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You can search equipment by post title here and get more ideas. You can search beginner, noob, rookie, etc brewer and get results. I think it has been a while since sonebody new posted, and you dud get mived over from beer talk...

Personally, I wouldnt spend that kind of money and I dont believe you need to unless you want to. Plenty of good beer is made using the food grade plastic buckets. I guess part of the sport is you can buy all kinds of gear, but part of the appeal is the DIY aspect and keeping it simple for home brewing. My opinion, YMMV...

Decide if you want to stick with extract for a while, dive right into all grain, or do some other process. That will help with the equipment shopping list.

David Palmer. How to Brew. Great resource and I think it is available on line these days. Get a basic understanding of the process if brewing and the equipment will start to define itself. You dont "need" as much as it seems. Lots of nice to have things, but grow into it is my thinking.

Hmmm...essentials...for extract brew.... Boil kettle big enough for whatever you are boiling with some extra space for the inevitable boil over. Food grade bucket that is six gallons if doing five-ish gallon batches. A hydrometer for checking specific gravities. Autosiphon or racking cane. Thermometer. Wort chiller is a righteous investment. Airlock for your fermentation bucket. Sanitizers and cleaners for your gear, bottles, etc. Bottle filling gizmo saves a ton of aggravation on bottling day. Bottling day is when you realize five gallons is a shitload of beer.

All grain you need more stuff, but there are plenty if great extract brews or extract/specialty grain brews to amuse yourself with for a long time.

And understand the difference between sanitizing and cleaning. After the boil, sanitation is critical.

Think things through. Most things come down to common sense. And ask specific questions as you learn. Some things you read or hear just dont pass the common sense test. Not often, but if somebody tells you a turbogonkulator is essential to brew a simple pale ale, it isnt true.

Home brew shops that are hangouts for the local home brewers are awesome.

Good luck, welcome to the jungle...

 

It has already been mentioned but another recommendation: buy the book How to Brew by John Palmer.

Cheers!

 

You'll learn alot by simply reading this forum as often as possible. My advice would be to skip the conical fermentors for now. I would take that money and invest in a fermentation chamber and temp controller. Buy a bigger kettle than you think you need. Take notes all along the way. Sanitize religiously.

 

Welcome to the BA site, RookieBrewGuy, and to the Homebrewing forum. You're in the right place to learn a lot.

@LeRose touched on just about everything that needs to be said, but you should still have many questions yet, and you likely don't know what those questions might be.

The book cited above is John Palmer's HowToBrew.com which is free to read online, or you can purchase the newer edition at a reasonable price at good bookstores or online (around $15). This book is highly recommended as your starting point so that you get an organized education rather than trying to learn by reading threads here on BA. The book covers what you need to know as a beginner, and is still a good reference source 100 batches later. I recommend buying the book because you can highlight it, write notes, etc.

Since you have started right in and are already purchasing 'advanced' equipment, I'll recommend that you scale back on your purchases and brew a number of batches with basic equipment until you decide that you are comitted to this great hobby. (It's not the equipment that makes great beer; it's the brewer and his skilled brewing process.) There are too many sets of equipment that show up on Craig's List because new homebrewers decide after their first batch is marginal tasting and that they don't want to make the commitment (time and money) to the hobby to brew that stuff. Not trying to disuade you.... just something for you to think about.

 

Yea verily!!

It is knowledge and skill that is of most importance. 'Advanced' equipment generally speaking just makes the brewing process a bit easier (a bit less labor).

Cheers!

 

It's a poor workman who blames his tools... My starter set up included a 6.5 gallon ale pail, three piece airlock, a Red Baron bottler, and an inaccurate hydrometer. I picked up a turkey fryer set up off craigslist for $75 with a 7.5 gallon pot that was never used. I proceeded to cut a 55 gallon drum in half and used it as a cold water bath. With that ghetto system I brewed mini mash batches and brewed my one and only first place beer with it as well. Until you get a firm grasp on the process of brewing itself purchases for big ticket items are silly. I now have evolved into a two tier three burner 15 gallon system, but still utilize everything but my ice bath tub. It's a fire pit now for enjoying the fruits of my labor on chilly evenings.

