http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/deluxe-brewing-starter-kit.html  Been wanting to do some home brewing for a while and decided to take the plunge. Checked out northern brewing and focused on their deluxe kit. Anybody have it or can you point me inthe right direction?

Find a local shop. They will guide you and help you and be there to answer questions. Northern brewer has great stuff and are gtg but I'd l look local first.

Correct, a local shop is great because you're going to need some advice maybe even some hands on. Most local Homebrew shops have kits that are price competitive with NB and other online places and while NB is a good outfit, nothing beats local.

I will suggest, (if you can spend the money and have the room,) go kegging from the get go. It's sooooo much more enjoyable and not the PITA that bottling is.

I started off with a Northern Brewer kit. Great people to deal with. If you have a local shop then try there first. For me NB is the local shop so thats what i went with.

Get your kit and start off with a easy recipe (people at a local shop can help you find a good one to start off with) and remember, sanitize, sanitize, sanitize!

Once you have done a batch or two see if there is a homebrewing club in your area that does regular meetings, a lot of them will are happy to give a new brewer some pointers.

Good luck!!

I bought my stuff piece meal, mostly from northern brewer.  Started about 18 months ago and other than a single case of coors (for company) and some heady topper, I haven't bought a commercial beer since.  I'm doing purely extract brewing, and am 100% happy with the results.

I won't brew in a plastic bucket.  I tried this years ago, and I'm convinced that micro scratches in the plastic harbor microbes that makes funky flavor.  I brew primary in glass carboys, and transfer to glass carboys for secondary.  A big  heavy bottom stock pot, couple of glass carboys, cleaning brush, auto siphon, blow off tube, rubber stopper and air lock, capper, thermometer and a wort chiller is pretty much all you need.  The wort chiller is the only way to go.  Oh, and a bottling bucket and filler tube.

I use Star san and PBW (powdered brew wash).  Scrounge a new 5 gallon plastic bucket, make you sani solution in it, and use it as a sani bucket. Everything gets soaked or rinsed.

I've picked up some other brew geek stuff like starter flasks, and vortex stir plate.  Nice toys, fun to experiment with, but totally not necessary.  

fro

I started with a northern brewer kit and was not disappointed. It gives you a beginner's understanding of what's happening. You WILL quickly move on but this gives you the confidence to do so. Very simple instructions and remember "if you can make macaroni and cheese - you can make beer"

Northern brewer is good stuff.  Kit looks fine.

Basic things that make beef better.
- secondary ferment
- clean, clean, clean
- a keg with co2

No
Yes
No

IME anyway

I prefer my beef fresh, not fermented

My beer on the other hand, well I do like to secondary for like a week to help clear. Cleaning is vital, and I'm very picky about it. Kegging is nice in that it speeds up the time from ferment to drinking and is less work, but it lacks portability and requires a larger investment up front.

Doing a "bright tank" (like what you are saying) and secondary fermentation are 2 different things to me...I do NOT want the beer still fermenting when I transfer it, I want all that yeast still around.  I will normally do that with lagering/dry hopping (bright tank transfer, just a 5 gal carboy in my case).

Another vote for NB and their starter kit.  I bought the deluxe version forget what's included.  I brew in buckets, not in carboys, it's hard enough to clean buckets as it is.

I don't brew beer anymore, strictly Skeeter Pee and it's many variations: higher alcohol content, no need to boil, far easier to brew and I couldn't hit the beer reqs if my life depended on it (can't smell, so can't taste worth a shit).

Good Luck!!!!

We moved into an old house recently, and there's one hell of a grapevine in the backyard.  I go out last Sat, and my wife is picking all the grapes, saying she's going to make wine.

(And, then she found a bunch of blackberries at her aunt's.  So, now we also have a batch of grape/blackberry mead going)

I couldn't be out done by the wife of course, so I have the basic brew kit on the way from NB now as well.

Cause, I needed another hobby.  Yup.

Wow, it's here already!  Guess I will attempt to make my first batch (well, do the first steps, of course) this weekend!