Christmas present for homebrewer

Do you happen to know his set up? If he has a good set up I would recommend stocking him up with hops, malt, and yeast.

Or even a gift certificate to a local home brew shop of website he gets his goods.

 

Well, I've been brewing for a while and I have a good idea of what I want. Don't know if he's got one of these yet, but a kegging system could be good! I am getting really sick of cleaning bottles.

 

$100 worth of good quality commercial craft beers would be a good gift. $200 worth and then you can drink it with him.

In the interests of research of course.

 

Without knowing what equipment he now has, it is hard to recommend anything new. I'll go along with the gift certificate suggestion.

 

It really depends on where he is at with his current setup. A kegging system would be good. A kettle to use as a boil pot and mash tun. A yeast starter kit with a stir plate would be good. There are so many options you just need to figure out where he is with his current system and go from there.

 

Gift card to his local homebrew store, or his online homebrew store.

 

<LAME> Gift certificates </LAME>

<MORE BETTER> 50# sack of malted barley and a grain mill. </MORE BETTER>

 

I'll echo this.. If he brews all grain, and has no mill.. Can't beat a mill and some base malt!

 

A brewery can be a very personal thing. So, unless he's expressed a desire for a specific item ('specific' meaning brand, size, etc), I'd go with a gift certificate. That said, assuming he does all grain, you can't go wrong with a sack of barley. Something nicer than two-row - German Pilsner or a Maris Otter, for example.

 

as mentioned above, without knowing what kind of system he has its a little hard to recommend something.

BUT if I were your brother and did not yet have a kegging system (and was advanced enough for one) I might want one

 

OP, I like the suggestions about a kegging system (I don't have one, but wish I did), but keep in mind that if you get that for him, you/he will also have to come up with a way to chill a keg. That may mean buying a Kegerator, an old fridge or chest freezer, plus having the space to put it. So there can be a down side to this nice gift.

 

If he brews all grain the mill and malt sounds great, unless he has a mill. A chiller is great, but which is best?: plate, CFC or immersion. Other ideas may be a variety of yeasts and hops, or a gift card from a homebrew store. As everybody else has stated,l we need much more info.

 

I agree that homebrewers can really want very specific equipment and or supplies needed so I would stick with the gift certificate idea. If he says anything negative about that I would totally be surprised. .

 

A gift certificate says I (your brother) don't know you (my brother) well enough to get you (my brother) something you (my brother) would enjoy.

Sheesh.

 

Get him a huge double-stack bass rig with eight ten-inch aluminized cones, 1000 watt amp, pre-amp EQ, phaser, stereo chorus, digital and analog delay, dual monitors, and a monster black fender bass guitar.

Oh, you meant beer stuff. My mistake. Carry on.

 

A gift certificate says you know a helluva lot more about your hobby and your setup than I do so, rather than giving you something that will sit in a corner collecting dust, to be pulled out and/or positioned to look like it's been used whenever you hear I'm coming over, get yourself something you want. I'm reminded of a 30+ year brewer friend who once got a Brewers Best extract Red Ale kit for Christmas.

 

That's going to be a lot of gift wrapping. I'd suggest a '59 Burst (the real thing). Sometimes simpler is better. Though the two extra strings could be confusing.

 

Pretty much every Christmas, I receive at least one brewing or beer related gift that I'll never use, from well intentioned people who know I'm into beer. People who aren't immersed in the hobby just don't know. Hell, sometimes I can't make up my own mind if I need something, let alone someone else figuring it out.