 

Sweet!!

After 20+ years of brewing my homebrewery is still ghetto in comparison.

I have a story to tell. While attending the NHC last year (or so) I walked through the Blichman setup to look at the wonderful stuff they sell. A lady came up to speak to me and I just made mention I was just looking. She went on to talk about the item I was gawking at the moment. I quickly replied: if you saw my homebrewery set-up you wouldn't even waste your time talking to me. She smiled and replied: well, maybe someday you will 'upgrade'. I suppose you should never say never but in all likelihood after over 20 years of brewing on 'basic' equipment I will never change. Maybe if I become feeble that day might come?

Cheers!

 

I think he was the President in 24.
But it is still good advice and a great resource, OP.

 

Within the last several weeks some made the comment that "if you love beer and hate money, this is the hobby for you".

Some comments from someone with a little experience and who still may ask a silly question from time to time....

You need the Palmer book.

One may argue whether you need it, but Brewcipher (I can't tell you about other software first hand) will eventually become a big, big help.

I've had the good fortune (which probably includes good luck with the quality of my tap water) of making batches that are really tasty to me. After 4 or 5 batches, I adopted the approach to not worry so much about making the best beer ever as I did sorting out one stage of the process at a time, with the goal being to eventually brew the beer I intend to, be it high ABV or whatever.

I think it can be easy to get caught up
In the gear. Although it can certainly make a difference, there's no substitute for understanding what's "supposed" to happen during the various stages of the process and eventually tying it all together. I bought the basics, and enjoy building my own stuff to refine the process (chiller cool, fermentation chamber, etc.).

But well before you get "refined" you can make really good brew and have a heck of a good time doing it.

Enjoy and cheers!

 

What can j say? I jumped in pretty quick. The burners I sourced for the hlt came from the turkey fryer, the second burner was from my rewards points from my debit card, the kettles are converted kegs. I weld chop cut and build things all day, so a brew structure wasn't much. I even traded some beers for my wort chiller. The only things I purchased were my 15 gal kettle, and my big burner. Even then, I got em on promo. You know how it goes Jack, a little ingenuity goes a long way in this hobby.

 

I would invest in a big kettle (doesn't need to be expensive) to do full volume boils with extract. This will also be great if you choose to go to all-grain. I personally went that route after 3 brews, going BIAB to keep a small footprint and cost. 30 brews later, I love BIAB for its simplicity and value. Welcome to the greatest hobby! I completely agree with Palmer's book and reading the threads here - great resources.

 

Like @SFACRKnight , I build much of my eq. Mash tun was a $25 cooler from Walmart and the strainer, valve and gaskets were from old plumbing parts. Bought a used stainless kettle then drilled and installed valve, screen, etc. grabbed turkey boiler stand and burner from the dump, cleaned it up, welded longer legs. Bought new buckets for fermenting then, sent to the redemption center and bought grolsh bottles for 15 cents apiece for the beer.
Years and over 100 batches later I still use this gear. Of course I have replaced gaskets, buckets and broke a few glass fermenters, but you can make great beer without spending a fortune.

 

To start out take the KISS approach and don't drop big coin on things like conicals until you know you are going to stick with it. I began with a starter kit of gear from my LHBS that was probably $100. I already had a pot and was doing partial mash batches on my stovetop for a year before I bought more toys to go bigger.
It's been said above but it bears repeating.
Brewing good beer is more about technique and the process than the cost of the equipment.
Buy Palmers book how to brew the free download is an older version and if you own it you can mark pages and make notes.
Sanitation, temp control, yeast health, and attention to detail will take a beer from "well it's beer" to "holy $h!t you made this?"
Keep to simple recipes until you understand what you're doing. All the homebrewing sites all full of people asking questions on their 2nd batch as they try to make a 12% abv RIS Without a clue of the skill needed to pull it off.
Have fun and don't worry it's just beer.