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thursobhoy

virgin brewer.
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Hi from the far north, I'm that new to brewing that I don't have any of the equipment I need.

I'm looking for advice on which is the best equipment kit and beer kit to get as my 1st try.

I was thinking of this as my equipment setup

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001S05H7C/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Any good??

Or any other/better kits to get?

Cheers in advance.

Darren.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Welcome Thursobhoy. You must be our most northerly brewer and Celtic fan?!

That's quite an expensive set of gear to say there is no beer kit in there! I usually find that homebrew stuff on Amazon is not the cheapest way to go.

Up your way a brew belt or a heat lad might be a good idea though!

You can start with absolute basics like this, and build your kit up:

http://http://www.home-brew-online.com/starter-kits-c47/beer-lager-c50/introductory-starter-kit-pale-ale-p1329

If you want basic gear with a kit and a barrel:

http://http://www.home-brew-online.com/starter-kits-c47/st-peters-micro-brewery-with-barrel-golden-ale-p1714

Rolls Royce stuff should be like this, including a premium beer kit:

http://www.home-brew-online.com/starter-kits-c47/beer-lager-c50/the-ultimate-real-ale-starter-pack-landlords-finest-p1163

Make sure you do loads of research before you buy a kit to get the best value for what you want. There's loads on online Home Brew Shops (HBS) and one might have an offer on. It's usually cheaper to get a starter set - they want to get you interested - but work out if it's cheaper to get stuff in bits!

Let us know how you get on!
 
Yeah Celtic fan.

Went for the ballihoo kit as it seemed to have everything I would need including the heat belt which will come in handy with the temperature up here as it will be fermenting in my garage which I've converted into a bar and the heating isn't on the whole time in there.

Now I'm needing a few ideas for my 1st brew.
 
Not a huge footie fan, but The Hoops are about the only team I will bother watching North or South of the border!

What type of beers do you like ? If you brew something you enjoy, you're more likely to keep going.

The kit definitely has quality components so it should last and you won't need anything else for a while. Start laying your hands on some bottles too so you can have kegged and bottled beer on the go at the same time. Get friends to save them, and your local may let you empty their bottle bin on a weekend rather then them recycling.
 
Not a huge footie fan, but The Hoops are about the only team I will bother watching North or South of the border!

What type of beers do you like ? If you brew something you enjoy, you're more likely to keep going.

The kit definitely has quality components so it should last and you won't need anything else for a while. Start laying your hands on some bottles too so you can have kegged and bottled beer on the go at the same time. Get friends to save them, and your local may let you empty their bottle bin on a weekend rather then them recycling.


Cheers for the tip, at the moment i like lagers, pale ales blondes. So what's best kit to start with?

Cheers.
 
Simply Pale Ale with 1kg brew enhancer and 500 mg of spraymalt.

Easy ferment. Can chill it like a lager. Should come out about 40p per pint before postage and packing. Decent pint.

If you want to go 'premium' try a Festival Golden Stag or Youngs American Pale Ale kit. These are quite 'hoppy' compared to the Simply kit.
 
Simply Pale Ale with 1kg brew enhancer and 500 mg of spraymalt.

Easy ferment. Can chill it like a lager. Should come out about 40p per pint before postage and packing. Decent pint.

If you want to go 'premium' try a Festival Golden Stag or Youngs American Pale Ale kit. These are quite 'hoppy' compared to the Simply kit.

Thank you very much :cheers:
 
My pleasure! :thumb:

When you get your beer kit, make sure you read all the 'first brew' threads to get all your 'worried of Thurso' questions answered! ;-)

Any question you have will have been asked and answered before!

Two massive tips:

1) cleanliness is next to Godliness - sterilise everything that touches your beer thoroughly as per instructions on your sanitiser!!! You don't want infections.
2) patience - ignore the over optimistic timescales with kit instructions, it usually takes a bit longer! Time will mostly heal the odd issue you have from time to time also!
 
I used to live in Thurso, and could see the Orkneys from my bedroom window (on some days ;-)). I'll bet it's changed a bit since 1970 though!
 
My pleasure! :thumb:

When you get your beer kit, make sure you read all the 'first brew' threads to get all your 'worried of Thurso' questions answered! ;-)

Any question you have will have been asked and answered before!

Two massive tips:

1) cleanliness is next to Godliness - sterilise everything that touches your beer thoroughly as per instructions on your sanitiser!!! You don't want infections.
2) patience - ignore the over optimistic timescales with kit instructions, it usually takes a bit longer! Time will mostly heal the odd issue you have from time to time also!


Going to get some bottles, is there a difference in caps or screw on tops? Which is better or does it not matter.
 
Presume you are talking about the plastic PET style bottles you can get in batches of 40?

They are both fine. I use both. The screw top ones you have to screw the cap right down to get an airtight seal, but you obviously don't need to buy crown caps and a capper. I quite enjoy capping and the 'fffffffffffft' when you open them. If you get these, you can also start saving used glass bottles and cap them also.
 
I'm in Shetland. Been brewing for about 18 months. Started with a Wherry starter pack with pressure barrel. I now have 3 barrels in an insulated cupboard in my garage with a heater to keep it around 10 degrees. I use the home brew shop in Aldershot because I get free postage on orders over £60. Biggest issue for me was gas so I now have a 10lb cellar gas co2 bottle rigged up with a regulator into a barrel connector. My brews are better than any I can buy in a pub here.
 

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