[Elfer]

I've been wanting to try to home brew for a while now. Can anyone recommend a place (online or other) to buy a decent starter kit?

thanks,

pete

[cehunsaker]

Maryland Homebrew (www.mdhb.com)

I bought my equipment elsewhere, but they are friendly, knowledgeable and fast. I've also bought brew ingredients from a place in Vienna, VA, but that was a while ago and I don't remember the name. Anyone?

[smdubovsky]

Deja vu. MDHB recently sent me an email saying they moved down the street. Its been ages but very nice people. If you really think you'll get into it (yeah, I know its hard to decide now before you even start) REALLY think about getting soda kegs from the start. Bottling is a huge PITA and took all the fun out of it for me. Gave away everything to one of my brothers friends ages ago. But there is a fellow, Ken, in the 914club who always brings GREAT mini-kegs to the gatherings. Speaking to folks who do it that way, it seems like a LOT less hassle.

[smo]

http://mylhbs.com/


This place is in Fairfax. I bought my starter kit and supplies from them. The other kits we ordered from Amazon.

There is a good book I will lookup and post later if you want to move on from the ready to go recipes and kits.

Bottling is a pain from a sterilization perspective. We were using growlers to use up a good 3gal of beer and cut back on the amount of washing. Then we would bottle the rest.

It's really easy honestly. Each batch was about three hours of total labor. Spread out over two days about three weeks apart.

If you like lagers that is a different story. I don't do them sense I don't have a fridge to devote to making weak beer.