hey i'm new to the whole brewing your own beer thing but i've always been intrigued by it... i love beer and personally instead of having to buy it all the time would love to make it myself the only thing is though is that i've never had a push in the right direction... i don't wanna buy the cheap mr beer... but i also don't want to spend a fortune on expensive stuff... so if someone could help me as to lead me to a moderately priced brewing system it would be greatly appreciated

I built my system from scratch, so I'm not a good one to ask about ready made ones. Are you wanting to jump right into all grain and start with extracts?

Welcome to the TastyBrew. The obsession ( and we ain't talking Calvin Klein here) starts now.

I agree with BB...just what exactly are you looking for? Are you looking for a brew sculpture? I think that most of us have made our own brewing systems but there are many commercial examples available...give us some more info of what your after

Slvrbullet - almost all homebrewing supply stores will sell you starter equipment for around $100; that will allow you to brew simple to intermediate beers. That means you'll use either dried malt extract (aka DME) or liquid malt extract (aka LME) along, possibly steep some grains and some other adjunct ingredients plus yeast. This will allow you to gain a little experience about the brewing process, the time investment, what you like, etc. Then, if you get hooked, you'll eventually want to go 'all-grain'. That means more equipment, additional steps/time, and also more control over the end product. Oh yeah, it also cuts the batch cost significantly. I brewed with the 'basic set up' for over 7 years before making the jump to all grain this year. Some people make this transition in a couple of months, others take longer. For me, it was getting too expensive to create my own recipes with DME and adjunct grains. I think I made a Blue Moon Clone for about $40 with DME and the same beer in all-grain was around $23.

I found the people on this site to be awesome in helping me make the switch to all-grain. So, I suggest you do some research on the equipment, then visit your local homebrew store (aka LHBS) or order your equipment online. Pick a simple beer to beer the first time out, the site or LHBS will have kits and suggestions for that.

Let us know when you've done that and check back in here. The brewers here are very helpful, supportive, and most importantly quick to answer questions.

Good Luck!

For starters, if you dont have any/much background knowledge on homebrewing, an online book that can be very helpful is by John Palmer and online at:

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

This was incredibly helpful for me this time last spring when I was a new brewer.
Keep in mind this book is not the only way to do things, but rather a way to familiarize yourself with the homebrew setup and experience. After glancing through this online book it will give you a better idea the equiptment and processes required.

The guys on here give some great advice though, so def ask away. Just remember, there are many ways to get where you are going, some take longer, some more expensive, more labor intensive, etc etc etc, and the advice here often reflects that, we all have our own preferences. But I mean that in a good way. See made a few extract batches at first, but it was too simple for me, I love to cook and the processes, so I went all-grain after 3 batches, skipped the partial mashes and went headlong into it.

Everyone here is very helpful and will try out best to steer you in the right direction, but we will need more info and probably more direct questions.


Oh yeah, and craigslist has been a great source of equiptment for a good many of us, and Welcome!

I just had an idea... (fear sets in, in the crowd) when people are talking about modifying their car or having me cater an event, my first question is, "what is your budget?"

Start with that question, it will make your decisions easier and others will be better prepared to assist you.
Welcome to the fray!

I've always thought equipment fell into 2 major categories, brewing and serving. Serving equipment could be as inexpensive as a wing bottle caper and bottles saved from store bought beer to expensive keg-a-rators, teak and ebony inlaid bars with a world famous rock band playing. Sorry got carried away.
In my set up my mill is the most expensive item, followed by the burner then the pot. As others have mentioned Craigslist and I would add restaurant supply houses for a really large stock pot.

I would recommend finding a local homebrew store. Talk to them look at their kits. There are stores online that will sell and ship beginner homebrew kits. If you get yourself fairly familiar with the process you can just piecemeal your setup at the store or through craigslist (several gallon kettle and fermenter).

www.midwestsupplies.com
www.northernbrewer.com
morebeer.com

Above are sites that have kits that I mentioned. But my most helpful experience was going to a real retail store and talking to someone.

Check out "Brewing With Denny" . I wasted some $ on different equipment.
Should have went all grain at the start. If you can follow written instructions you can make beer.
Buy what you can afford. "Large" boiling pot. Turkey fryer burner will work. If all grain a 40 guart cooler will do. "Good" thermomter.


Good Luck

I just bought my first brew kit from midwest brewing. I got my whole kit from them for like $89.00. It came with everything I needed, all you'll have to buy it a pot to brew in and the ingredients. comes with instruction kit and a dvd. go to www.midwestsupplies.com they have everything you'll need.

i'm looking in the price range of like 200 at the most i'm mostly interested in making lagers from ambers to pale... i guess i need to do a little research first... but thanx everyone for the help

Keep in mind that lagers take more time and equipment to produce. You may want to start on ales.

I would suggest getting a starter equipment kit and learning the ins and outs of the extract kits. This way you can understand the fermentation process and the affects of temperature and yeast selection. then if you are inclined to do so, you can move to all grain and lagering. The only addition to the starter equipment I would suggest would be to get a propane burner and a kettle big enough to do a full 6-8 gallon boil.