Beginner kit

davemie

Guys, I was looking into home brewing over the last few days and am really interested in getting started. I haven't personally seen any equipment, so I'm not fully sure what is included and how realistic my plans are.

I have some large (19~20 liter) water cooler containers (the ones with the narrow top) and was thinking about using those for brewing. I know they are not big enough for a full beer kit (40-pints/ 22 liters), but one option would be to put half of the beer kit into one water cooler container and half into a second container. I was also planning to use recycled glass bottles for storing the beer.

So what would I need to buy?

Here is my list

VWP Steriliser (500 gm.) 4.80
Bottle Brush
Thermometer 3.40
Hydrometer 3.40
Syphon Complete 4.25
Syphon clip 2.50
Twin Lever (Crown) Capper 11.00
100 Crown Caps 2.25

And of course a beer kit!

So onto my questions

1) Does primer (tablets or otherwise) used when bottling normally come with the kits, or do I get that separately?

2) What about sugar, everywhere I see websites recommending brewing sugar, is this nessscary bearing in mind that I don't want to be cheap at the expensive of beer quality?

3) Are my plans for the equipment realeastic or am I too cheap and should I just get the starter beer kit for around 80~90 euro?

Thanks in adv for your advice

davemie

I did a bit more looking around and found out that there is a little recycling symbol on the water cooler bottles, its a triangle with a number in it. If the number is 1, you are OK, if the number is 7, you are recommended not to use it as the plastic can let oxygen through which will spoil the beer.

My bottle is a 7, so I guess I need to buy a kit!

Some people say that its fine if the beer is in the contain a short while, two weeks or less, but if its a long time, you will have problems.

Saruman

davemie wrote: »

1) Does primer (tablets or otherwise) used when bottling normally come with the kits, or do I get that separately?
Primer is sugar. Table sugar is fine. The tablets are just sugar. Handy but you can't control carbonation.

2) What about sugar, everywhere I see websites recommending brewing sugar, is this nessscary bearing in mind that I don't want to be cheap at the expensive of beer quality?
Just use table sugar. Brewing sugar is just glucose, available in any supermarket. It is more expensive than sugar. You should only use sugar for conditioning (bottling, kegging). If a beer kit calls for sugar it is cheap, replace sugar with spraymalt for a better beer.

3) Are my plans for the equipment realeastic or am I too cheap and should I just get the starter beer kit for around 80~90 euro?
The water bottles are fine, you will save a little money but to be honest you are making things more difficult for yourself. Cleaning them out will be very difficult for instance. The handle part especially.

Thanks in adv for your advice

See above.
Welcome aboard the homebrew revolution