new interest

[Randybo]

i am just starting to get in to home brewing, i have tasted homebrews made by others and enjoyed them and want to make my own. also the style of beer i drink (dark beer)(bock beer) are hard to find in my area. How can i find some equipment at low cost as i work for a small town and definately dont get rich at it. or is there lower cost alternatives out there thanks hope to hear from ya'll soon Randy

[gone_fishing]

Do you have a homebrew supply sore in your area? You could get a brewing kit there, plus ingredients. If you have one or more of the "big box" stores (WalMart...Target...) take a weekly walk through the outdoor living area and keep watch for a turkey fryer on clearance... you could also try Ebay, or an online supplier.
Welcome to the hobby... and enjoy!

[toneyc]

Seeing your location, you're probably best off ordering from AHS. Anybody know if there's a homebrew shop in Shreveport? There's nothing listed in the Homebrew Directory in the back of BYO for Louisiana at all.

:)
Toney.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by toneyc
Seeing your location, you're probably best off ordering from AHS. Anybody know if there's a homebrew shop in Shreveport? There's nothing listed in the Homebrew Directory in the back of BYO for Louisiana at all.

:)
Toney.

I live in Lafayette and have a homebrew shop about a mile from work, but I order from Austin Homebrew (http://www.austinhomebrew.com). I ordered ingredients late tuesday night and I'll have them tomorrow - the service is great.

Randy, if you are ever headed down toward Lafayette, let me know.

[Teej]

Unfortunately, the costs of starting out DO add up, and you pretty much need all the basics within about 2-3 weeks of starting. Most of it you need on day one - about the only things you don't are a bottling bucket and bottle capper.

I'm not even going to recommend any particular things here, since I started to write it out and I'd have you spending $500-600 by the time you'd done 4-5 brews simply because of the things _I_ wasn't happy with while scaling up.

I started with the cheaper kits and by my 4th batch I was doing all grain full boils outside. I also went to kegging from day one rather than get into bottling. Definitely cost me more to get here than it could have, but at least I got a couple of deals along the way.

[corkybstewart]

You can get a complete setup for around $100 tht will provide you with a very good start and some good beer. Then as you get a few batches behind you you'll want to enhance your gear. Go slowly. Pay attention to your technique-good vigorous boils, diligent sanitation, and above all be patient. You can't rush beer, it operates on it's own time scale

[markaberrant]

Originally posted by corkybstewart
You can get a complete setup for around $100 tht will provide you with a very good start and some good beer.

In my location, $100 gets you the basic extract brewing equipment and a couple cans of hopped DME to make your first beer. Just don't forget you're going to need some bottles too.

[corkybstewart]

Go online and you'll find some good deals-northern brewer, morebeer.com. Be careful on ebay, the kits look good but the shipping will kill you. Morebeer.com and some of the others have free shipping on orders over $60. Also theses online stores have forums like realbeer.com and there are lots of helpful posts there too.

[Vienna Lager]

Would agree that a c-note will get you all the equipment you need to start out and a starter brew kit. About $75 for the hard goods that usually include a capper and caps and about $25 for a basic kit like cream ale or nut brown ale.

Bottles can be obtained at a liquor store for about $1-$2 deposit value a case. Your need to inspect and clean the bottles real well with bleach the first time around as they can be the receptacle of stuff that is not friendly to your brew.

Your cook pot can be the enamel canning pot or go to Goodwill, St. Vincent Depaul, Salvation Army store or Yard/Garage sales and snoop around. Not hard to find a bigger pot that way or old coolers (round or rectangular) should, or when, you graduate to AG brewing.

Also read up on John Palmer's "How To Brew" which is avaliable to you right here on the internet so not much expense there.

Perfect your technique and pay attention to sanitation and you should be fine. After a while you can experiment with speciality grains and maybe brew a lager.

Good luck.

[djaychris]

Welcome to the obsession. I too am a new homebrewer, and am currently drinking my first batch (delicious). You can get started for under 200, but you'll soon notice your sorely lacking. I'm definately spent a pretty penny so far, but its all worth it. You can start out affordable, and expand as your budget grows. Your going to love brewing....

-Dan

[gone_fishing]

And, you can be as cheap as I am.... my 3 tier sculpture cost me nothing but gas to run around and pick up materials, and I have a total of $43 in the 2 turkey fryer burners that power it up. A friend gave me two kegs, and my mash tun cost me $4 for a 5 gallon round cooler and about $10-$12 for the fittings to make a manifold for it. I have a free fridge for the finished product, a chest freezer for a fermentation chamber. I've got people who save returnable bottles for me. And,my original brewing setup is a True Brew I got for Christmas. I'm sure I've spent another $100 or so on incidentals here and there though.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by corkybstewart
You can't rush beer, it operates on it's own time scale

Nice words

[Randybo]

Thanks for all of the replies they have been really helpful. I will do some searching in Shreveport for a home brew supply but i have found a small place in Grand Cane for supplies but he does not have a starter kit. But thanks again everyone and hope to be talking to you soon Randy

[Wilson]

Originally posted by Randybo
i have found a small place in Grand Cane for supplies but he does not have a starter kit. Randy

Good Ole Bob. I love his little place down there. He is the man when it comes to brewing beer. He's a former MCAB winner, maybe even twice. He really knows his stuff and makes some outstanding brews! Great guy to go down there and have a beer with too. There's nothing as far as brew supplies in Shreveport. Other than online, Bob is it. Check out Wine Country in Ashley Ridge in Shreveport for good beer. Cuban liquor on Pierremont also has a good selection. Any questions, let us know! Good to have more North LA brewers around.

[Randybo]

Thanks for the info, are there going to be any meetings or tastings or judging here in N. La. or are we too far away from anything here. I think it would be a lot of fun to attend something like that

[msk]

a couple clubs [sorry, I do not know what is close to where]

http://hbd.org/brewery/infobase/club/us_LA.html

[Wilson]

Originally posted by Randybo
Thanks for the info, are there going to be any meetings or tastings or judging here in N. La. or are we too far away from anything here. I think it would be a lot of fun to attend something like that

Our local club SUDS (Shreveport Urban Diastatic Spargers) meets very irregularly and those are few and far between, but when it does we taste some really good beers. Bob is our point man in that regard as well. Your best bet is to contact him and get on his email list. He emails out notices about meetings and all things "beery" that he's got going on. For instance he's got what he calls "worts ready to pitch," where basically he brews the beer up for you (for a fee of course) and you put it in your carboy or fermentation bucket and pitch the yeast, ferment, and bottle it. Good for people who dont have the time or space or equiptment to brew their own. If your interested in this let me know, and I'll forward you his latest email.

[Randybo]

Thanks i would love to see it any info is appreciated

[Dextolen]

Welcome to a great hobby!

I recommend your first brew be something simple, like an american pale ale. It's a very durable beer, with a lot of wiggle room in terms of color, hoppiness, etc. It's hard to screw it up, basically.

I also recommend that you get a good "how to homebrew" book. I liked "Homebrew for Dummies" and this website...

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

[HarkJohnny]

tis a shame..... you're west of the mighty mississippi. my local supply sells starter kits for around $50 with free shipping EAST of the big river. oh well.

www.listermann.com if you still want to check it out.

[Randybo]

I have the how to brew book and it is excellent any info you want you can find there or find out where to go to get it thanks for the suggestion though