Reccomendations for homebrewing starter kits

Search your local craigslist.
Northern Brewer and more beer look like they have some nice kits.

 

Look on, online, for your local homebrew shop. It'll cost a little more than shopping online, but you will want an experienced homebrewer on your side when you have question. And you can usually bring your beer in for evaluation... something you can't do when you shop online.

 

If you like to start with all-grain you can start with this one gallon kit Simple and easy on a small scale.

 

SIAP but check living social today because a 5 gallon extract starter kit with an Irish Red kit is $60 plus $12 shipping. Easily $100 if you bought it all separate and even with the shipping you save a bit. You just need a 6.5-7 gallon kettle and some bottles!
I brew 1 gallon all grain right now, which you could put together for less than $30. It's ok but I'd be careful about the kits from brooklyn brew shop...maybe I just suck but those haven't turned out great for me.
Even if you want to do all grain I would consider the extract kit I mentioned. You can get a lot of the stuff you want and then add the cooler mash/lauter tun on your own for less than $80...I'm at the point where I need the mash/lauter and want a glass carboy and I'm good to go!
Sorry for the long post but my advice is to try the micro batches first and gather the materials for the 5 gallon over time unless you go for the deal I mentioned

 

ICYMI...BA has the most awesome (some would say epic) SEARCh feature where the OP can find dozens of threads asking the same muisical question as this one.

Just sayin.'

 

Get the most basic kit you find, something like this http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...arter-kits/essential-brewing-starter-kit.html Don't bother with the "advanced" kits with carboys or better bottles. Don't assume that the people working in the local homebrew store know anything, there is a lot of evidence that morons work in these stores Ask questions here before buying any kit and definitely ask before brewing your first beer.

 

Unfortunately, you are both correct. Unfortunate because newbies, who need the most help, won't be able to tell the difference between a good LHBS and a bad one, or between the knowledgeable people and unknowledgeable people in the same LHBS.

OP: My advice is to take anything someone at an LHBS tells you with a grain of salt, and sanity check it on this forum. I've heard too much bullshit being dispensed at some LHBSs. You'll get some of that here too, but it will basically be peer reviewed and debunked if necessary.

 

The Northern brewer Deluxe kit is money in the bank. I even swapped out one of their recipes that came with it for the dead ringer IPA (Two Hearted Clone)

They include everything you need aside from a boil kettle (30 bucks at kitchen supply store)

 

Agreed - I've been shopping at Northern Brewer for a few months now and their customer service is top-notch!

 

Good to hear that Northern Brewer's kits are acceptable. I just purchased their 1 gallon starter kit and look forward to brewing my first batch soon.

 

You might be interested in a similar thread from last November. This was my response to that one:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/homebrewing-kit.131638/#post-1921437

 

Have fun, and get ready to be addicted! My roommates (two heavy drinkers) are getting frustrated with me for having TOO MUCH beer in the house...

 

It depends on the shop. Mine has many top notch employees. The owners are pretty darned good too! I don't know all of the new hires, but they will ask someone else if I have a question they don't know the answer too (my questions can be a little difficult).

 

Yeah, you can evaluate their answers, but it is a little harder for a new brewer be able to determine if the employee knows anything. Maybe I painted with too broad a brush, but there are too many examples here of truly bad advice from the local homebrew store.