Holy CRAP! There are a ton of different places to get homebrew starter kits on the web. When I was starting out I didn’t know exactly which place to purchase from nor exactly what was going to be needed when I did finally purchase. Some came with this, some came with that??? But what did I really need and more importantly, how much was my new homebrew starter kit going to cost me?

To help ease the struggle I’ve picked out 5 homebrew starter kits from the top 5 online homebrew supply stores. This rank is based on Alexa.com‘s website traffic stats. I also believe they all come from reputable homebrew supply stores. I’ve compared what is in the kits and what you would still need, aside from a pot and bottles, to make your first batch of homebrew. I’ve tried to put together all the information you would need to help make a solid purchasing decision.

***Disclaimer

I hate writing these but I feel a need to in this case. All research was done on the same day and all comparisons of products were done with the intent to putting the most alike products together. For example, a plastic stirring spoon from one supplier was the same or, the closest that supplier had to offer, to the same product. The intent of this article is to give a potential first time homebrewer the knowledge and confidence to get the most for their money.

Homebrew Starter Kits

1. William’s Brewing

I have never purchased from William’s brewing but I receive their catalog, hear their advertisements and have read some reviews on homebrewtalk.com about them, so I believe the company is solid. I am using their kit as a bench mark as I believe it comes with everything you would need to get started, including an extract kit. Usually that, plus thermometers and spoons are all purchased separately but the kind folks at William’s Brewing put it altogether in a no fuss package. This kit is siphonless by using a spigot on both fermenters to easily transfer wort from one vessel to another. I’ve been assured through email correspondence that their unique transfer valve prevents yeast from moving with your wort. Their website is a little difficult to navigate upon first landing, but once you figure it out it isn’t to bad.

William’s Homebrew Kit Highlights

• Comes with everything
• Instruction Booklet and Video’s Included!
• Unique transfer valve allows for siphonless transfers without yeast cake disturbance

2. Northern Brewer

I have used Northern Brewer quite a few times for equipment and ingredients. The ingredients are always fresh and everything shows up in a very timely manner. It could be because I live less than 300 miles away. Regardless, a solid company. A very solid kit that I’ve recommended to a couple of friends who love them.

Northern Brewer Homebrew Kit Highlights

• Speedy Delivery
• Flat Rate Shipping on most products
• Solid Option

3. Midwest Supplies

Midwest Supplies has a very good reputation and a lot of my friends have used them and their physical store. Prices are usually pretty good, the staff is knowledgeable and willing to help. Their homebrew starter kit is very well priced for what you get. The one main drawback to this kit though, is that you have to calculate shipping which, when I did it for Fargo, ND it ran me over $10. So what you save with this kit, might be lost in shipping.

Midwest Supplies Homebrew Kit Highlights

• Liquid Crystal Thermometer
• Instruction Booklet and Video’s Included!

4. MoreBeer

I have yet to use MoreBeer but I plan to in the future. They have been around for a while and from my understanding have some sort of affiliation with the Brew Strong Crew. On top of that…it is the cheapest homebrew starter kit option that I have found. You may be wondering, “There is no auto siphon.” That is because both of your buckets will have a spigot on them. All you have to do is hook up your tubing from one bucket and drain it into the other. It is a lot less fuss, similar to the Williams Kit above. The free shipping is pretty nice too! The site could look and function a bit better, but again, once you get used to it, its easy to use.

MoreBeer Homebrew Kit Highlights

• Cheapest with free shipping
• Star San sanitizer (one of the best in the biz)

5. Austin Homebrew Supply

Another brewing store I have yet to use, but it ranks up there as number 3 of trafficked sites. Again, I’ve heard good thing from people on homebrewtalk.com and Austin Homebrew has been around for a little while. The site is a little confusing to use and based on their starter kit, you are going to need to make some extra purchases.

Austin Brewing Homebrew Kit Highlights

• Most Expensive
• Requires a lot of extra purchases
• Has the biggest fermenters (could be good or bad)

There you have it. These are 5 very good options for getting started brewing. The prices are not all that far from each other so any option is a good option. If your looking for no fuss, hit up the William’s Brewing kit. Everything that comes in that homebrew starter kit will get you going. If you don’t mind a little moving around on a site and filling a shopping cart, grab the cheapest, MoreBeer option. The Star San makes that kit worth it to me. If you really think your going to need an auto siphon, the Northern Brewer kit comes with the same one I use, which has been good to me.

Your call my friend!

