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Is It Better To Purchase A Homebrew Starter Kit Or Purchase The Components Separately? If you are thinking of starting to brew your own beer, one of the most common questions is should I buy a starter kit or I am better off purchasing the equipment I require separately.
By far the best way to get started in homebrewing is to purchase a starter kit. When completing a cost comparison between the cost of the Northern Brewers Starter Kit and the purchase of the equipment separately I found that purchasing a kit cost less than half the cost of purchasing the components separately. This comparison did not include shipping costs which I would imagine would further favor a single delivery from one place.
The cost comparison was conducted in June 2021 by costing the individual components supplied in the Northern Brewers starter kit. And while the components available on amazon were not always identical to those in the starter kit there were similar.
However, despite these slight differences it really didn’t affect the overall comparisons as it wasn’t a close-run thing on which was the cheapest. At the time of writing this article, the starter kit was $109 vs $236 for the individual components. The cost of the individual components is provided at the end of the article for your reference.
In addition to the price the other significant benefit for a beginner brewer is that starter kits contain all the things you need as it is pretty easy to forget simple things like bottle caps, sanitizer or even filling wands which make life so much easier.
Which Is The Best Starter Kit For Homebrew To Buy?
In my opinion, the Northern brewers’ starter kit is by far the best value starter kit available, though it is not the absolute cheapest one available on Amazon. There are a couple of 1 and 2-gallon kits that available that are lower in cost but the batch size is far from ideal.
Once you commence brewing you will realize very quickly that it takes approximately the same time to brew a 1-gallon batch size as it does to brew a 5-gallon batch so you may as well make a large batch. A 5-gallon batch will give you approximately 60 to 65 12 fl. oz. (355ml) bottles.
Additionally, the vast majority of “recipe kits” are designed for 5-gallon batch size.
What Is The Advantage Of The Northern Brewers Starter Kit?
The Northern Brewing starter kit has a couple of features that enable the beginner brewer to get going and provides every they will need so that there is no more money to spend on equipment unless of course, you want to upgrade your equipment. They also enable the brewer to have a greater choice on how they brew which is discussed later in the article.
The key features that some kits lack are;
- The kit features a stainless-steel brew kettle for preparing the wort
- The kit includes a capper
- The kit contains a second vessel for filling/bottling
Brew Kettle
The brew kettle is an essential piece of equipment that allows you to brew grain/extract batches and brew in a bag batches later on when you become more familiar with the process. Yet not every kit contains a brew kettle and I personally made the mistake of purchasing a starter kit that did not have one included.
The lack of a brew kettle meant that I could only brew using all-grain extracts which are essentially beer flavor bases where all you have to do is pour the contents of the extract into the fermenter, add sugar and dilute to the correct volume before starting fermentation. This is the absolute most basic way to make beer at home but it prevents you from making batches that require a boil. Many of the recipe kits available including the one included in the starter kit require a boil.
Capper
The capper allows crown seals to be applied to commercial beer bottles. This means that you can simply recycle beer bottles that you have used and you will have an endless supply of bottles, which is why bottles are not included in the starter kit.
I have personally found that the best way to get bottles is to buy cartons of beer and drink them rather than collect them from other people simply because it allows the cartons themselves to be collected and reused. They are handy for moving beer bottles in and out of storage.
The alternative to this is get polystyrene fruit boxes from the back of green grocery store as they also work well.
Filling Vessel
The secondary filling vessel is recommended by some brewers as a way of separating the majority of the sediment from the fermented beer prior to filling to improve clarity. This is a step that is not absolutely essential in the beer-making process but having a second vessel for making cider, hard lemonade, or ginger beer is absolutely invaluable.
The reason for this is that it ideal is that when making these types of beverages as you will find that after the fermentation is complete the drinks are completely dry and need to be sweetened using non-fermentable sugars that need to be stirred in. To avoid reincorporating the sediment at the bottom of the vessel the batch can be transferred to a second vessel where the sweeteners can be added.
The Costs Of Individual Components
So what are the costs of purchases each individual component,
- 5 Gallon Stainless Steel Brew Kettle – $30.99
- One Beer Recipe Kit of Your Choice: Block Party Amber Ale, Chinook IPA, or Hank’s Hefeweizen – $44.95
- Siphonless 6.5 Gallon Fermenter w/ New Gasketed Lid – $28.28
- Bubbler airlock – $6.49
- Bottling Bucket – $28.28
- Hydrometer and test jar – $11.99
- lab thermometer – $6.35
- Spring Tip Bottle Filler – $15.99
- 21″ Stainless Spoon – $9.42
- Tubing – $6.99
- Cleaner/Sanitizer – $8.99
- Bottle Brush – $11.99
- Capper – $18.17
- Red Caps – $6.99
Total Cost: – $235.87