Recommended a Home Brewing Kit

daniels.ducks

Hi,

I would like to get into home brewing. I have been looking around at a few and had Coopers recommended to me. Any other ones that people would want to recommend? The reason why you would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Guill

I got the Coopers kit last year, went very well indeed. All the equipment in 1 - after you do the Coopers beer you can then you can use it to brew whatever you like.

Giant Kiwi

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/brewsmarter-premium-starter-beer-kit-best-value-844-p.asp

I bought this one earlier this year with the Canadian Blonde.

It didn't last long, My brothers in law certainly helped.:D

Coopers have been good to me so far.

I'm now trying a Muntons cider. It's going well so far.

daniels.ducks

Giant Kiwi wrote: »

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/brewsmarter-premium-starter-beer-kit-best-value-844-p.asp

I bought this one earlier this year with the Canadian Blonde.

It didn't last long, My brothers in law certainly helped.:D

What happened it? You would recommended the Cooper one so?

Shiny

I bought the Coopers Starter Kit about 6 weeks ago and its a great place to start. You can't really go wrong as long as you follow the instructions. I actually didn't bother with the instructions as I didn't have a working DVD player. This was a better guide I think.

Its possible to get everything separately for a bit cheaper but you cant really beat peace of mind when you are starting out.

Giant Kiwi

daniels.ducks wrote: »

What happened it? You would recommended the Cooper one so?

It was drunk over a weekend. Tasted pretty good.

I would recommend Coopers. They seem to be a bit more forgiving.

daniels.ducks

Giant Kiwi wrote: »

It was drunk over a weekend. Tasted pretty good.

Oh sorry I read it wrong, I thought you said 'My brother in law' as in he is working in law...... Never mind. Oh that's good. I think I might go for the Coopers one. Is a brew belt a necessity?

Donny5

daniels.ducks wrote: »

Oh sorry I read it wrong, I thought you said 'My brother in law' as in he is working in law...... Never mind. Oh that's good. I think I might go for the Coopers one. Is a brew belt a necessity?

Some kind of temperature control is probably necessary, but I'd avoid brew belts. I bought a cheap 50W aquarium heater and ran the cable through a drilled and sealed hole in the fermenter lid, and I can set the temperature to I want. It won't help with days like we've had lately where my brew reached 26-27 Celsius, but it does keep the temperature steady at night.

foghlu

First beer kit I brewed was a Woodfordes Great Eastern Ale and it turned out great. I just bought the fermenters, stirring paddle, thermometer, hydrometer, syphon and capper seperately... turned out cheaper that way

Everyone that tasted it was amazed it came from a kit!

Giant Kiwi

I use a belt.

Works out o.k. and keeps a regular temp.
Last week my brew got as high as 26c but no adverse effects.
Only time will tell though.

Donny5

Giant Kiwi wrote: »

I use a belt.

Works out o.k. and keeps a regular temp.
Last week my brew got as high as 26c but no adverse effects.
Only time will tell though.

The brewbelts are okay, I had one, but they are less controlled than an aquarium heater and cost must more. The one I picked up was around 11 sterling shipped from Amazon.

AntoSRFC

Giant Kiwi wrote: »

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/brewsmarter-premium-starter-beer-kit-best-value-844-p.asp

Does this include everything you need? Thinking of ordering it. Dont want it to arrive and be like a child at Christmas having to wait for batterys. Might order an extra pack of carbonation drops just incase. What do people recommend?

Thanks

daniels.ducks

AntoSRFC wrote: »

Does this include everything you need? Thinking of ordering it. Dont want it to arrive and be like a child at Christmas having to wait for batterys. Might order an extra pack of carbonation drops just incase. What do people recommend?

Thanks

From what i have heard you should get the cooper set. It includes bottles and everything. Don't take my word for it because i'm like yourself... still don't know which to get.

Giant Kiwi

AntoSRFC wrote: »

Does this include everything you need? Thinking of ordering it. Dont want it to arrive and be like a child at Christmas having to wait for batterys. Might order an extra pack of carbonation drops just incase. What do people recommend?

Thanks

That's the kit I bought.
I've just bottled my 3rd round from this kit.
Literally everything you need apart from an hour or so to put the kit on to ferment and water is there.
There should be enough carbonation drops for your first brew. I got around 40 bottles filled from mine.
I did find it handy to use a large whisk bought from Ikea for about 2 euro helped to aerate and mix the yeast in properly.
Happy Brewing

Shiny

AntoSRFC wrote: »

Does this include everything you need? Thinking of ordering it. Dont want it to arrive and be like a child at Christmas having to wait for batterys. Might order an extra pack of carbonation drops just incase. What do people recommend?

Thanks

That is actually very good value. I will highlight out what the coopers kit doesn't have out of this:

48 new technology 500ml Ox-Bar bottlles,
Heating brew belt
Fermenter with lid, grommet and bubbler airlock,
Little Bottler bottle filling system
Stevenson Reeves hydrometer
Quality glass trial jar
Plastic stirring paddle
Large Liquid Crystal Thermometer (easy to read, 10 oC to 40 oC)
100 grams VWP Cleaner/Sterilizer
Coopers Original Lager / Canadian Blonde 1.7 Kg Home Brew Kit, includes yeast
1 Kg brewing sugar
1 pack of Coopers Carbonation Drops

The only thing that the coopers kit has that this one doesn't is a self adhesive thermometer which is useful as you don't have to keep opening the lid to check the temperature etc. Definitely worth it for the sake of a couple of quid.

I got a Coopers Mexican Cerveza kit with my coopers kit and out of the 4 kits that I have done so far it has been my least favorite. So in terms of the kit linked above I would definitely prefer the Canadian Blonde option.

Donny5

Shiny wrote: »

That is actually very good value. I will highlight out what the coopers kit doesn't have out of this:

48 new technology 500ml Ox-Bar bottlles,
Heating brew belt
Fermenter with lid, grommet and bubbler airlock,
Little Bottler bottle filling system
Stevenson Reeves hydrometer
Quality glass trial jar
Plastic stirring paddle
Large Liquid Crystal Thermometer (easy to read, 10 oC to 40 oC)
100 grams VWP Cleaner/Sterilizer
Coopers Original Lager / Canadian Blonde 1.7 Kg Home Brew Kit, includes yeast
1 Kg brewing sugar
1 pack of Coopers Carbonation Drops

The only thing that the coopers kit has that this one doesn't is a self adhesive thermometer which is useful as you don't have to keep opening the lid to check the temperature etc. Definitely worth it for the sake of a couple of quid.

I got a Coopers Mexican Cerveza kit with my coopers kit and out of the 4 kits that I have done so far it has been my least favorite. So in terms of the kit linked above I would definitely prefer the Canadian Blonde option.

Nah, I bought that kit and it does have a stick-on thermometer.