If anyone has anything to add, please feel free to let me know. Again, the purpose here is to give someone basic information to help possible first time homebrewers make a sound decision on a homebrew starter kit, so we can get more homebrewers making fine and tasty beer!

Does your beer taste a little funny? Are you trying to make a lauter tun? Are you wondering exactly how much boiling water to add to your mash to bring the temperature up 4 degrees? Or are you just looking for a great overview of many subjects associated with beer and homebrewing to further expand your knowledge on the subject?

You are in luck. “How to Brew” by John Palmer, covers each one of these subjects in depth within the covers of his book. In my review of “How to Brew” I’ll bring you up to speed on some of the great hoppy nuggets of information within this book along with some of the things I wasn’t completed impressed with in hopes of helping you decide if this book needs to be added to your collection.

Review of “How to Brew” by John Palmer

If you recall I did an intro review of “How to Brew” by John Palmer where I talked about how the book starts off with a brief overview of the brewing process and what and how to extract brew. The extract brewing portion of the book is very short and seems to lack as much knowledgeable information as the rest of the book does. It could merely be poor placement of chapters though. Once you get through the first few chapters about brewing and extract brewing, Palmer goes in depth into each part of the brewing process. He describes malts, hops, yeast, water, aeration, hot breaks and so on. Through these chapters there is a lot of practical knowledge that can lead a novice brewer into a better beer making direction. However, it comes after Palmer has already described the extract brewing process. Personally, I think that information should come first just like it does later in the book when he gives a load of knowledge on all-grain brewing before turning anyone loose. If your thinking about homebrewing extracts, read sections one and two before deciding or starting to get a great idea of the overall brewing process.

Regardless, “How to Brew” is a very thorough book that I am extremely happy to have read and put onto my brewing shelf. The book is loaded with conversions, charts, recipe information, and many other useful tidbits that I didn’t know until reading this book. Did you know that you can do something called “Hot Side Aeration”? This is the process of aerating your wort after the boil, but before it has come down to pitching temperatures. In other words, don’t aerate your beer at all before it’s down to pitching temperatures or you run the risk of long-term oxidation and flavor stability.

Pros

“How to Brew” by John Palmer is a great resource for anyone starting to brew, novice brewers, people debating on making the all grain leap, and even expert brewers looking for guidance on changing their water composition for a stellar Pilsner. The book is very thorough and covers darn near all of the different subjects associated with brewing, right down to different metals or ways of fabricating your own equipment.

A couple of sections I really appreciated included the “Is My Beer Ruined” section. In this section Palmer describes the many different “off flavors”, what causes them and how to prevent them in the future.

I also enjoyed reading the section called “Brewing with Extracts and Specialty Grains”. This section gave me a great overview on the different base malts and specialty grains and what they do. Palmer discusses how certain grains will effect all the different aspects of your brew, including color, flavor, aroma, fermentability, and so on. It was really insightful for a novice brewer, like myself looking to increase my knowledge of what makes up my favorite beers and eventually my own recipes.

• Great for new, intermediate and expert brewers
• Very thorough
• Great sections like “Is My Beer Ruined or Brewing with Extracts and Specialty Grains”
• Overall a great read

Cons

Again, like most books and information on homebrewing there was very little support of pictures to illustrate the points being presented. There were a lot more pictures than “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing” by Charlie Papazian, but still, just not enough. In one instance Palmer is discussing clarity of wort coming out of the mash tun with black and white photos. Honestly, I couldn’t see the point he was trying to illustrate with the photos.

The biggest con of the book is that there are pages that are very difficult to understand. Palmer can get very technical with some of his information, with math and formulas, which it is extremely easy to just want to skip it. There has to be a better way to present the information because it is exactly like trying to learn algebra, out of a textbook, without any practical practice problems or illustrations.

On top of that there was one instance that Palmer lost me. In one section he mentioned not adjusting the PH of your water before mashing because some malts will adjust it for you, but then the rest of the chapter was about adjusting the PH of your water for mashing. Still not sure if I should adjust the PH before or during.

• Not a lot of great pictures to illustrate points
• Can get extremely technical at times
• I personally got lost once in the book

Overall

The book is great and I highly recommend buying it, especially if you plan to move onto all grain brewing at some point in your brewing career. Half of this book is about all grain brewing and presents a lot of good information that would be exceptional to read before jumping head first into all grain brewing. I also believe it is a better starting homebrewing book than “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing” by Charlie Papazian.

