Not sure i can be bothered to move on from kits

I've been doing kits a couple of years now and like the thought of moving on to extract brewing and AG brewing. Therre are 2 problems.

The first being I would need to buy the kit. I've asked on her ea couple of times what the minimum you need is but not really had a proper answer. How big a pot or boiler would I need to move to extract brewing? How much will I have to spend?

The second is doing a kit is fairly quick and simple with the worst part being all the cleaning and steralising (there is a thread on worst part of brewing where most people said this that I saw). If I go on to extract brewing I understand it will take about an hour longer. Is that right? Although the idea of producing your own beer I'm not sure I can be arsed with that and the wife complaining of the smell....or I will be forced into the garage with a camping gas stove.

And how long does it take for AG brewing? All day?

So come on guys, try to persuade me its worth it! I do like the idea of creating my own beers.

There are plenty of brewers on here who are happy with Kit beers. If that's your thing then stick with it.

If you really wanted to move on to extract or AG brewing, all the info you need is on this forum and on the rest of t'internet :)

I've posted this before but it cost me around £100 to get going with a kit (inc inkbird and brew belt for temp control. To move to extract you're looking at another ton (to get a decent 33l pot and a burner/fuel). To move to AG it's another ton again to get bits and bobs for a mash tun and immersion chiller.

The results are well worth it if you do take the leap.

There's no real answer to the cost question - it can cost a little or a lot depending on whether you want to make the kit yourself or buy it, the volumes you plan on brewing etc... The size of pot you'll need depends on how much you want to brew at once. The more you want to brew, the bigger the boiler you need.

An extract brew can take 2-3 hours, all grain 5-6. It always seems to take longer than you expect it to!


For me there's nothing like making your own beer to your own recipe. I've made some great tasting kits but never really been satisfied. For me, it's like and M&S ready meal - tastes great but not your own work. But that's just me.

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I moved to All Grain thanks to this thread : http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=51779

I was lucky and had a boiler gave to me shortly afterwards by fellow member Niman. I will reciprocate when I get a Grainfather (eventually!)

I found the above a great way to start. Don't squeeze the bag though as Clibit suggests, I found too much gunk in my first few brews because I squeezed every time.

My first attempts at AG have taken 3-4 hours. I'm trying 10 litre brews, so the only things I've needed to add when moving on from kits was at 16/17 litre pot and a straining bag. I use the same FV, hydrometer etc. I'd give it a go, it is satisfying to make actual beer simply using grains, water and yeast (plus priming sugar!)

I started by following this:
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=51779

Bit bumpy along the way, but the outcome smells bloody good, another week and I'll have first taste :)

Ive just got a nice 15Litre pot for about #23 and a decent thermometer for about#30 and have recycled an old cool box (free) and a mesh bag about #6 ....cant find the bl**dy pound sign. so you could do 10 lite batches whole grain or 23 litre batches of extract or 23 litre partial mash with this set up I believe. hope that helps. In fact u cold bring the cost down considerably with a cheap thermometer.

chuffer said:

I've posted this before but it cost me around £100 to get going with a kit (inc inkbird and brew belt for temp control. To move to extract you're looking at another ton (to get a decent 33l pot and a burner/fuel). To move to AG it's another ton again to get bits and bobs for a mash tun and immersion chiller.

Click to expand...

Er ... you can do it a LOT cheaper.

Boiler = Wilco Fermenter £8 and Tesco Kettle Element £5
http://www.wilko.com/homebrew-accessories+equipment/wilko-fermenting-bin-and-lid-25lt/invt/0022555
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=281016235

Mash Tun = 32 Litre Cool-Box £25 + Tap and Copper Bits & Pieces £12
https://www.dibranto.co.uk/ProductI...Type=Product&gclid=CP7K9c7h880CFQ0SGwodajgKJg
http://www.diy.com/departments/plumbsure-brass-tap/178311_BQ.prd

Cooler = Copper Coil £18
http://www.screwfix.com/p/wednesbur...tracking url&gclid=CKa-z_fh880CFa0V0wodMM0A1Q

Fermenting = Thermostat Heater £27.50 + Wilco FV £8
http://www.homebrewcentregy.com/electrim-75-immersion-heater

TOTAL = £103.50 + some interesting time doing the work.

