Buying a Home Brew Kit

I disagree with cwehr13, with that much money, you can get them a badass all-grain setup with money to spare. Absolutely DON'T go with a 5 gallon pot. The minimum pot size is that of a turkey fryer (7.5-8 gallons). In fact, turkey fryers make excellent brew pots, I have two of them*. Full boils of five gallon batches require at least 7.5 gallons.

Really with that much money to spend, straight to all grain is the way to go [with caveat to use the KISS method of brewing and start with SIMPLE recipes, and ONLY if you're sure this person is motivated enough to do the reading ahead of time, see next paragraph].

A copy of how to brew is a must.

Two 6.5 gallon buckets and a 6.5 gallon better bottle (suggestion, but it's a good one).

An AUTO-siphon is a must.

Hydrometers are cheep and break easily, get two.

Mash tuns can be built (see: the internet) or bought. Go with a ten gallon cooler (shape doesn't matter much) and a bazooka tube (again: internet) and a gift certificate for twenty bucks to home depot if they're handy enough to build one themselves.

There are plenty of good starter kits, see vikeman's link, and add-on as I have suggested.

If you get them a carboy, get them a milk crate to carry it in so they aren't horribly maimed, an a tragedy which eclipses even the fall of the Roman empire.

*one of which a friend found in an old shed in the woods. It must be 20 years old or older, still works fine, pot cleaned up great. One issue about turkey fryers is sometimes the regulators take a dump, but they're not very expensive to replace

 

What he said.

And I need to repeat this part, DONT go with a 5 gallon kettle. 8 gallons minimum, preferably 10.

 

Unless the boyfriend specifically asked for an all-grain set up with all the bells and whistles, I wouldn't get him all this. Start small with a beginner brew kit and two EXTRACT recipe kits. And two cases of bottles. Not counting and shipping costs, this will run you about $200.

If he wants to pursue the hobby, you can always expand on what he has. If he doesn't like it, you just saved $300.

 

Agree with dogglebe--unless he knows this is coming, don't spend 500 bones on all that stuff, and don't push him into all grain brewing.
A 5 gal brewpot is really fine for extract brewing. Bigger will allow room for growth however.
I would go with a hardcopy of Charlie Papazian's Complete Joy of Homebrewing, but then point him to the online version of Palmer's How to Brew. The latter is more technical, the former is more fun to sit with it in your lap and read over coffee (or breakfast stout).
A beginner/advanced equipment kit from someplace like Northern Brewer or Midwest, a bunch of bottles, a couple of ingredients kits, and a promise to be his brew partner.
Do this together and you could be in it for life.
You're a nice lady.

 

You cannot do a full boil for a 5 gallon kit with a 5 gallon pot, and full boils = much better beer. Whatever you do, don't get a five gallon pot.

 

This is true.

Also true, but doesn't mean that you can't make perfectly fine beer with a partial boil.

This is just overly dramatic.

A 5 gallon pot will ensure that Boyfriend can make perfectly drinkable beer on the stove that they have without Lady taking the plunge for a propane burner and a wort chiller among other things. It's an economy of scale issue. Boyfriend may brew 2 batches and decide it's not for him.
As I said, bigger will allow room for growth. However, what she is trying to do is hook him on the hobby. Part of the fun once you are hooked is upgrading, and then turning someone else onto the hobby by giving them some of the old gear that you got started on.

 

Oh crap. Was I supposed to give away that pile of kettles, homemade 25' wort chiller, 5 gallon tuns, worthless sparge arm, and 'ale pails?' What if I need that stuff some day? Besides, the wife loves seeing it all sitting in middle of the basement.

 

I'm sure this question has already been asked and answered at some point, so please excuse me. I plan on getting supplies together for my first batch of homebrew in the next couple of days. With a budget of $500, what would you buy? A brew kit with all the essentials? A cheap fridge for a fermentation chamber? If you could start all over, what would be the first things you would buy? Thanks!

 

How someone can argue FOR the 5-gallon pot when the OP clearly had the funds to ensure a proper 7.5+ gallon pot was available to their hubby (with plenty to spare for a wort chiller and propane burner*) is beyond me. It's not overly dramatic, it's simply sound advice, as the boil pot is a key piece of brewery equipment. You may be able to make fine beer without a full boil, but you can ensure that your beer will have all the benefits of a full boil only by getting a pot big enough to do a full boil. Since most homebrew kits are designed for 5 - 5.5 gallons, the noob will immediately be behind the curve when it comes to the ingredient kits that will most likely come with his gift package if he starts with a five gallon pot.