The book is loaded with practical information about general brewing practices, ingredients, how to’s, and an all around “why things are the way they are” in homebrewing. I would highly recommend this book to a novice and experienced brewer.

Pick up your copy of “How to Brew” by John Palmer here!

If you don’t mind sitting in front of your pc, you can check out the book on the web here.

How bout you?

Have you read this book? What did you think? Did it help you become a better brewer or was some of the information just to technical?

I have been listening to the Brew Strong show produced by the Brewing Network a lot as of late. One of the hosts, John Palmer, talks about his book on the show and all the people around him mention how good it is. So I suppose the marketing idea behind doing the shows wore off on me and I recently got my hands on a copy of “How To Brew” by John Palmer through amazon.com. I’ve been told that this is the “homebrewing bible” and that anyone of any skill level should have this book on hand. As a new homebrewer, I really eat up this information and I like to look at how people describe the process for beginners and I eventually have plans to move to all grain in the next few years, so what the heck, I finally cracked it open the other night and started.

Initial Thoughts

The book is a bit thick, but that only means there is an opportunity for a lot of good, or a lot of bad information inside of it. Initially thumbing through “How To Brew” by John Palmer I found that the book is organized really well with a lot of topics, covered in their entirety. I like that the book starts with extract and moves on to all-grain. I feel this is the more common and natural progression that most people take in their brewing careers, so it makes sense to split it up that way in a book.

Reading the introduction was quite interesting because the book started out as an electronic 11 page document for beginning homebrewers in 1993, which was then posted to forums and bulletin boards. I myself am currently working on something similar for beginning homebrewers. So I was instantly laughing at the commonalities that I share with Palmer.

About the Author

From what I understand of John Palmer he is a wealth of knowledge. His knowledge isn’t just experience of brewing beer though. The guy is knows so much about the science behind brewing that it is a bit freaky. For example, he can tell you everything you want to know about the different metals that you can get in a brew pot… He can recite all of the different sugars that make up your wort and how each temperature will affect how well those sugars are broken down. I could go on and on, but the moral is, he is a damn scientist brewer.

I appreciate that because I can see myself being the same way. However, I could very well see this book getting to technical. I find that a lot of brewing information out there is technical. And to be frank, it bores me to read it. I’d like to see it spiced up! So, we’ll see how this book presents its data and information once we get into it a bit more.

The “Crash Course”

After reading the “crash course” section of the book I’ve come to realize that the book reads pretty easily, but I yearn for some color pictures and for it to not have so many pages that are just walls of text. I feel the crash course was a decent read to get an overall view of the brewing process, but I think a lot of information was left out and, in fact, wasn’t specific enough. I understand that is what a “crash course” is intended to be, but the brewing process isn’t something I think you can really do a crash course on and have it be successful. The reader might as well get a kit and use that as a crash course instead of buying the book to tell them that general information.

However, looking ahead at what I’ll be reading, the value in this book will be coming in the later, more in depth sections on yeast, malts, and the “Is My Beer Ruined” section. I look forward to reading the rest of this book over the course of the next couple to few weeks and writing up a full review on it for you guys. In the mean time, if your interested, I’d just pick up a copy of “How To Brew” by John Palmer or read the free version of it online at How To Brew.

Since writing this I finished the book. The full review of “How to Brew” by John Palmer can be found here.

Review of “Beer Wars” 2009 by Anat Barron

This morning I sat down on my couch, curled up with the cats and popped in a flick. Sunday mornings are always a great time to sit around and veg out, especially after a fantastic evening out on the town.

I popped in “Beer Wars.” A flick that came out in 2009 that was written, produced, and directed by Anat Barron, former GM of Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Anat, who is the narrator, uses her experiences in the beer market to paint a credible “David vs Goliath” picture of craft brewing versus macro brewing. She leads us through the doors of brew houses, board rooms, bars, brew masters homes and on the road with them as she explains how extremely competitive the $97 billion dollar a year beer market is, and how companies like Anheuser Busch are using their marketing machine to brainwash you to think that light lagers are “America’s Beer” instead of some delicious and flavorful beers created by American ingenuity.

Production quality of the movie was pretty good for being an obvious low budget film. I thought the graphics were good, the camera work was solid and for the most part everything sounded good. There were a couple of parts in the movie that I thought it was ending, but it wasn’t or there were times the story would jump from one subject to another and confuse me a little bit, but since the movie isn’t overly technical and had good supporting graphics it was easy to get back up to speed.