So far, this kit has managed to produce eight AG brews without incident and I expect to produce a lot more before I have to upgrade!

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk...+kit&autocomplate_id=&search_in_description=1

Is what I use for my AG brewing.
Takes 5-6 hours including cleanup

To move from kit to extract only cost me the price of the boiling pot - about £21 off ebay for a 20l pot. Everything else I already had from kit brewing. I could do with getting a wort chiller as I'm using ice baths at the moment but this isn't ideal, but that's it.

The results are miles and miles and miles better than kits.

Dutto said:

Er ... you can do it a LOT cheaper.

Boiler = Wilco Fermenter £8 and Tesco Kettle Element £5
http://www.wilko.com/homebrew-accessories+equipment/wilko-fermenting-bin-and-lid-25lt/invt/0022555
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=281016235

Mash Tun = 32 Litre Cool-Box £25 + Tap and Copper Bits & Pieces £12
https://www.dibranto.co.uk/ProductI...Type=Product&gclid=CP7K9c7h880CFQ0SGwodajgKJg
http://www.diy.com/departments/plumbsure-brass-tap/178311_BQ.prd

Cooler = Copper Coil £18
http://www.screwfix.com/p/wednesbur...tracking url&gclid=CKa-z_fh880CFa0V0wodMM0A1Q

Fermenting = Thermostat Heater £27.50 + Wilco FV £8
http://www.homebrewcentregy.com/electrim-75-immersion-heater

TOTAL = £103.50 + some interesting time doing the work.

So far, this kit has managed to produce eight AG brews without incident and I expect to produce a lot more before I have to upgrade!

Click to expand...

Very true, but personally I didnt fancy going down the electrical boiler route and my tun cost a bit more as I used stainless steel fittings but horses for courses n all that

Linalmeemow said:

To move from kit to extract only cost me the price of the boiling pot - about ���£21 off ebay for a 20l pot. Everything else I already had from kit brewing. I could do with getting a wort chiller as I'm using ice baths at the moment but this isn't ideal, but that's it.

The results are miles and miles and miles better than kits.

Click to expand...

I second that last sentiment
I only have a 10 ltr pot for extract brews and you don't need to boil that amount of liquid either. i have no fancy gear and cool mine in the sink, so far not a problem:thumb:

The link wfr42 posted is what I got. �£96 is a bargain, plus another �£9 for the hop strainer to go with it.
Upside: better beer, a bit cheaper per pint, more scope for being creative, you can make any beer you want.
Downside: more equipment to clean and takes longer (~5h for me)

Going AG was the right choice for me, because I see brewing as a hobby and I enjoy designing recipes, smelling and tasting the ingredients, tinkering with the process, and so on. I get satisfaction from grain brewing. If all you want is to get good drinkable beer at a reasonable price, then by all means stay with kits.

chuffer said:

I've posted this before but it cost me around £100 to get going with a kit (inc inkbird and brew belt for temp control. To move to extract you're looking at another ton (to get a decent 33l pot and a burner/fuel). To move to AG it's another ton again to get bits and bobs for a mash tun and immersion chiller.

Click to expand...

This was the original Post on which I commented. To make my point, I will just take the first sentence of the Post which states that it costs "£100 to get going with a kit".

At any time of the year it's easy to find somewhere in most homes to ferment a beer kit (I know because I used to do it) so here's what's available today:
o An FV from Wilco for £8
o 12 quart bottles of Sparkling Water from Tesco for £2.04 (chuck the water it's the bottles you are after)
o A 2 litre bottle of Tesco Thin Bleach for sanitising at 29p

TOTAL EQUIPMENT (TO "GET GOING") = £10.33

Add on:
o An excellent Beer Kit for £16. (Woodfordes Wherry Bitter from Wilco)
o Some sugar from the kitchen for priming say 10p
o Gear borrowed from the kitchen (i.e. saucepan, plastic spoon, cling-film)
o Thirty minutes worth of gas on the kitchen stove say 20p

TOTAL FOR 40 PINTS OF BEER = £26.63 which works out at +/-66p per pint for the first brew then +/-42p a pint thereafter.

