First time brewer - Massive Brewery any good?

[Ragingkileak]

Hi all,

First post here and apologies if I ask any dumb questions as I'm also a first time brewer!

I'm not interested in extract brewing as frankly, it seems like cheating. So, I've been looking for a good way to start all grain brewing. With that in mind, I've tracked down the kit sold by Massive Brewery (www.massivebrewery.com) and it seems to have everything I need, bar a spoon, bottles and some sanitizer.

Small batch brewing seems sensible to me as if I get it wrong, I can just tip it and try again - or at least won't have much to drink! Do you guys think this kit is sensible for a complete novice? Are there any better options?

Thanks
Regards
Matt

[micmacmoc]

It says:

'fits in a 12" cube"

Really? You'd soon want bigger equipment, read up on this forum about backer elements and plastic bucket boilers, you really want to start at 23 litres (5gallonsish). Get a picnic hamper mash tun, there's a wealth of info hereabouts.

[Kyle_T]

I actually quite like the look of that, should have probably gone for something similar myself when I started AG, I made the mistake of going 50l all the way when I didn't have the foggiest of what I was doing, the pot alone was £85, yet alone all the other assorted bits I ended up buying.

Never had any custom with massive brewing sadly so I can't help you with that bit but I'm sure someone else can, otherwise it seems like a good deal.

[chris2012]

Personally 10 litres seems too small to me.
Unless you're planning on doing lots of experiments.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Hi welcome. I agree with the others about the size. I think it is a bit too small really.

Making beer takes quite a bit of time, the volume of beer you make doesn't have that much impact on the time it takes.

I would definitely look at a 5 gallon set up.

[oz11]

As well as being too small, the only contact details I can see on the website is an email address, I cannot see a telephone number or address in the event of something going wrong.

[Ragingkileak]

Well Gents,

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like a kit this size is not favoured, haha! I did think there would be some commentary on size, but I'm also quite surprised - I don't get through that much beer at home, so it seems to me that circa 20 x 500ml bottles would last quite a while but still allow me to brew different beers reasonably frequently!

I suspect if a 'circa 20l' kit could be put together and would be suitable for stovetop use, I could run with it. There seem to be loads of 23l FV's in places like Wilko's and all the other bits are easy to come by (except the cooling cool - is that really necessary?) so that's fine. Any ideas on a decent stovetop boiler then? I guess for that kind of size I'd need one with a tap...

Thanks again.

Rgds
Matt

[Kyle_T]

Again no expert here but you could do BIAB with a 33l Stainless Steel pot and either run that on hob (takes forever to heat up) or fit it with a kettle element. That will allow you to brew 19l with a little room to spare and buy a couple of polypins (the hold 20l). That could be a compromise. Ferment it in a 23l FV as usual.

I bought my pot from The Malt Miller and is worth every penny, excellent craftsmanship and comes complete with a 15mm ball valve, hop strainer, lid and he can cut holes for elements should you wish.

If you prefer a cheaper option I had a quick look around and you can get a reasonable system for cheap if you can do a little DIY.

Stovetop brew system:

33l Fermenting Bucket - £18
Kettle - £6
Hot Socket - £3
Bulkhead Fitting - £10
Tap - £10
Hop Strainer - £8
Mashing/Sparging bag - £8
Wilko Trial Jar - £1.50
Hydrometer - £2
Thermometer - £2
Siphon - £5
Fermenting Bucket - £12
Paddle - £2

That is most of what you need, by a rubber laundry basket or something similar to sit the FV in and just chill with cold water and ice blocks.

[Dennis King]

The name "Massive Brewery" seems a bit misleading to me.

[Ragingkileak]

Thanks Kyle, I'll have a look into a DIY option - although I'm pretty crap at DIY I must say. The only way I will get to understand what is needed and how it's done is by talking about it so apologies if this thread seemed a little daft!

Matt

[Kyle_T]

No worries mate, I shall spend some time tomorrow finding some places for you to look at cost options.

[Ragingkileak]

Well that would be great mate.

I'm now looking into options like the (seemingly popular) Brupak mash tun, a standalone electric boiler and a Wilko or similar FV which altogether (struggling to find a used boiler around 20-30 liters) comes in at about £100-£150. Having watched the Massive Brewery video and then many more, I now realise that the mashing process is really supposed to be separate and doing so will give me more options, space and so on. An electric boiler also means I can brew in the garage, which is preferable!

I've had a look at some DIY's for modifying coolers etc. I doubt it's for me really as I'll make a mess of it. Also judging by some of the ebay costs, it's pointless considering I lack some of the tools/drill bits etc required.

Matt

[Fil]

imho Its worthwhile starting with a few kits, all the equipment needed for a kit brew is useful for the cold side of an ag brew so no waste there and it will give u a small sample of what brewing is about.. if u dont enjoy the 30mins or so it takes to get a kit up n going u wont stand a chance of lasting a 6-8hour AG brewday..
AND get u started with some stocks too..

to progress to AG all u need is a big stockpot and a grain sack and a biab brew is yours for the making, (shops round us with piles of plastic storage boxes outside also stock 30l SS stockpots for a few quid...) taps/valves n filters on the stockpot u can add if u want later, many get a kick out of brewing with minimalist equipment, and produce beers as good and better than many with all the kit

[darkonnis]

Personally, I'd not bother. The kit listed there is good value for money for something which has been assembled for you. Realistically though there is no need to bother with such a thing if you'd rather have a try n see if you like it first.

All you need is:
a pot, bigger the better (if you want 10L output get a 20L pot)
a grain bag, which you can make yourself or plenty of brew shops sell them in varying sizes, get a large one, and one smaller one. (or just 2 large ones)
something to ferment in, could be a pot, could be a plastic bucket, could be whatever the hell you like
Ingredients (I suggest a few kgs of maris otter and some 100g packs of hops, and a few packs of yeast S-04 or US-05, some sanitiser, I use starsan as I feel it is far far superior to anything else you're likely to find)

For bottling, you'll need a cheap n cheerful capper, some bottle caps, and some recycled glass bottles. A bottle brush would be good

The rest, you don't actually need. It is useful no doubt, but so is a manservant and I'm sure you get on just fine without one of those

You're set from there if you want to brew on the stove, I won't go into the how here as it's been written and rewritten a thousand times, but that would be everything you need.

Honestly, try it first, then look at spending £100s. You should see if you like the hobby BEFORE buying any real amounts of kit. Otherwise, you'll soon find you wasted £100 on that kit or it's too small, and you wasted £100 on that kit.

[Kyle_T]

Another thing I should mention with the plastic boiler is find a heavy duty food grade fermenter, otherwise they can become very soft when they heat up and the handle isn't always up to the job. One bit of kit worth investing in is a q-max cutter, simple to use a relatively cheap to buy from eBay. You'll want the 38mm (1 1/2in) for Tesco and Asda kettle elements.also a 1in poly washer from B&Q can stop a leak should you get one. 99p for a pack of 3.