, tried hard to keep fermenting temp around 18-20deg, got close I think, Bottled after 3 weeks, had to house the bottles in an old fridge with a heat pad to help carbonation and ended up with a half decent beer first up

Newbie tips: Over sanitise , don't tell your friends you have done it until you taste it yourself, use the hydrometer a lot, keep a log of what your readings are, as mentioned temp control the key, bottle first few batches (i enjoyed first bottling) , let it ferment for at least 2 weeks,

Thats my thoughts anyway,,

Enjoy :chug: