Looking to buy a homebrew for a friend and am looking for suggestions. He has done it before, but he doesn't have his own gear. I want to spend about $50.
It will help a lot for us to know more about your friend's brewing experience (roughly how many times), and whether his previous brewing sessions have been with malt extract or if they were all-grain brewing sessions. Also, we all like to brew beers that we like to drink, so is there a favorite style that he likes?
He's has brewed a kolsch, some sort of ale and a stout. He is currently a big fan of IPAs, But I don't think he has brewed one. Not sure about the malt extract or grains. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
If you only have $50 to spend, you'll get a gift card to a brew supply shop. Ask if you need names of large vendors. If he's going do to this you get in the gate at about $100. There's Craigslist and Ebay, but it's up to you if you want to try to pull something together second hand.
It looks like @inchrisin is assuming that you want to get your friend some equipment, but I took your post as if you are wanting to give him a recipe ingredient kit. Which is right? If it is a recipe ingredient kit that you want, and if your friend is getting into IPAs, then this should be an easy purchase. If a good homebrew shop is available to you, you can go there and ask for the ingredients to a generic IPA recipe, or they likely will have access to clone recipes for IPAs such as Bell's Two Hearted and other popular ones. If you don't have a local store, then online sites such as Northern Brewer and Adventures in Homebrewing will have pre-packaged kits on their websites. Whatever your source, I'll suggest that you get a malt extract version kit because we don't know if his friend's equipment can handle an all-grain recipe. An extract kit can be brewed with a basic equipment set-up, so it is the safe way to go. I see that you are in California, so if you want to get him the clone ingredients for an IPA that is popular in California, I wouldn't ask for a Pliny the Elder kit. That beer is a double IPA and a bit more difficult to brew (and more expensive). (However, the Pliny recipe might be a good one if your friend's buddy is more experienced and can help your friend during the brew session, but you'd have to make that judgement call.)
The two above posts nail it. Do not try to piece meal a brewing system together on the cheap as a gift. If that is what you friend wants, let them do it themselves. The gift certificate works to satisfy both issues in that your friend can purchase the "Kit" of their liking or buy some equipment.
