I have recently joined the AHA and decided to begin home brewing after I get back from a deployment in Afghanistan, and wanted to know if there is any advice the home brewers here can give on a good site to find a quality intermediate home brew system to start out with? I have been reading “A complete joy of home brewing 3rd edition” and multiple other books on brewing so i have confidence to start with a more advanced system than the ones that are slated for beginners. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
I’ve had decent experiences ordering from morebeer, adventures in homebrewing, and brewmasters warehouse (though I’ve twice now ordered something only to have them say layer it’s out of stock, so…)
Midwest Supplies has always treated me well. What part of the country are you from? Hopefully there is a decent Homebrew Supply store close to you. Half the fun is parousing around and talking beer with the owner.
And thank you for your service! Safe travels.
Dave
thanks for the help, I’m stationed in Camp Pendelton so if my research is correct the closest home brew supply is near San Diego for me. does anyone know the difference between better bottle carboys and plain ol’ glass carboys?
Glass doesn’t scratch, and plastic doesn’t shatter. Both work well. If you do any extended aging in the carboy, I would recommend glass. Otherwise, I think it’s just personal preference.
And Camp Pendleton? Semper Fi. I spent some time there in the 90s…
I’ve given up on the glass carboys after cracking one recently. Better Bottles require a bit more care in cleaning, in that you can’t scour them with a bottle brush, but I have four and use them regularly. Two are brand new, one is many years old. No more glass for me.
I’ve left beer in them for well over a month, maybe two, with no ill effects. But that’s not really extended aging.
I have one of each and if I buy another, it will be a Better Bottle. Glass is a major pain in the ass, plus the potential for serious injury. I’ve heard of guys getting cut pretty badly when it breaks.
I have not heard of a single instance where someone’s beer went bad conditioning in a BB. And honestly, I like my pails most of all. I lager in them now as often as my BB and carboy.
Agreed. I have six galss carboys on the shelf, and havn’t touched them in a couple years. I got some 7 gallon buckets from Uline, and that’s all I use.
When I did the exact same thing as you (Iraq, not Afghanistan), I went to the homebrew shop, and bought their deluxe set, which came with everything I needed. I don’t think there is much of a difference between a “beginner set” and an “advanced set” unless you are talking about all-grain. I also would recommend a turkey fryer if you want to try to get to full boil volume.
I use all glass carboys, but that’s because I got them for free from people in the area. As I start to move forward and need more carboys, I am going to go to the better bottle. Cheaper, and the biggest advantage is lighter.
Whichever way you go (glass or Better Bottle) I recommend keeping them in milk crates. This makes it easier to lift and move them, protects the glass from inadvertent bumps/shattering, and helps to keep the BBs from flexing when you move them.
i think the only difference between the deluxe or beginner sets may just be the type of equipment available. Alot of the beginner sets I see don’t have any of the wort chillers in them or even a brew pot, so i guess my real concern regarding the different systems would be how relevant some of this equipment really is to getting started. Trying to find what sets can bring a quality brew for the best cost. I would probably lean more toward BB carboys if given the option either way.
Honestly, I haven’t seen a kit with a wort chiller. I bought my kit, a turkey fryer (with 7.5 gal pot) and a wort chiller before my first batch. I have been using the 7.5 gallon pot even all grain. I plan on upgrading to 15gal eventually, but 7.5 is great for full boil extract batches, and is only a bit small for all grain.
Buckets work well too.
Buckets are certainly much easier clean, but I like my glass carboys for extended ageing. They are pretty heavy when full, so if you go glass I would definitely invest in a brew hauler.
I found one kit with a wort chiller in it, the kit upgrade #3 might be where i’m going to start.
For the record, I wish my starter kit had come with an immersion chiller instead of a glass carboy. Or a bucket with a hole in it, for that matter (it was meant to be a bottling bucket, but I’m finding it it relatively worthless as I prefer to bottle with a siphon). I’m waiting to see if I get the chiller for Christmas; if not, it’s the first thing I’m getting with Christmas money.