New to brewing equipment purchase questions!

[roxalana]

Hi all,

I posted a short while ago regarding giving into husbands Xmas list demand for a beer brewing set. You advised me to steer clear of Youngs U brew and not to try and use a keg with tap in place of bottles for lager because it is hard to not end up with flat lager that goes off quickly. Lots of you recommended the Coopers set but even at Tesco it is a bit out of my budget. He wants lager because although he is a bitter drinker, no one else he knows is and he doesn't want to drink it all himself!

I think we will follow the advice on here to get a capping system and use recycled glass bottles, so I don't need the plastic ones that come with the kit.

My dad brewed bitter for years and recommends just using plastic tubing for bottling because it is easier than using the tap. I make it that he would need a fermenting bin, a paddle, a kit, some tubing, sugar, sterilising stuff. Anything else?

And any tips for buying cheap without buying twice? I don't need to get everything but I need to give him a good start.

[john_drummer]

a "bottling stick" is a very handy device. It's a piece of stiff plastic tubing with a needle valve in the bottom. The weight of the beer in the siphon tubing above the valve keeps it shut, until you push the stick down onto the bottom of the bottle. As the bottle fills up, simply lift the stick to stop the flow. About £4
Also for the siphon kit, you'll want a u-bend so you don't suck up the sediment. again, not expensive.

Don't use plain old granulated sugar, it doesn't do much for the flavour, rather use "beer kit enhancer" or "spraymalt" - both contain malt as well as sugar. If doing a Coopers lager, I can recommend their European lager kit. The can says it takes 12 weeks in the bottle to mature - it doesn't really, it's drinkable after about 5-6 weeks

[wxmexile]

Yes definatly get a bottling stick - fantastic for bottling, makes the whole process so much easier. I recently bought some 'chemipro oxi' too - this is a 'no rinse' cleaner for bottles etc - again something like this will make bottling so much easier as it more than halves the time spent cleaning and rinsing bottles. I brew lager - highly reccommend the Coopers Heritage lager, but defo don't use normal sugar - BKE with this is just fine, my favourite brew actually! good luck!

[mrmojorisin]

Minimum for start up;

Fermenter - bucket
Spoon
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Syphon tube
Steriliser
Kit of your choice
1kg of brewing sugar/BKE/DME

For steriliser I use VWP which is cheap, supermarket thin unscented bleach even cheaper.

I would also add a bottling stick, cuts down time and mess no end.

Cheapest way to bottle is into value lemonade or sparkling water bottles. If you're going glass you need a capper and caps.

A bottle tree is also very worthwhile.

Good luck.