Oh, and let me search for all the threads about "boy I sure am glad I skipped getting a bigger pot and just got the five gallon one." (There aren't any). Lots about how to split the boil between multiple pots to get a full boil, lots about "I wish I had bought the bigger pot in the first place," etc etc. I personally was in this situation, having skimped on the pot because they ain't cheep, then regretting it shortly after.

I'm not shilling for big pot either. It's just a sensible thing to do, start off with the proper tools to do the job right, the first time.

*although getting a turkey fryer solves both issues of pot size and heating a pot of said size. I got mine on sale at home depot for $50

 

I should have added "wortt chiller" to my first post in this thread. Extra batteries for any electric thermometers too. Found that out the hard way. Luckily, my turkey fryer came with a thermometer, which was (and still is) surprisingly accurate, reading just over 210 at boil and just about dead on zero in ice water*.

The best thing you can do once he gets the kit is send him here, and make sure he's read how to brew.

*if you're worried about decimal places with homebrew, you're over-thinking it, big time.

 

If those numbers are both in F, your thermometer may have an accuracy issue

 

The OP never stated that she had unlimited funds for this purchase. Not sure where you got that idea. She wants a starter kit. And, she's had lots of great advice on kits that would be both affordable and functional for a guy learning how to brew. He doesn't need all the equipment you mentioned to determine whether he likes brewing. I'm guessing that the majority of people receiving kits for Christmas will only do a few boils at best. That's my experience at least. If he enjoys it, he can move on from there. It doesn't hurt to have an extra 5 gallon pot either.

 

Chill out Al. Not arguing against a bigger kettle, just saying that good beer can be made with a smaller one.
There are many pieces of a brewery that will make better beer, and we all know that. But it is not necessary to start out with all of them. If you drop for an 8 or 10 gallon pot and aim for full boils from the get-go, then you've just outgrown your stove for boiling and your sink for cooling. It's a package deal, no? And while Lady does have the funds, Boyfriend may not have the interest just yet. Think of this as a request for sound purchasing advice under a budget instead of ohmygodivegota500dollargiftcardshoppingspreeandivegottaspenditall.
You very often reply to these beginner threads with complete overkill, on equipment as well as recipes. Go back to your basics and try to really tease out what exactly you think you need to brew good beer in a fun way.

 

LOL....... oooooops!! I meant 32, not 0!!

 

do what you want then. My guess is it won't be long till the turkey fryer wiinds up in the garage anyway.

 

You're assuming that OP has a garage like you do.
Assume instead for a moment that they live in a 3rd floor walk-up. Their flat has a good gas stove, but there is no outdoor space like a balcony and they have no access to a hose spigot that high up. Your insistence that doing full boils on a propane burner in an immovable 10 gallon pot that requires utilizing a wort chiller is the absolute only way to go just made their foray into brewing an impossible situation.
Can you think of a way for them to make respectable beer and have fun doing it together with what they have available?

 

I brew on a gas stove, in a 10 gallon pot, and use a wort chiller attached to the kitchen faucet. Though I live in a house, my kitchen is rather small. This works perfectly well for me, and I should think, anyone else.

The pot and wort chiller cost $100 together...roughly 1/5th of her current budget. This aint rocket science.

 

No it's not, and you gave a good answer to my question. It could work pretty well.
I guess I always err on the side of simplicity when it comes to suggestions for new brewers. It can get overwhelming pretty quickly when people start firing off must-haves and better-than-basic gear suggestions based on their own multi-year multi-batch experience, especially when they insinuate that it would be very wrong to do anything less from the start. There are all types. Most start out very simply and learn through experience. I try to stay away from superlatives when coaching. Insisting that the way that you do things is the best way to do them is not always helpful. Situations differ. Many ways to get beer in a glass.

 

That is unfortunate and is the norm with any kind of business. Best bet is to seek out other homebrewers and find out where they buy their supplies.

 

Yep, this is what I do. Pot sits over two burners - gets to a rolling boil with 7.5 gallons of wort in about 45 minutes. $65

And I made a chiller for ~$40-45 with copper and tubing from Home Depot. I have a galley kitchen, so the hoses restrict fridge access while they're connected to the faucet. But planning ahead (getting beer before the chiller starts running) alleviates the issue.