So, it actually doesn't cost "£100 to get going with a kit" and ditto all the way through to AG brewing.

"YES!" AG brewing can cost an arm and a leg if you can afford it ...

https://www.brewuk.co.uk/speidel-braumeister-50l-starter.html

... but it doesn't have to and it's high time that we stopped frightening people off home-brewing by making out that it does.

Dutto said:

This was the original Post on which I commented. To make my point, I will just take the first sentence of the Post which states that it costs "£100 to get going with a kit".

At any time of the year it's easy to find somewhere in most homes to ferment a beer kit (I know because I used to do it) so here's what's available today:
o An FV from Wilco for £8
o 12 quart bottles of Sparkling Water from Tesco for £2.04 (chuck the water it's the bottles you are after)
o A 2 litre bottle of Tesco Thin Bleach for sanitising at 29p

TOTAL EQUIPMENT (TO "GET GOING") = £10.33

Add on:
o An excellent Beer Kit for £16. (Woodfordes Wherry Bitter from Wilco)
o Some sugar from the kitchen for priming say 10p
o Gear borrowed from the kitchen (i.e. saucepan, plastic spoon, cling-film)
o Thirty minutes worth of gas on the kitchen stove say 20p

TOTAL FOR 40 PINTS OF BEER = £26.63 which works out at +/-66p per pint for the first brew then +/-42p a pint thereafter.

So, it actually doesn't cost "£100 to get going with a kit" and ditto all the way through to AG brewing.

"YES!" AG brewing can cost an arm and a leg if you can afford it ...

https://www.brewuk.co.uk/speidel-braumeister-50l-starter.html

... but it doesn't have to and it's high time that we stopped frightening people off home-brewing by making out that it does.

Click to expand...

Oooft!! You are on it this morning mate 😂
So basically what you are saying is that it costs about £100 to make a kit (im offski 😉)

Dutto said:

At any time of the year it's easy to find somewhere in most homes to ferment a beer kit (I know because I used to do it)

Click to expand...

except it wasn't for me actually, hence the need for temp control. I agree that, in hindsight, temp control could have been done cheaper (e.g. aquarium heater in a big trug) but hey ho.

But the starter kit I bought was £60 anyway for one of those Youngs Microbrewery things (which included the equipment and a kit to brew with), perhaps I was ripped off but perhaps if you bought it all individually it would have cost you pretty much the same (if slightly less maybe)

pms67 said:

Oooft!! You are on it this morning mate 😂
So basically what you are saying is that it costs about �£100 to make a kit (im offski 😉)

Click to expand...

Not at all! I'm the one that's saying it "doesn't" cost £100 to make a kit! :thumb: :thumb:

pms67 said:

Oooft!! You are on it this morning mate 😂

Click to expand...

lol, he was on it the other day too with that poor noob who dared to post about pimping his kit

he's got more than homer simpson

Dutto said:

Not at all! I'm the one that's saying it "doesn't" cost �£100 to make a kit! :thumb: :thumb:

Click to expand...

i suspect he was joshing, chief

If you are happy with brewing kits and it does what you want too and the thought of moving on doesn't interest you that is fine.. you shouldn't apologise for it..

People brew for different reasons.

Knocking together a decent beer kit in sub 30 mins which will give you a supply of decent beer much cheaper than the shops is a big draw to a lot of people..

I suppose its like cooking some people do not want to go and prep for ages and make something fresh, making AG is no doubtedly going to produce much better beer but there are trade offs with equipment (storage and outlay) which for a lot of people are not a problem and for some people they are... and of course the time issue, AG takes a lot longer to prepare.. for hobbiest and enthusiasts that again isn't a problem because I for example love it, it is all a part of the passion I have for it. Hell I must admit for my hobbiest I have booked time off work or done flexi time so I can get a nice brew day in..

But for many it isn't what they want out of it and the time is just not something they can commit too, I can understand that.. I know people are often encouraged to try AG and I am guilty of suggesting it too because I know the results are better, but some people it just doesn't suit and sometimes I think I should just respect that a lot of beer kits these days are not bad and have their place in this brewing world.