Beer Wars is centered around a solid casts of beer enthusiasts and brewers. From Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware to Rhonda Kallman, who helped Sam Adam’s become what it is today, along with a whole lot of other support appearances from people such as Charlie Papazian, Dick Yuengling Jr from the oldest brewery in America, Yuengling, Todd from Beer Advocate, Jim Koch of Sam Adam’s and many more. All of these characters are connected by one specific idea. They all have an extreme passion for  beer and the idea of empowering the consumer to make a choice based on individualism and education, not mass marketing and black hat tactics used by major brewers in the industry.

Going into this movie I thought it was going to be about craft brewers and their stories, great start up stories from places like New Belgium or fun and interesting information about the GABF, but the movie is much more centered around the beer industry as a whole and the struggles that craft brewers face to take a piece of the pie away from big corporations. For example there is a segment in the movie that discusses how beer is placed in stores such as a Wal-Mart or a grocery store. The segment highlights how much of the product placed is owned by companies like A/B and how their shelf space is like a billboard for their brand. One fact that really stuck with me that I never thought about is when you go to the store, why are there so many options in packaging for the same product? Six-packs, 12 packs, 20 packs, cases, bottles, cans, pounders, and so on. All of these products are taking up vital space that could be used for a new craft beer or at the very least another option. Then the movie goes on to explain that the people who draw up these schematics for the beer aisle are, 75% of the time, people from Anheuser Busch. The movie is filled with these ideas that help you understand how intently A/B is working to try and keep you buying their products and how they are trying to make it an enormous struggle for the other guys.

I appreciate the nature of the movie though as its shot off the cuff in a documentary style that reminds me of a Michael Moore film. I really enjoyed the feeling of being behind the scenes at the Dogfish Brewery and even in Sam’s house with this wife and kids, or even his hotel room. I think this is the new way of media, to show people being people, not these faceless brands that you can’t relate to. So I tip my hat to Anat for sticking to this style.

One of my favorite parts of the movie is when Anat does the blind taste test of Bud Light, Miller Light and Coors Light, something I want to do with my friends,and not one person could tell the difference. People coming in saying they are a “Bud Light guy”, or an obvious Biker dude, decked out in leather who chants “beer, I need beer” when he’s really referring to Coors Light, and for some reason can’t pick it out of the mix. It really makes one think about the brainwashing style of advertising that is done to win your dollar. They make you think you are a Bud Light guy, but you really have no idea. The movie does a really good job of making want to hate the big 3 or, now, the big 2 brewing companies in America.

I felt the movie did lack in a couple of areas though. I think in this particular movie the message wasn’t clear enough. I felt I was learning a lot about why I should question beers like Bud and Miller, but was never explained a lot about the alternative. There was a lot of time spent on the bad things about macro breweries such as A/B, but not enough time talking about beer. I mean that is what we are drinking, that is what the product is, that is why we are watching the movie. It is established quite heavily that A/B has their fingers in everything to prevent the consumer from going to a different brand, but what about their beer? Why are consumers still drinking it? They were never asked. Why is Dogfish Head’s beer so much better than A/B? I felt the movie was missing that type of component. The movie is an obvious proponent for the craft brew revolution, but anyone watching this flick that isn’t into craft brew is probably not being educated about the thing we love so much. The beer. A segment about what makes and goes into craft brews and how the whole brewing process is creative and as respectable as a chef’s would have helped this movie reach out to more than just craft brew drinkers. So there is a certain sense that I haven’t learned anything I didn’t know, which is, don’t drink Bud Light, enjoy craft beer.

There is an added bonus though, there is a special feature to the movie that brings in a panel discussion of the movie. Ben Stein mediates the discussion and the panel consists of Anat, Sam, Charlie, Todd, Rhonda, Greg Koch of Stone Brewing and Maureen Ogle, author of Ambitious Brew. They discuss deleted scenes, beer and business philosophy. It is an added bonus at the end of the movie that is totally worth watching. Papazian doesn’t say much, but when he does it really makes me want to shake his hand.

The message that I take away from the movie and the main reason I would recommend the movie to others is the idea of individualism and choice. Each day we are bombarded with million dollar advertising campaigns that are trying to convince us of something we don’t want. The idea is that the craft industry is growing, but can it continue to grow before the big bad corporation spends all of its money to prevent it from expanding. By requesting craft beers from your bars, liquor stores and castingyour vote for another type of beer at the store, you are helping the revolution that is being fought over better beer.

