Brew in a bag/all grain

You'll need a kettle, but you may be able to repurpose one you already have if its big enough. You'll also need a carboy or bucket for primary fermentation, a bottling bucket, racking cane, tubing, airlock, bottle filler, bottle capper, bottles, caps, and sanitizer. Thats pretty much the minimum. You can get a kit for most of it on northernbrewer starting at less than 100 I think. Look for starter kits.

 

I think you can probably piece together a BIAB setup on the cheap by yourself. 5 gallon paint strainer bags should work well and are cheap, 8 gallon kettle is pretty key, something rudimentary to rest your grain bag on above your kettle like NB's large mesh strainer (pricey) or a baking sheet drying rack thing (not real pricey). Fermenting buckets are fairly cheap as well compared to carboys, get a cheap Red Baron bottle capper cuz it works, and binge drink troegs beer cuz the labels come off easily and they make good beer. I'd also reccomend a 2l flask for yeast starters, use mrmalty.com for yeast pitch rates (that's important) and read how to brew if you haven't yet. Oh yea and fermentation temp control is quite important and can generally be accomplished with a large tote halfway filled with water and ice to keep the fermenter from getting to warm depending on ambient temperature.

I kinda stress cheap start up options above because after a couple batches your really gonna want (need) to invest in a 5lb co2 tank and at least 2 corny kegs with accessories. Trust me on that one.

Also prepare to never being satisfied with your setup and you will be buying things for this hobby for the rest of your life.

Cheers.

Pat.

 

All great advice, but IMO troegs bottles are the biggest pain in the ass to delabel. I've had the best luck with Bell's, SN, Lagunitas, and Sam Adams

 

Two things:
1) BIAB is all-grain brewing.
2) You can do better than NB's BIAB starter kit.

• Caribou Slobber 3 Gallon BIAB Recipe Kit (+ if and only if you like malty brew)
• Danstar Windsor Ale Dry Yeast (-)
• Fermenter's Favorites™ Priming Sugar, 5 oz. (-; unless you like fizzy beer)
• Brewmaster's Mesh Filter Bag (x2) (-; you can get essentially the same thing from any Home Depot / Lowes for less than $5)
• High Temp Digital Thermometer (-; anything with batteries will fail when you need it most)
• Large Double-Mesh Stainless Steel Strainer (-; superfluous )
• Long Stainless Steel Brewing Spoon (-; superfluous...unless you don't already have a long handle spoon)
• Mash Paddle (-; superfluous...unless you don't already have a long handle spoon))

Overall rating: Run away!

3) How much you spend depends entirely on how much you beer you want to brew.

 

I'm inclined to agree. This kit seems to be all about luring you in with one stop shopping and then not really giving you things that you'll really want. To the OP, I recommend watching some videos on brew in a bag brewing to get a stronger sense for your equipment needs. Use the homebrew shop for specialty items that you can only get a homebrew shop - hydrometers, ingredients, etc. I'm of the opinion that a caribou slobber kit with Windsor yeast would be pretty tasty, but you really don't need Northern Brewer to oversell you on spoons and strainers.

 

I strongly agree with your bottle selections but an oxiclean soak has always worked well for me.

 

Maybe I never soaked them long enough. Either way, I filled my gullet with enough two hearted, celebration, and sucks to likely never need to find out.