The Bar Towel

I was just in a hardware store and saw a few HB kits for brewing.

Do these kits actually work?

I was always under the impression that you needed a sizable outlay of cash to
come up with something decent at home.

These kits were very cheap.
Do they actually work?

I can't speak to those particular kits, but you don't need a big outlay to make decent home brew. The only real must have is something to ferment in, but if you're just doing a couple of gallons at a time on a stovetop you can get a fermentor for like 20 bucks. I mean you need a pot too, but you can probably just use the biggest pot you already own.

But then when you like brewing, you start wanting more stuff. That's when it starts getting expensive.

The Brooklyn Brewshop kits aren't that expensive and gives you most of what you need. You'll still need a pot or two, spoon, bottles, caps and some extra ingredients like sugar/honey for carbonation and ingredients they don't provide sometimes. It's a good easy way to get started with all-grain brewing. They also have non-kit mixes which are good until you decide to do your own thing. Everything is on their website including videos.

Thanks Craig and lister!
I think the Brooklyn Brewshop kit was one of the ones I saw yesterday.

If I get up the nerve I might give it a shot.

Probably a fluke, but the Brooklyn kit that I tried earlier this year failed horribly. I think in the end it was a problem with the yeast.
I have since taken that equipment and just used it to brew my own recipes successfully.

Have to say I wasn't impressed with the Brooklyn Brewshop kits either. I got the first one as a gift a few years back. Wife bought it at Chapters. Who knows how long it was sitting on the floor - and in what kind of conditions. The beer (Everyday IPA) fermented but it was lacking. Not having learned my lesson, I then did another one of their kits - they had just the recipe kits (no equipment) available at Chapters. That was also meh.

Then I decided might as well step up and go to 5 gal (all the work of brewing for 1gal of beer makes it hard to justify when it's basically the same time to do 5gal). I got in on some homebrew group buys with GRAB. I did also start using a brew kettle, mash tun, chiller, etc but I think the quality of the ingredients really helped make it worthwhile.

If you are going to the Brooklyn Brewshop way, I would suggest you get it from Toronto Brewing. Will be much fresher there than at Home Hardware or Chapters...

http://torontobrewing.ca/index.php/brew ... -kits.html

ercousin wrote:If you are going to the Brooklyn Brewshop way, I would suggest you get it from Toronto Brewing. Will be much fresher there than at Home Hardware or Chapters...

http://torontobrewing.ca/index.php/brew ... -kits.html

Thanks for the tip ercousin!

It's good to hear of others' experiences, both positive and negative.