Overall Review of Beer Wars

I think this movie is a solid informational watch. It isn’t long, coming in at 89 minutes and will surely leave you thinking about it. The quality is good, the information is solid, and the style of the movie really helps to add credibility to the concept. Regardless of its short comings of being a little confusing on the message and distinguishing what the overall point of Beer Wars, I think this is a good watch. This would be an even better watch for people who are not craft brew drinkers as I think it would inspire them to think differently about the advertising and choices they make at the store. So if you know someone like that, bring them over for a craft or home brew and watch Beer Wars.

I’d love to hear what you think about Beer Wars. Did you get confused on the message like I did?

Flip Video Ultra HD Camera

I have had two people ask me about the camera I use for recording my brew reviews and if I liked it, so I thought I’d put up a formal review of it and let you guys make the call.

Product: Flip Cam Ultra HD 120 Min (Black)

Price: I paid $179, but they are cheaper now

Features:

Records 120 minutes

H.264 video and AAC stereo Audio in MP4 file format

HD 720p Resolution | 16:9 Ratio | 1280 x 720

HDMI Out Port

Comes with: Camcorder, Rechargeable Battery Pack, Wrist Strap, Soft Case, and a Quick Start Guide

Upsides

I have used this camera for about 3 months and there are a lot of things about it that I like. I like how small and light it is. I am able to carry with me pretty much anywhere. One of the other big features that I like about this camera is the fact that it starts up and is ready to record in less than 2 seconds. The Flip Cam Ultra HD is also really easy to use. Of course there are not a lot of options, but you  hit the red button and it records, you can zoom in and out a little bit but not a ton.

Another feature that I think gets overlooked is that you can literally edit the footage right on the camera. Just plug it in on any computer and you can edit and share right from software that is on the unit. So you don’t have to install another program onto your computer.

The camera also has a standard tripod mount on the bottom so you can take some pretty good steady video. I haven’t used the HDMI out on it yet, but I imagine this would come in handy if you take a lot of video and want to show people on your LCD, Plasma, or LED HD TV at home.

Downsides

For myself the biggest downsides I’ve face thus far is that if you record yourself, like I do, you can’t see what you are recording so you are forced to do a test record to make sure your set in your spot right. The other thing that I wish this thing had was a microphone port. The sound is amazing for what it is. I took it to a local concert in a bar and it filtered the sound into something I could actually hear and enjoy a day later. However, it would just be nice to have the option.

Overall

I think the Flip Cam Ultra HD is a good camera for the price. It is EXTREMELY easy to use for even the most inexperienced person. That means that it doesn’t come with a bunch of bells and whistles, but if you are looking for something that you can pull out of your bag, fire up and get recording before the moment passes, and then want to be able to just plug it in and share, this is the camera for you.

>Buy a Flip UltraHD Camcorder, 120 Minutes

The “Should I use a Glass Carboy or Plastic Bucket” debate has been raging on for some time. Every time I go through the internet and read homebrewing forum boards or chat with people about one or the other I get a laundry list of reasons for and against on both the glass carboy vs plastic bucket issue. I thought I would take a moment to list out what I’ve found for anyone wondering one way or the other. So with out further ado…GLASS CARBOYS vs PLASTIC BUCKET

Based on use as a Primary Fermenter

Pros : Plastic Bucket Cheap Easy to move around Easy to alter into bottling buckets Opaque to skunking from light Won’t break if you drop Easy to sanitize Great to carry supplies in Can be used to sanitize in Can use wort chiller inside	Pros : Glass Carboy Fun to see in Lasts forever Can use a wort wizard Many accessories fit easily Provides a great seal Can be scrubbed till the cows come home
Cons : Plastic Bucket Can scratch and harbor bacteria Will need replacing Airlock grommets can fall in beer May not seal perfectly, but should be fine If infected you gotta toss it Can’t use a wort wizard Can’t see inside	Cons : Glass Carboy Heavy as hell If you drop it, it is gone Can’t use a wort chiller in it Expensive Can explode if you put hot wort in it

If you are new to brewing, use the plastic bucket. They are cheap and easy to use. If you are just looking for information, I am not going to tell you which one to use. Sorry, I think its a matter of preference. I hope with the above thoughts though you can make your own decision as to which would work best for you. Personally, I use both. It depends on how I’m feeling, what I have available without beer in it, and if I’m going to be doing any traveling from one place to another after brewing.

If you have any thoughts as to if you think you should use plastic or glass, please let me know. Just remember this isn’t a battle, but a way to inform people so they can make their own decisions.