Most beer makers start off with a pre-packaged ingredient kit kinda like a Duncan Hines cake mix. You simply follow the instructions that come with the kit, add the ingredients, and you end up with a perfectly good cake or in our case a perfectly good beer. As a baker get more experienced they are likely to add their own ingredients and or deviate from the instructions, then after even more experience, they eventually make their cakes from scratch no longer requiring instructions or a kit. Brewing is similar. You can brew from scratch (called all grain brewing) you can do a partial mash, or brew from an extract kit …or any combination of the 3. I recommend starting with a extract kit. There are similar kits for wine. Cider kits are less common. If you can follow instructions similar to a recipe, you can make beer/wine from a kit.
Cost:
Brewing, like most any hobby you can cost you pretty much spend as much as you want to spend, but to get started in homebrewing or wine/cider making you need at least some basic equipment.
Many people ask if homebrewing is cheaper than buying commercial beer/wine? It kinda depends on what you like to drink. If you drink Natty-Light(at 15 dollars per 24 pack), after startup-equipment cost and the ingredient kit, it’s going to take many-many batches of brew before it becomes economical however, if you prefer beer closer to the $10dollar per six pack range it becomes economical quickly.
For example:
Natty Light at 15 bucks per 24 pack, comes to 62.5 cents per can(12oz).
The cheapest ingredient kit for a standard 5 gal brew is about 20 dollars or about 40 cents per 12oz serving. You could probably knock 5 cents or more off that price by buying ingredients in bulk, washing yeast etc...
Even the most expensive beer kits are only about 50 dollars...or about $1.00/12 oz serving.
An expensive craft beer 6-pack can easily cost 10 bucks or $1.60 per 12oz serving.
You can make nice Ciders for about the same price as beer and great wine, comparable to $10-15 dollar commercial bottles for only about a $2.00-$5.00 per bottle.
Wine kits range from $60-$160.00 and make about 30 standard wine bottles.
Time:
Wine takes patience, generally 6 months to a year or more before it’s ready...beer takes no more than a month for most styles. Cider takes generally 1-3 months. In general, wine and Cider are easier than beer…although wine(especially from fruit) can be finicky.
Equipment:
Beer and wine/Cider require mostly the same equipment, the exception is Wine/Cider doesn't require a burner (like a turkey fryer). Since most hunters/outdoor people already have a big pot and burner I won't include that in the equipment cost, but they can be found for under $100.00. You can use your kitchen stove, but boil-overs are extremely messy and likely as you learn to brew. The bigger the pot the better, I use a 8 gallon brew-pot.
Most homebrew supply places offer kits with the basic equipment for $80-90 dollars. Midwest Supplies http://www.midwestsupplies.com/ offers their basic kit for $69.99. I have seen similar prices at several home brew stores (without the shipping). Craigslist is also a good place to pick up used brewing equipment (and bottles). I have seen brewing rigs complete with everything from kegging equipment to burners and everything in-between go for as little as $200 dollars.
Midwest Supplies Brewing Basics Equipment Kit includes:
6.5 gallon fermenter and lid
Airlock
Hydrometer and test jar
2 oz Midwest Oxygen Wash
Instructional step-by-step DVD
5/16” Siphon Tubing
Racking cane and holder
Bottling bucket with spigot
Bottle filler
Bottle Capper
60 gold bottle caps
Bottle brush
You can probably get by without the DVD(use You-tube) and the Oxygen wash(use Oxy-Clean) but even with those items it’s a pretty good deal.
Their next step up kit comes with an Autosiphon and a carboy for only 20 dollars more. An Autosiphon is highly recommended. Also recommended (for beer making) but not critical is a "wort chiller" to cool your brew rapidly (in 30 min's as opposed to several hours). You can make a chiller for less than 50 bucks(that is what I did) or buy one for $70 to $200 depending on type. A chiller is not needed for Cider/wine making. A good digital thermometer is also nice to have.
You will still need bottles and some sort of sanitizer. You can buy bottles or just collect them from commercial beer/wine and de-label by soaking in hot water for a few hours. Bottles aren't real cheap, but they are reusable. If you want to buy them they run about $12.00 for 24 beer bottles. You will need about 50 bottles for a standard 5gal batch. Wine bottles are about $20 dollars for 6. You will need around 30 wine bottles for a standard 5gal batch. Or you can have your friends save bottles for you...for free. Tell them you will refill them for them.
I prefer to bottle my beer and Cider in 24 ounce bottles, because bottling in larger bottles takes less time. Anything carbonated needs to be in beer bottles. Wine bottles and jugs cannot handle the pressure of carbonated beverages and can result in dangerous explosions!
Kegging is easier/faster but it’s harder to take your beverages with you and share it. Kegs/kegging equipment is also a bit more expensive. Kegging equipment is going to cost ya $250 to $400 dollars and you still need to have a place to keep the keg cold, so you will need a kegerator or something. *Your wife ain't gonna let you keep your keg in the kitchen refrigerator. Despite what you think, milk and eggs are more important than beer.
Sanitation very important when brewing/winemaking! I have never had a spoiled batch and I don’t plan too, everything must be cleaned and sanitized. Dirty equipment/bottles buckets cannot be sanitized.
Luckily there are plenty of products that make cleaning/sanitizing fairly easy. You can use your dish washer for cleaning most equipment (the exception being your fermenter and bottling buckets since they won’t fit). If your dish washer has a sanitize cycle you can also sanitize your equipment this way. An easy alternative is a no rinse acid based sanitizer. It is what most homebrewers use. This is what you will want to use to sanitize fermenter (bucket) and bottling bucket. Sanitizing with bleach is fine, but requires rinsing, and bleach can be a pain to work with.
Star San(a no rinse acid based sanitizer) is what I use. $25 dollars will get you enough concentrate to mix 160 gallons of sanitizer...probably enough for 1,000 five gallon batches of brew. It comes in smaller and cheaper sizes.
Space:
Brewing and wine making does require some space. I am convinced fermenters and Carboys somehow reproduce. If you are already living in a cramped home/apartment, you probably aren’t going to make your family members/roommates happy when you begin stashing fermenters all over the place. Temperature control is important. Normal room temperatures are OK for most brews/wine/Cider but if your house gets over about 75 degrees or below 65 you might have issues. A stable temperature is also important. You don’t want to ferment in a location that changes temperature a lot. Some people put their fermenter in a big tub of water and add ice or warm water to keep their fermenting brew/wine at a constant desired temperature. Basements are also usually pretty good/stable. I converted a chest style deep freezer into a fermenting chamber capable of holding four fermenters. It’s controlled by a 2 stage temperature controller. It warms using a standard heating pad and cools by cycling on the freezer.
