Home Beer Brewing Kits

[Broughden]

Okay so my wife and I are thinking about getting on of these for her dad for father's day. She has done some research into it and tells me there is an astonishing amount of different kits available. She has asked me to turn to the omnivorous impotent omnibus fucking smart people of F13 in our time of need.
Have any of you tried any of these kits?
Any pros or cons?
Any specific parts or features we should be looking for?

He likes IPA's if that helps.

[Abagadro]

What is your budget? That will be a big factor.

[Broughden]

What is your budget? That will be a big factor.

Really? She didnt mention price variance and I didnt even think about it. I assumed they would be around the same price or ballpark.

Hmm so lets $100-150? Good range?

[apocrypha]

My dad's been brewing his own beer for 30 years, and it still always tastes fucking horrible. But it's really cheap, so he continues. 

That said, the kits he gets from breweries that he knows and likes the commercial beers from seem to generally be less horrible. He's a Suffolk ale man and has had some nice(ish) results from Adnams and Greene King kits I seem to remember.

Maybe see if you can find a kit from a brewery that makes beers her dad really likes?

[Tale]

He likes IPA's if that helps.

Can't help on the homebrew. But this stuff is really nice and will be exotic in the US if you can find some: https://www.littlecreatures.com.au/Beers-Category/menu-id-63.html

[Sky]

Slack orders from midwest brewing supply, if you don't mind mail order. http://www.midwestsupplies.com/

I need to scrounge up a few bucks and get that hobby started, dernit.

[Abagadro]

What is your budget? That will be a big factor.

Really? She didnt mention price variance and I didnt even think about it. I assumed they would be around the same price or ballpark.

Hmm so lets $100-150? Good range?

I should have been a bit more specific as price isn't the key factor although there is a difference (with that budget you can get a lot actually)

There is really two classes of beginner home-brew kits.  One is the Mr. Beer/Coopers type which is just a plastic barrel that you throw all the stuff in that run from 50-80 bucks and you will get basically everything you need (including plastic bottles for the beer, blech) but there is no real art to it. The other is a bit more advanced and usually has a fermenting tub, racking tub, hygrometer, air-lock, etc. and requires you to then get the actual beer ingredients to go with it, get a big pot to cook the wort, round up some real recycled beer bottles to use, etc.

So it depends a bit on what you think he will like. The former is easy, but the latter is more fun and you get better product IMO. I've never used the cheapo type so can't speak to the relative quality of the various types, but I have used the latter and can give you some assistance there.

Do you have a local home-brew store near you that you could check out or are you doing this all online/mailorder?

If you have a shop, it's best just to go in and talk to them.  The kit I am describing will look a bit more like this.  If you are doing it by mail-order, I will recommend a local place here that I have been doing business with for 15 years: The Beer Nut

Here are their kits

The Basic kit is 84 bucks and you will need to pick up a big pot to brew the wort (which you can find pretty much anywhere) and 24 bottles that you can scrounge up and sterilize in a dishwasher.

You can go up from there to a kit that includes a glass carboy rather than a plastic one and also go up to one that includes the pot and bottles (although the shipping on that would be a lot I would expect).

You then get an Ingredient kit for the type of beer you want.

If you have questions, call the guys up and they will walk you through it: (888) 825-4697

There are likely other shops closer to you that may save you shipping, but these guys are really great to work with and will spend tons of time talking to you about it. At least that is my experience.

[Sheepherder]

He likes IPA's if that helps.

A few brands labelled as IPAs are quite generic, does he like any brand specifically?

[Sky]

ZOMG I haven't seen a website with frames in ten years!

[Broughden]

Thanks for all the info guys, especially you Ab! I dont think we have a shop here in town so I will look through that site to the shop you listed, The Beer Nut.

Sheepherder,
He is always try new artisinal and microbreweries. Generally the hoppier the better.


Where as Im a wheat ale guy myself. I cant stand overly bitter hoppy beers.


I really appreciate the help on this. Its not something I know anything about. Her dad is an amazing guy and we want to get himself he will really enjoy.




Tale,

I think he might already be turned on to Little Creatures. My brother in law was just mentioning this new pale ale he was drinking with Cascade hops and a strong citrus/grapefruit flavor. He said its one IPA I might actually like. I will check to see.

[Abagadro]

I forgot to mention that this is a really good book/resource.

[Tale]

I think he might already be turned on to Little Creatures. My brother in law was just mentioning this new pale ale he was drinking with Cascade hops and a strong citrus/grapefruit flavor. He said its one IPA I might actually like. I will check to see.

Cool. Little Creatures Pale Ale is their original product. I've tried the Bright Ale too and liked it - similar beer but "bright" is the right word for it, it's sparky and lively compared to the pale ale. I'd happily drink either.

Tried their Pilsner too and didn't like it. They tried too hard. Haven't tried their Rogers (dark beer) yet - will try it this week.

[Sky]

I forgot to mention that this is a really good book/resource.

I've got an old version of that book, the pictures are funny.

[Ard]

I don't do beer, but I've been meddling with ginger ale for a while now.  If you want to try something different further down the line, you can make ginger beer with some of the same equipment to make ales.  It's cheaper, and takes a lot less time to do, but there's more room for error on the fermenting portion of it.  I keep screwing it up for ginger ale as is, and get this awful tasting mix that's in between soda and beer, partially fermented.

Here are the links I used to get me started, of note on the second one, I do bottle them, not 2 liter them, so it's harder to test how carbonated it's gotten:

http://www.learningherbs.com/ginger_ale_recipe.html
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Ginger_Ale_Ag0.htm

[Sheepherder]

Sheepherder,
He is always try new artisinal and microbreweries. Generally the hoppier the better.

That makes your job easier.  Since you mentioned particular hops varieties I probably don't have to tell you that the vast majority of microbreweries don't supply their own malt and hops.