So, my mom bought me a "complete" kit she found online. It has a can of extract, some dry extract, priming sugar, hops, specialty malts, and a bag of caps. Problem is, I don't have a base kit yet! What is the minimum I would need to make and keep the gallon batch it is for? Should I just see if she can get a refund and buy something else? Edit: I have a pot that should be big enough to do a half boil (3 gal in pot, 2 added to ferm. bottle), possibly even all 5 gallons (with the necessary head space to prevent boil over), but no ferm. bottle, bottling bucket, thermometer, bottles, etc. The kit did come with a hop sock, though. Atleast, I think that's what it is...
Sounds like you just got a recipe kit and not an equipment kit. Any of the major online retailers will sell you an equipment kit. Examples from Northern Brewer: For 1G batches http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...er-kits/1-gallon-small-batch-starter-kit.html For 5G batches http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...arter-kits/essential-brewing-starter-kit.html MoreBeer, Austin Homebrew Supply, etc, will aslo offer kits. MoreBeer has a location in CA so maybe they'd get stuff shipped to you faster, maybe not. Basically the kits will come with some sort of fermentor, a vessel in which your beer ferments, some equipment to help with bottling day, and then various odds-and-ends for cleaning, sanitizing, transferring, etc. If you're ok with the recipe kit you got, I'd say just keep it and buy an equipment kit. If the equipment kit comes with a recipe kit all of its own, strongly consider buying an extra fermentor. Your first beer will be probably take you over a month to go from brew day to carbonated in the bottle, so getting a second batch going will help alleviate any anxiety or tendency to rush your first beer. Also, you didn't list yeast in the components from your gift. You'll need yeast.
Oh, quick math and rough measurements shows the pot I have to be between 2.5 and 3 gallons (approx. 10" diameter and 8" tall). Not quite large enough...
Its not the best way to brew, but lots of people do less than full boils and use cold water and/or ice to cool the wort down and bring it to volume and just a FYI, but youll need more like a 7gal pot to account for water that boils off during a 60min boil and hops
You can use more than one pot and split the boil up into multiple sections. Just make sure to also split up the hops proportionally to your boils. I recommend this over doing a partial boil and then topping off. You NEED a thermometer. You NEED sanitizer (preferably starsan). You NEED a fermentation bucket. You NEED a gravitometer (i.e. a specific gravity thingamabob). Plus what rundownhouse said about a second fermenting bucket and some other stuff. An AUTO-siphon will make your life a lot easier. You'll also need a place to put your fermentation bucket. Preference on that would be somewhere that's steadily about 64F, but under 70F would be ok. You'll also need either a wort-chiller (preferred) or at least 20 lbs of ice to cool off your boiled wort. But reading how to brew would be optimal before you start.
A hydrometer is a water meter. I can't justify calling the thingie for beer by such a non-beery name.
