Newbie, question about kits and other stuff

[huntfisher]

I have been thinking about making my own beer.So, I have been surfing the net for the cheapest quality kit I can buy. One that I might purchase uses transfer tubes and was wondering what the difference between transfer tubes and a syphon hose is. The two kits I am deciding to get are below and they are about the same price when shipping is included, but one comes with a brew kit . I hope to get some of your opinions about the kits. Also, are the ingredients for the stout any good. My house rarely has a constant temp , so do warmer belts actualy help the fermentation keep a constant temperture or is it a gimmick. And are new members allowed to go to brew events like the one in garden grove. Hopefully, my Palmer book will be here so I can get sum of the lingo down, but this site seems cool. Thanks Rezzin for the invitation.
thank you all for your time.
Justin K

kit on ebay
(link edited by jward)

or


http://www.windriverbrew.com/apprentice.html
6 Gallon Plastic Fermenter. Comes with a drilled and grommeted snap on lid for use with any fermentation lock. Our fermenter also comes with a drum tap that doesn't leak like other spigots.

5 Gallon Bottling Bucket. Used to hold fermented beer to make it easy to put into bottles. Comes with bottling spigot.

Fermentation Lock. To lock out outside air and bacteria during fermentation.

Transfer Tubing. Used to bottle and to transfer beer.

Bottle Filler. A flow regulator to make bottling easier.

Black Beauty Capper and Bottle Caps. This capper is a sturdy model that will endure a lot of use. More durable than metal Jet cappers.

Bottle Brush. For cleaning inside bottles.

Hydrometer. For testing alcohol content in your beer.
one of the following BrewMaster beer kits-

The kit contains: 6.6 lbs. Dark malt extract, 1/2 lb. lactose, 1 oz. Northern Brewer bittering hops, 3/4 lb. Crystal 50°L , 1/4 lb. Chocolate malt, yeast, priming sugar and complete instructions

[PMR]

You might want to consider buying equipment from members on the board here. You could probably get set up with a kettle with spigot and all of the miscellaneous items for less than most homebrew store's starter kit.

I'm guessing the "transfer tubes" is the tubing they give you which would attach to a siphon wand/starter.

I'd skip on the warmer belts. As long as the beer stays in the 60-70 range, you're good. Fermentation will be warmer than the ambient temperature by a few degrees (fermentation creates some heat).

The Stout ingredient list looks fine.

Lyn (Spkrtoy) is a great resource for equipment, and a few guys around here have been upgrading their equipment so they may be able to give you a deal on their stuff. You are most welcome to attend our club brew day on Feb. 16th.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Rezzin]

Welcome huntfisher!

For those of us in so cal, the biggest problem tends to be keeping the beer cool (in summer) rather than warm. Do you have a spare closet someplace in the house you could use to ferment in? The temperature swings in interior rooms tend to be much less than rooms with outside facing walls. At least that's how it is at my house.

I can't comment on stout kit but I think it's a good beer to start out with. Any ale (top fermenting yeast) beer you brew with lots of flavor will tend to be easier to start out with. If you make any mistakes, the potential 'off flavors' will be masked. Most new brewers seem to start out with a stout or a porter a pale ale for their first time around. You pretty much want a kit that hasn't been sitting on the shelf at room temp for a year or two. The fresher the ingredients, the better the beer. I recommend morebeer.com for extract kits - they sell tons so you can be pretty sure the kit you receive is fresh. It's also free shipping for orders over $59, If you are a BrewCommune member, you get a 10% discount at the Riverside store as well.

I have an extra bottle brush, bottle caps, plastic better bottle carboy (although I recommend starting out with a bucket), and I'll have to look this afternoon to see what I else I have. Lyn probably has hydrometers and buckets and tubing is cheap. You just need to make sure haggle with Lyn for the best price possible

If you have any questions, I recommend posting here first. You can be assured that the answers you receive here are quality and most (not all) of the brewers here have been brewing for quite some time.

Welcome to the board!

[spkrtoy]

Welcome to the BrewCommune!

I'd be more than happy to set you up with a basic-intermediate kit. I've got a dozen fermenting buckets and bottling buckets. I also have glass carboys, racking canes, transfer tubing, hydrometers, airlocks, steeping bags, bottle cappers, caps, beer brewing books, bottles, 5 gallon stainless steel kettles and a propane outdoor cooker for brewing outside. That will get you started for your first few batches.

You can get beer kits from all the local homebrew stores to make a great stout or 4.

If you check the events section here, the meeting time and place should be firmed up soon and you're welcome to come and see how it's done. You can read John Palmers book online at www.howtobrew.com to get "the lingo".

[maltbarley]

That e-bay kit is pretty reasonable.

[sarcasm]
One product that it contains seems quite amazing: 8 Oz. of Easy Clean No-Rinse Cleanser

To quote a Jack Black movie from a few years ago: "Where does the shit go?"
[/sarcasm]

[huntfisher]

thanks for the tips. My house is hotter than hell on the second story, but If I were to brew in the summer I probably buy a used refrigerator, if it is possible to brew in a refrigerator. Take care, I'm sicker than hell from this flu going around.

[backyard brewer]

thanks for the tips. My house is hotter than hell on the second story, but If I were to brew in the summer I probably buy a used refrigerator, if it is possible to brew in a refrigerator. Take care, I'm sicker than hell from this flu going around.

A lot of people brew in a fridge but it does require a temperature controller to get the fridge in the high 60's

Hope you feel better. I had it about 2 weeks ago, worst I've ever felt with "a cold". When it hit me, I had mostly just very high fever, chills and muscle aches. One morning, right out of bed my fever hit 104.3. Within a few minutes of being out from under the covers it dropped to 102+ and I could keep it reasonable on Advil but man I was useless.

[bwarbiany]

thanks for the tips. My house is hotter than hell on the second story, but If I were to brew in the summer I probably buy a used refrigerator, if it is possible to brew in a refrigerator. Take care, I'm sicker than hell from this flu going around.

I don't know, it'll be pretty cramped to fit your burner, boil kettle, and you in a fridge!

But yeah, a used fridge is perfect. Northern Brewer also a thermostat that you can use to keep the fridge at proper ferment temps (the standard fridge range is too cold for ale fermentation).