Absolute beginner

Hello Iam an absolute beginner so just browsing to find out the best stuff to buy to make beer so as not to make too many purchases then find out I should have spent a bit more initially and saved some money.

any advice would be appreciated

Ian

Hi Ian,

Couple of "How to" guides in my sig for kit brewing and All Grain "Brew in a Bag" style which delve a little into equipment. If you are thinking full on 3 vessel All Grain then there are a few more how to guides kicking around too. :thumb:

Hi and welcome.

Hi Ian ...if you want to dip your toe in...just get a 2 can beer kit ( any type youfancy ) buy a 23 litre plastic bucket, and follow the instructions exept the times allways give your brew at least 10 days.


well yes you do need a bit more equipment than that.....but after 10 days of perfect fermentation and with 40 pints of soon to be great ale sat in your first bucket buy another bucket.syphon,bottles,caps and capper will not seem too hurtfull....... :grin: :grin:

Welcome to the forum :

ian1764 said:

Hello I am an absolute beginner so just browsing to find out the best stuff to buy to make beer so as not to make too many purchases then find out I should have spent a bit more initially and saved some money.

Click to expand...

Still relatively new myself . . . one of the nice things about brewing is that you can start small, and add equipment as you go. I wondered around the brewing isle, totally mystified, until someone suggested I buy a starter kit from the range.
For £20, the kit contained :-

• 1 x 23L brewing bucket (no tap or air lock)[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• 1 x LCD thermometer strip[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• 1 x mixing paddle (plastic)[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• 1 x standard syphon kit[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• 1 x 100g "sterilizer" sachet (sodium percarbonate)[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• 1 x instruction booklet, although the instructions are also on their web site[/*:m:28gajtrt]

I also bought :-

• 1 x 1kg dextrose sugar[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• 1 x beer kit (1.8 kg)[/*:m:28gajtrt]

You don't need the sugar if you have one of the better beer kits (2 cans, 3kg).

You also need a pressure barrel, or enough bottles to hold 23L (minus the gunk that settles at the bottom of the bucket). I've only tried bottling so far, so bought a bottle capper and bottle caps. I recycled a lot of 500ml bottles but bought some too. You can get "swing top" bottles, which you don't need caps for. You can also use plastic drinks bottles - I used a few 2L bottles that previously had still spring water. I avoided fizzy drinks bottles because I didn't want to taint the beer, but maybe lemonade would be OK. I hear brown and green bottles are better than clear, because it blocks light which can cause off-flavours in the beer. I hear some recycled bottles are a bit thin and might break. If a bottle breaks, don't try to salvage the beer - I imagine glass shards can really hurt if you swallow them. I've only had 1 broken bottle which broke during capping, and it had probably taken a few knocks before hand. I find Rekoderlig and Kopparberg bottles don't cap quite as easily as other bottles because they have a narrower lip.

There are lots of different starter kits available - some will come with a pressure barrel or bottles or a hydrometer, so look at the contents instead of just the price. Here's a list of the extra stuff I have bought since that initial kit :-

• Lots of bottles! Some recycled. Some purchased (6 for £4). Got some swing top bottles too (12 for £10)[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• Bottle caps (50 for £1 at Wilkinsons)[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• Hand capper (£10 - had to order this in at wilkinsons)[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• Bottle brush[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• A hydrometer and sample jar for testing the "specific gravity" (£3.50 + £2.50)[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• A turkey baster, for taking samples. Some people get a bucket with a tap.[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• A big funnel, originally to get the sterilising fluid in the bottles, but also to help get the priming sugar in the bottles.[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• "Videne", for sterilising. I hear "sodium percarbonate" only kills bacteria and not spores. Search this forum.[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• Syringes, for measuring out the small quantities of Videne. I imagine measuring spoons would do.[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• A bottle tree - makes the bottling process much easier. I think this was about £20.[/*:m:28gajtrt]
• A bottle rinser - makes sterilising bottles easier. About £14[/*:m:28gajtrt]

Bottling is by far the most laborious part, because you need to clean; sterilise; prime (add sugar); fill and cap all the bottles. Switching to Videne and the bottle tree makes a big difference here. I plan to get a second bucket for "batch priming", but I'm still debating whether to get one with a tap and/or an air lock. I might also get a "little bottler" and/or an "auto-siphon".

I was given 2 giant bottles that were too big for my standard caps and hand capper. I don't know if a bench capper would have been better, but I don't have a bench.

One of my friends gave me an under-tray heater. These cost £30-£40 brand new. I saw one on ebay for £10. You probably need some kind of heating if you brew through winter, unless you have the central heating on all the time, or have an airing cupboard, or live in a warm country.

I also label the bottles I give away, using standard address labels (6 per A4 sheet) run through a printer. Bottles that are tapered, or have lots of raised bits are difficult to label.


M.

Hi, welcome to the forum :