What do I need?

[smurfe]

Hello all, I am getting ready to take the plunge and buy equipment to join your ranks as a home brewer. I must say I am a little intimidated buy all the variety of equipment I have seen at various sites. As I look at kits available, I always see good, better and best kits. Some companies "best" kits are much more involved than other companies "best" kits.

I decided to ask the experts here just what a guy needs. I am looking at a good overall kit that won't require me to keep upgrading over and over. Is there a check-off list somewhere to what all is needed or possibly some assistance as to point me to threads already here as to what I need? I don;t believe in overkill but them don;t believe in going cheap. I want to get it right the first time so I can enjoy the process and not constantly worry about what I need next.

Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. I look forward to learning the process and enjoying the experience. Thank you for your time and help

Smurfe

[Lufah]

First off you are going to want to keep upgrading. Nothing to be done about that. I keep buying more stuff. Anyway to start with I would get either one of these http://www.morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=15909 the book that comes with this sucks.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/starterkits.html the basic here.

These don't include a brewpot of bottles. The only other things I can think of right now. If you want a good book get how to brew or read it here... http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

I would get this and try it out then upgrade as needed.

Welcome to the Party.

Travis

[smurfe]

Thanks for the reply. I had been told that the link to the book you gave was highly recommended reading and will definitely buy it.
Smurfe

[Bugeater]

If you have access to newsgroups, head over to rec.crafts.brewing. You will find a lot of friendly folks over there who can answer any question you may have. Another resource is www.hbd.com.

Your basic equipment kit should include a fermenter (at least 6.5 gal), a bottling bucket, hydrometer, siphon (the Autosiphon rocks!) and hose, bottle brush and capper, and some type of sanitizer (StarSan works best). Additional items you will need will be a good thermometer (one of those little 6" probe type kitchen thermometers works great), a long spoon for stiring your brew, and a brew pot (16-20 quart minimum for partial boils, 28-30 quart for full boils).

The first extra piece of gear after the basic kit will be an immersion wort chiller, expecially if you do full boils. The ability to quickly cool your beer after the boil will make a dramatic improvement in the taste of your beer.

If you have a place to do it outside, invest in a cheap turkey cooker for your boils. These come with the proper size pot for boiling a 5 gallon batch. These will bring your wort up to temperature much quicker that your stove will and will better maintain your wort at the good rolling boil you need.

Check around at a couple of the online places and compare kits. Williams Brewing is good as are Listermann's (free shipping east of the Mississippi), and Austin Homebrew, among many others.

[BigCat]

Check out your local area for a brew club. This is a great way to learn about brewing and the different ways to do it. Everyone has their own favorite gadget to perform all the required tasks including some things that are less than necessary. This way you can see the differences in equipment and get the things that work for you. I have lots of little doo-dads that looked neat at the time but never use now.

Leon