Starter Kit Buyer’s Guide
Thinking about buying a starter kit for yourself or as a gift? Good choice, making your own beer or wine is a great hobby that is booming in popularity. There are a few different ways to get started – lets take a look.
If you’d prefer to talk to one of our customer service representatives, we are more than happy to explain your options over the phone or by email. Just give us a call at 1-800-681-2739 (9 AM – 6PM CST) or send us an email.
Which Starter Kit To Get?
We offer two beer brewing starter kits and two winemaking starter kits. Let’s talk about the beer brewing starter kit options first.
Beer Brewing Starter Kits
Our Basic Starter Kit is a very affordable set of equipment that doesn’t sacrifice quality. It has the best sanitizer and cleaner on the market, the best hand-held capper, and our own detailed Brewing 101 how-to DVD. This is an easy way to jump into homebrewing.
The Deluxe Beer Starter Kit has a number of upgrades that improve the quality of the beer and the ease of use. The main difference is the glass or plastic carboys instead of the fermenting bucket. A carboy is a large jug that contains the fermenting beer. The carboys are more airtight and are more durable than the bucket. The Deluxe kit has two carboys, which lets you brew a wider variety of beer styles, like IPA. Which carboy material should you choose, glass or plastic? Either one will make great beer, and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Plastic carboys are lighter, won’t shatter, and are cheaper – consider plastic if you want to minimize the weight you need to lift. Glass carboys won’t scratch or flex, are easier to clean, and will last for a long time – consider glass if you’re young and strong, or if you plan to brew long-term. Both versions of our Deluxe Beer Starter kit come with our Brewing 101 how-to DVD.
There are two additional options that you get with the Basic and Deluxe starter kits: ingredients and extra carboys.
If you’d like you can select an ingredient kit from three of our most popular beer recipes. The American Wheat Beer is a pale, easy-drinking beer with wide appeal. The Irish Red Ale is a red-colored beer that is well balanced. The Caribou Slobber Brown Ale is an American brown ale with some chocolatey roasted flavors. Each kit includes complete instructions and makes about 48 bottles of beer.
You can also add more carboys with an optional Secondary Fermentor add-on. This is a plastic or glass carboy that is used for aging the beer. Adding it on to the Basic Kit gives you the ability to brew strong beers like IPA and Imperial Stout. Adding it on the Deluxe kit allows you to ferment multiple batches at the same time.
Two final pieces of equipment that you’ll need: a boil kettle and bottles. If you have a stock pot that can hold at least 3 gallons, that will work fine. Otherwise you’ll want to pick up a 5 gallon kettle, which is an inexpensive option that works great for the beginning brewer. You’ll also need some empty bottles to put all that beer in. If you can get and clean 48 used beer bottles (the pry-off style, not the twist-off) then you’re in business. We also sell 12 oz beer bottles and 22 oz beer bottles; two cases of either will be enough for your first batch.
Winemaking Starter Kits
We offer two winemaking starter kits. Both are designed to make 6 gallon batches of wine from our wide selection of wine kits.
Our Basic Winemaking Kit is an inexpensive way for a beginner to get started. The kit includes a 6 gallon carboy for aging your wine. You can select between a plastic Better Bottle carboy or a glass carboy, either one of which will make great wine. Plastic carboys are lighter, won’t shatter, and are cheaper – consider plastic if you’re a mail order customer, or if you want to minimize the weight you need to lift. Glass carboys won’t scratch or flex, are easier to clean, and will last for a long time – consider glass if you’re young and strong, or if you plan to brew long-term.
Our Deluxe Winemaking Kit is a great investment and has several upgrades that make your life easier and your wine better. This kit includes a floor corker instead of a hand-held corker, which makes a huge difference in ease of use. It also includes a bottling bucket, which will help ensure you’re bottling a clear, clean-tasting wine. Other upgrades help you keep track of temperature, take samples, mix well, and more.
Both winemaking kits will also need a wine ingredient kit and some bottles. Try your favorite style of wine from the Vintner’s Reserve or Selection Original lines to get started. You can reuse wine bottles (the corked kind, not the screw-top) if you clean them out thoroughly. We also sell a wide variety of bottles; you’ll need about 30 750ml bottles for your first batch.