New To Home Brewing

[eukay_aus]

Hi,

I'm am new to home brewing and would like some advice as to what equipment I should get, at least to start with. Whilst looking around I've seen a few starter kits, such as the Coopers Microbrewery Kit and local home brew shop kits which range from basic to deluxe. Can anyone give me some pointers as to what I should be looking for in a kit, or should I be looking at buying bits individually.

Regards

Matt

 

[Corey]

Welcome.

The Coopers kit is a good start. You could buy the individual bits cheaper, but it's pretty convenient to buy them all in one box. Ebay is often a good source too.

The Coopers kit comes with PET bottles. I'd try to convert your mates to drinking long necks. Acquire as many of these as you can.

Find a good homebrew shop. I'm not sure where exactly in Sydney you are, but there are pleanty of guys on this forum that could point you in the right direction.

Good luck with it!!

 

[bonk]

most homebrew shops have good startup kits. since your in sydney maybe look at esb or the country brewer.

as for kits, try and get one with a bench capper, its easier to use then the hit it with a hammer type capper (and safer).

most "kits" should be cheaper then buying everything seperate. they should also come with a kit brew for you to start with and work your way up from there.

happy brewing

 

[Wreck]

And the Coopers kit comes with a great instructional video starring Paul Mecurio and a blonde who doesn't like beer...

 

[Batz]

Welcome to the board and the great hobby of homebrewing eckay_aus

And I'll say for a start a Coopers Micro kit is good investment

Batz h34r:

 

[JasonY]

Yep welcome aboard. As others have said unless you are jumping straight into kegging then a bench capper is well worth the money. You could try to get one 2nd hand to save money or get a kit that comes with the lot.

good luck

 

[johnno]

Hello and welcome eukay_aus,
When I looked at starting this great hobby 16 months ago I wasnt too keen about bottling. I didn't even know about kegging then. Then after a bit more research I found out about Grolsh bottles and that appealed to me more. Once I knew I could source them (at a cost of course) I went with the Coopers kit. I found this the most convenient for me as it had all the stuff you need for your first brew. From then on its just a matter of where you want to go. You can add all sorts of bits and pieces,large and small.

cheers

 

[Kai]

I agree with Batz, a Coopers kit is a good place to start if you're entirely new at this. The PET bottles should be ok for the first batch or so if you don't have any glass ones stashed away. I was lucky when I started brewing, we had about a year's worth of recycling in the shed which yielded plenty of crown seals.

A bench capper is good too, I spent the first year or so with a butterfly capper and I hated it. You could try going to a home brew store to see if they'll cut you a deal if you buy all the stuff at once.

 

[GMK]

OK...

Buy 2 coopers kits - did this with my dad's 60th birthday...
that way you can rack from primary to secondary.
Primary fro 10days-2 weeks, secondary for 2 weeks - can go dry hopping in secondary as well.

The coopers PET bottles are good - get your mates to save 600ml and 1.25ltr pet bottles. 1 teaspoon & 2 teaspoons of sugar fro bottle conditioning respectively.
Bottle capper is only good if you are going to bottle and want to age some beers - over 9 months.
Then get some grolsch bottles or get mates/golf clubs to save crown lager bottles.
If u r starting out with kits - then send me a pm and i will e-mail u my xcell spreadsheet of recipes - some of which have won awards - as a helpfull start.

Welcome to the obsession....

 

[deebee]

Gday Matt. It's the start of the slippery slope for you my friend.

Go the starter's kit but get yourself an extra fermenter. Two fermenters is a bare minimum. You can buy fermenters from bunnings for $30. Willow brand sold as camping water containers. Look just like a fermenter but you have to drill your own airlock hole.

Also get yourself about 2m of vinyl tubing for racking beer through the tap from one fermenter to the other. The tube should fit snug over the fermenter tap. your homebrew shop should have it or hardware store.

And get some decent sanitiser, not the sodium met that will probably come with the beginners kit. Orthophosphoric acid is good. Or iodophor or hydrogen peroxide based one.

Buy it all in one go and talk your way into a discount.

Have fun!

 

[Kai]

I think companies are starting to bundle other sanitisers than sod met these days. When I picked up one of those cheap Tooheys fermenters it came with a sachet of a peroxide based sanitiser.

 

[eukay_aus]

Thank you all for the advice. I ended up going down to Big W and picking up the Coopers microbrewery kit, it was on special for under $60. Can't wait until Saturday now.

Thanks again.

 

[Batz]

May the beer gods be with you

:chug: :chug:

 

[Wreck]

One thing with the Coopers kits. The kilo of "Brewing Sugar" is mostly sucrose, with some malto-dextrin thrown in.

I'd get myself some DME or a brewiser bag or something similar and use that instead. Use the coopers sugar when you start bulk priming.

Wreck.

 

[johnno]

I wouldnt worry about the brewing sugar. Just use it in your first brew. Its a good way to learn and you can taste the difference with your later brews when you start using other ingredients.
My first and second ber were made using the coopers brewing sugar. The first was average, I used the carbonation drops for that one. the second when i bulk primed was much better. I reckon the carbonation drops are what affect the beer more than anything else.
Using the Brewing sugar and bulk priming I made a very good beer.
Some people wouldnt even beleive it was homebrew.

cheers