Beginninger to brewing

shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

matt1

New Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
10
Reaction score
1
Hi, I would love to start brewing my own beer, and am wondering about the start up costs to begin this. I would only begin with simple stuff, and just looking for basic equipment. How much would I be looking to spend, should I get a lot to start, if so which is best/cheapest?

I am also a student, so bear in mind the budget.

Thanks!
 
I'm a noob, but went in at the deep end, deciding to forego kits and start with all grain BIAB.

I've probably spent about £500 on kit (boiler, immersion cooler, kegs, gas, bottles, siphons, fermentors etc) but you could do it much, much cheaper.

You could probably do kit beers with <£100 of equipment (cider can be done more cheaply) if you can get bottles from the pub for free.

If you do jump in, remember that about 75% of home brewing is cleaning things. It's tedious, but absolutely THE most important part of the process.
 
How long is a piece of string? Unfortunately, you will receive a lot of different advice / POV's from different people. Homebrewing is a learning curve and you will find your own way and what works out best for you.

If it is bog standard, cheap kits you are looking to make, there is little point shelling out big money. You can get starter brewing kits online. Think I got mine from Youngs and it cost about £40. It did the job and then I gradually bought more equipment over time.
 
Depends on what you plan on brewing.
Obtain about 40-50 empty beer bottles for free from somewhere.

All you'll need for brewing is a large bucket (5 gallon), preferably with a lid. - £10
An airlock, a length of siphon tube and crown capper for the bottle tops. - £15
Bag of bottle tops £1
Cost - maybe about £25 if you're a savvy shopper.

Kitchen utensils you'll already have.
For sterilisation, buy some baby bottle tablets from your local super market - 50p

A basic beer kit costs about £12, factor in a bag of sugar at £1.
£40 will brew you 40 pints of beer. Cost per pint £1.00

Brew number 2, reuse the bucket, airlock, siphon tube etc.
Cost of kit £12 + £1 for sugar
40 pints at a cost of £13 = 32p a pint.

You can build up your equipment list as you go.
 
If I can chip in.

The basic staff will allow you to brew from kits - which is basically hopped malt extract - just add water and sugar (not always needed). As long as you have a container that can hold 23L and can be closed (even plastic boxes work) you can brew. Just need some sterilising solution.

If you want to go further, to grain brewing, you will need something to boil this amount of liquid. You can start with kettle elements in brewing bucket and a mesh bag for the grain - very basic brewing.

As said before, how long is piece of string
 
Matt, do you know what it is you want to do yet?

Kits, All grain or something in between? May help provide some answers for you. keat64 has already done the kit approach costs for you.
 
yep, just looking to start with basic stuff, and probably using basic brewing kits
 
uDicko said:
Matt, do you know what it is you want to do yet?

Kits, All grain or something in between? May help provide some answers for you. keat64 has already done the kit approach costs for you.
Click to expand...
not really sure, what would you suggest to start with?
 
keat64 said:
Depends on what you plan on brewing.
Obtain about 40-50 empty beer bottles for free from somewhere.

All you'll need for brewing is a large bucket (5 gallon), preferably with a lid. - £10
An airlock, a length of siphon tube and crown capper for the bottle tops. - £15
Bag of bottle tops £1
Cost - maybe about £25 if you're a savvy shopper.

Kitchen utensils you'll already have.
For sterilisation, buy some baby bottle tablets from your local super market - 50p

A basic beer kit costs about £12, factor in a bag of sugar at £1.
£40 will brew you 40 pints of beer. Cost per pint £1.00

Brew number 2, reuse the bucket, airlock, siphon tube etc.
Cost of kit £12 + £1 for sugar
40 pints at a cost of £13 = 32p a pint.

You can build up your equipment list as you go.
Click to expand...
Thanks, very helpful
 
I started out with a bucket and tap, airlock, hydrometer, tinned kit, tap water. I used a keg for my first dispense.

It wasn't that bad! I've made some shocking stuff since then and have invested progressively after each brew over a number of years.

You learn as you go along but kits and basic equipment is a good way to see if it's for you.
 
matt1 said:
Are bottles essential, is it possible to leave it a container, or perhaps just into plastic bottles wig screw cap lids?
Click to expand...
Plastic screw cap bottles are fine, as long as the bottles can handle pressure. The cheapest I can think of are the cheap Tesco carbonated water bottles. 17p per two litre bottle if I remember rightly.
 

Similar threads

I
Brewing kits
Replies
12
Views
2K
SJAughton
SJAughton
Sventendo NES
Beginner experimentation
2
Replies
37
Views
2K
Twostage
Twostage
Froggie Simon
There is nothing like a silly question, or so they say!
Replies
15
Views
751
Froggie Simon
Froggie Simon
emmever
Coopers Real Ale: first brew ever
Replies
14
Views
1K
emmever
emmever
Weatherman
Beginners Sour.
2
Replies
23
Views
1K
prog99
prog99

Latest posts

Back
Top