Getting started- What equipment should I get?

Hey everyone,

I’m looking to take the plunge and get started on the journey as a homebrewer!

I am a complete newbie at this and don’t possess a ton of knowledge on the subject.  There is a lot of information online and it’s proving to be a bit overwhelming sifting through all of it with my limited brewing knowledge-  I’m looking for some recommendations on equipment to purchase to get started.

I get that sense that buying a cheap $50 kit to start might be a mistake, as this is something I’d like to take seriously so I’m hoping to get a decent setup off the bat.  I’m willing to invest $200-$300 into getting the right setup (or more if it seems necessary) which will hopefully provide me with everything I need to get started and last for the foreseeable future.

A list of items I’ll absolutely need, as well as some suggestions on specific products, would be much appreciated.  Thanks in advance!

Welcome to the hobby.  Depending upon how deep in the weeds you want to get, the equipment varies.  For newer brewers a lot of the websites that supply materials have packages of equipment (and videos as well) of what you might need to get started.  Northern Brewer is one place to look. Atlantic Brew Supplyis another.

By “In the weeds” I mean there are a lot of different ways to brew these days. Extract, all-grain, brew in a bag, HERMS, RIMS , and more.  Explore a little and see what might fit your desires. We can get more specific from there.

Good luck.

Thanks rburrelli!

I’m looking at Northern Brewer and they seem to have some pretty good kits.  Just trying to decide between the Homebrew Starter Kit and the Deluxe Homebrew Starter Kit.  It seems the main difference is that the Deluxe has two glass carboys for fermenting while the regular kit has just the one fermenter (not glass).  Does the two step fermenting process make a significant difference?  Any recommendations between these two kits?

Also, does it make sense to start with extract brewing and then move to All grain/Brew in a bag after I get a good handle on it?

This can be as expensive and in depth or as rudimentary and frugal as you want to make it.  You can make beer with the starter kits from William’s, Northern Brewer, Midwest, More Beer, etc, etc.  …but consider this a sunk cost because you’ll never be able to sell the cheaper alternatives.  However, if you buy more expensive equipment but you don’t continue brewing you can sell it minus a bit of depreciation. Just a thought to consider.

Example: you can make a MLT for ~$50 from a cooler or you can buy a really shiny stainless one for North of ~$300.

Important: There are real safety concerns with glass carboys so be VERY careful. I recommend plastic for a frugal buy or stainless for a more expensive route.

+1 on no glass

I’d start with one kettle, one plastic fermenter with a spigot, a plastic bottling bucket with a spigot (essentially two fermenters). Some way of racking to the bottling bucket (tubing). A hydrometer and a cheap digital thermometer

I hate spigots on fermenters. And I’ve never used a bottling bucket. But I agree otherwise. Get a bigger kettle than you think you need. I say 8 gallon minimum. You can still stove top brew with that and it will be usable if you go outside to a propane burner.

Also I gave up glass years ago. Stay away. No need for the risk.

At a restaurant supply store you can get way more kettle for way less coin than at a homebrew shop.  Like heavy gauge aluminum instead of chintzy, stamped stainless for the same money.

I have spent a ton of stainless cash, and regretted a ton of cash spent. IMO, I would purchase a kettle from someone like Spike Brewing. I would contact them and buy a nice 15 gallon kettle. Welded fittings, to me, only way to go. Something with a nice diptube to the sidewall of your kettle. The ease of draining to your fermenter…yes!  Buy a nice stainless immersion chiller. Never gets funky, doesn’t leave things in your wort. Propane burner for exterior boils. I’d buy as nice a burner as you can afford. A kettle is too heavy for a stove top and too slow. I bought a 10 gallon Polarware kettle only to have a welder ruin my kettle. It wasn’t big enough anyway. A 60qt cooler as a mash tun. Handle any strength beer you want for 5 gallons. Look into Brew In A Bag. Having the right kettle with a diptube and valve, priceless. You can use one kettle, one cheap cooler, a bucket, and win gold at the AHA. A cheap hydrometer with an auto-syphon. Buy the large size. You will appreciate the time saved during your rack to a bottling bucket. As far as fermenters go, use a bucket to start. Easy, cheap, and works great. Sanitation!!  Use Starsan and mix it with distilled water. It then will last for a long time. I used my tap and infected a batch. You can grow with it as you learn. I have a stack of stuff I bought and it was a total waste. Take the dive, great folks here to ask questions. There is never a dumb question, we all have been where you are. Buy great stuff once, it will save you in the long run. If you decide to sell, it will go quick. I know this sounds like a lot of info, but if your into it, worth it. Welcome to an addictive place!! All just my opinion, appraised value
$.01

Buy a few good books and read them. I started 20+ years ago with Charlie Papazian’s “New Complete Guide to Homebrewing”, it might have been surpassed by another more up to date book, but it was a great place to start.

Thanks for the info guys!  Really appreciate it.  Particularly the tip about avoiding glass fermenters.

