If you are new to brewing and you are
planning to start with liquid extract based home brew kits
then a home brew starter kit is a good place to
start. And probably one of the best available is the
HBO starter equipment pack. It comes complete with
basically everything that you need to get started
including fermentation barrel, airlock, thermometer,
hydrometer, testing jar, bottles, caps, crown corker and
steriliser. The only thing missing is the extract
for brewing.The complete list of equipment is:
Fermenter
40 PET plastic 500 ml bottles in either green or brown (we strongly recommend going for brown bottles)
Bottle Caps
Crown corker for sealing the bottles with the caps
Plastic stirring spoon
Siphoning tube for filling bottles
Airlock
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Steriliser.
Our brewers say that this basic kit is a great place to start for any new home brewer as it gives you everything that you need to begin brewing. The HBO starter equipment pack costs £44.95 and is excellent value for money.
If
you would prefer not to bottle your beer then you can get
exactly the same kit but with a pressure barrel instead of
bottles. This allows you to do the primary
fermentation in the plastic fermenter, transfer into the
pressure barrel and allow it to condition before serving.If you don't like the idea of bottling and storing 40 bottles of beer then this might be a better option. This is also fantastic if you entertain a lot and want to serve your own home brewed beer in top quality professional looking barrel to impress your guests.
The kit consists of the following equipment:
Fermenter
Plastic stirring spoon
Airlock
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Steriliser.
Pressure Barrel
The HBO homebrew starter pack with barrel rather than bottles costs £44.95.
Books on Brewing
As is the case with brewing equipment there is a bewildering array of books on brewing, some good and some not. Which books are worth having in your brewing library and which are best avoided. We will try and give a view of some of the best books for home brewers.
If
you are looking for a basic no nonsense introduction to
home brewing then a good place to start is Home Brewing
Self Sufficiency by John Parkes. Parkes is himself
a professional brewer having started up the Red Rock
Brewery in 2006 in Devon. The guide is very basic
but covers most of the detail required for a novice home
brewer. The book covers brewing from extract as
well as full grain mashing and has a number of recipes
in the back for different beer styles. One thing
that impressed us with this book was the very
comprehensive guide on hop varieties. You can buy
this book with prices starting at £7.26 or if you
have a Kindle the digital version is only £2.86
which is excellent value.
As is the case with brewing equipment there is a bewildering array of books on brewing, some good and some not. Which books are worth having in your brewing library and which are best avoided. We will try and give a view of some of the best books for home brewers.
If
you are looking for a basic no nonsense introduction to
home brewing then a good place to start is Home Brewing
Self Sufficiency by John Parkes. Parkes is himself
a professional brewer having started up the Red Rock
Brewery in 2006 in Devon. The guide is very basic
but covers most of the detail required for a novice home
brewer. The book covers brewing from extract as
well as full grain mashing and has a number of recipes
in the back for different beer styles. One thing
that impressed us with this book was the very
comprehensive guide on hop varieties. You can buy
this book with prices starting at £7.26 or if you
have a Kindle the digital version is only £2.86
which is excellent value.
For many the true
bible of home brewing is Home Brewing the CAMRA
Guide by Graham Wheeler. You can do a lot
worse than to read nothing else but this book and it
should feature in any home brewers library.
The author has packed so much detail in this book
but it is written in a very concise and approachable
style which makes it ideal for both the novice and
experienced home brewer. From extract to full
grain mashing this book has it all and more.
We can not recommend this book more highly.