I think I’m gonna start off with this kit:

https://northernbrewer.ca/collections/shop-kits/products/brew-share-enjoy-kit

It comes with:

6.5 gallon fermentor w/ lid & Bubbler airlock
Bottling Bucket w/Spigot assembly
Fermenter’s Favorites Bottle filler
5 Gallon Stainless Brew Kettle
21” Stainless Spoon
Siphon, 5 ft. Siphon Tubing & Siphon Tube Holder
Cleaner/Sanitizer - Fermenter’s Favorites Oxygen Wash
Bottle Brush

On top of that, I’m also planning to buy a thermometer, hydrometer, and immersion chiller, as it sounds like they’re all quite important pieces. I’d like a bigger kettle as well but I’ll start with the one in the kit and then eventually probably upgrade to a 10 or 15 gallon kettle.

Are there any crucial pieces of equipment that I’m missing here?

That kit looks like a pretty good start. But…

The 5 gallon kettle means you will be boiling 3-ish gallons of water and malt extract. After the boil is complete, you will add water to get your volume up to 5 gallons before fermentation. In other words, you will be boiling a denser wort (unfermented beer) and then diluting before fermentation. With that method you don’t need a wort chiller. You can use an ice water bath in the sink to chill the denser wort.  Once that is cool, you can add chilled tap water to raise your volume to 5 gallons.

From your original post you mention transitioning to all grain/BIAB. You will need a larger kettle for that. Alternatively, you will need to brew smaller batches when you make the BIAB transition: a 5 gallon kettle works well for 3 gallon BIAB batches.

After a short time brewing you won’t like small boils and then topping up with water. It’s not ideal and you’ll want better for your beer.  Especially when you move to BIAB, you will want to do a full volume boil. That means starting the boil with 6.5-ish gallons of wort. One-ish gallons will evaporate during the boil leaving about 5.5 gallons to chill and move to the fermenter. To start your boil with 6.5 gallons of wort, you will need an 8 gallon or larger kettle. Finally, when you need to chill 5.5 gallons of hot wort, the ice bath is no longer feasible. That is when you will want a wort chiller.

You may find good use for the 5 gallon kettle later on. If you sparge,  you may use it to heat sparge water. Dedicate a big closet for brew supplies. You never have enough storage space.

  • formerly alestateyall.

Thanks for the info Tommy.

Question (apologies for my lack of knowledge):  Why do I need to top up the volume to 5 gallons after a 3 gallon boil?  Is it not possible to do a 3 gallon boil with the proper proportions of malt extract where you don’t need to top it up with water before fermentation?

It certainly is.  You got a lot of good info here, but as you see, people have different ideas about how to do things.  Pick something that looks good to you, try it, and ask more questions.

You can brew any size batch you want to.

The assumption most of us typically make is 5gal batches since that’s how we started.  Most recipes in the homebrewing world, especially extract brewing, will be designed around 5gal batches.  All it takes is a bit of math to change the batch size.

Paul

IMO, before you start, READ,READ,READ as much as you can on brewing science. Also, and again this is just my opinion, go straight into all grain brewing. Thats not to say there is anything wrong with extract because there isn’t,BUT, all grain is where you will eventually end up. I brewed extract back in the late 80’s and made ok beer but not good enough to spark the intense interest I now have for brewing and i quit. I started brewing again about 6 years ago and it is an obsession! I brew about once or twice a month. If there is a craft brewer near you then go introduce yourself and volunteer to work. That dirty grunt work will give you some great insight. If there isn’t a brewer, join a brew club! One last opinion, if you have some fairly deep pockets, go electric and don’t settle for a system less than 10 gallons. When I started brewing again I went all grain with a keggle, 2 -10 gallon gott style coolers,carboys and the such and was garage bound weather permitting. Now I have a pretty awesome 20 gallon electric system in my basement and I never tire of brewing.It really is a love affair and one that the wife enjoys too.  GO FOR IT!! You won’t regret it!

As I think others are suggesting, for your first batch, you could skip the immersion chiller ($50) and chill in the kitchen sink. Buy two bags of ice so that you can be extra sure to get your wort under 70 degrees. Then if you decide you like brewing, you could spring for more gear.

What I’m not seeing on that list is sanitizer. The “Fermenter’s Favorite Oxygen Wash” looks a lot like Oxyclean, but how does it sanitize? It’s not very much, whatever it is. Personally, I’d throw in a bottle of Star San ($13 from Northern Brewer) and a $1 spray bottle from your local hardware store.

Thanks again for all the helpful tips everyone.

I ended up purchasing a kit from a local homebrew shop, with a mix of grains and extract.  My first brew day was quite an adventure, I think I made a few small mistakes along the way but for the most part it went well!  One thing that concerns me though… the original gravity before fermentation seemed to be quite high…  It was at 1.10.  I don’t know what it was supposed to be at for this specific recipe (Red Ale), but I know that’s likely higher than it should be.  Can my beer still turn out okay with this high OG?  What are some mistakes I might have made during the brew process that may have contributed to the gravity being too high?

1.10 is quite high for a red.  A few questions will be asked so let’s get some of them out of way right off the bat:

1)  What did your recipe look like?
      1a) what size batch was it?
2)  What temp did you take your OG reading ( after cooling the wort or while still hot)?
3)  Did you do a 3 gallon boil and add in water to top off to 5 gallons?
      3a) Did you stir it really well to avoid stratifaication of the sugars and clear water layers?
4)  Did you check the calibration of your hydrometer in distilled (or at least room temp tap) water?

Those are the first questions that come to mind right off.

Paul