[redrocker652002]

New to home brewing. To brew my first batch, I'd like to begin with a 5-gallon kettle and companion fermenter. I am open to flame or electric and want all grain versions. May I have some best brand recommendations, please? Ideas. I want something I can keep and continue to use should I get hooked and seek to expand. Thoughts? Thanks. MW

If you plan to use a 5-gallon kettle, then I will assume you want to brew 2.5-3-gallon batches.  A 5-gallon kettle will work fine for that batch volume as long as you don't brew any high ABV/high gravity beers, say >1.080 or so.  At that point you will be mashing right at the top of the kettle, which I don't recommend.  I make 2.5 gallon batches and started out brewing-in-a-bag (BIAB) in a plain ol' 5-gal pot that I had laying around and it worked great...but eventually I moved up to 8-gal and haven't looked back.

If your intention is to brew 5-gallon batches, then definitely get a bigger kettle.

I'm not one to suggest you go "All-In" with equipment right off the bat.  I understand the logic behind "buy once-cry once" but unless you are dead sure this hobby is for you and you plan on staying for the long haul, you might want to start small and see what all is involved first. 

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Agreed.  I bought a starter kit from Northern Brewer.  It included the 5 gallon pot, two fermenting buckets, bottle capper and caps, brushes and all.  I used it to get started with Extract recipes and it was great.  The pot fit on my stove in the kitchen so I could control the heat a bit better and got my feet wet with it.  My brother now uses it and I have moved on to a 10 gallon boil kettle with a propane burner I use in the garage with a BIAB setup.    I still use the buckets for my fermenting and made a DIY bucket and keg washer out of old pvc and a pond pump.  My thought was, start out small and move on as you improve your process.  There is nothing wrong with doing to Extract recipes, and I have thought about going back for a few batches because they are so much easier.  Either way, good luck and enjoy the process. 

[Ron756]

New to home brewing. To brew my first batch, I'd like to begin with a 5-gallon kettle and companion fermenter. I am open to flame or electric and want all grain versions. May I have some best brand recommendations, please? Ideas. I want something I can keep and continue to use should I get hooked and seek to expand. Thoughts? Thanks. MW

If you plan to use a 5-gallon kettle, then I will assume you want to brew 2.5-3-gallon batches.  A 5-gallon kettle will work fine for that batch volume as long as you don't brew any high ABV/high gravity beers, say >1.080 or so.  At that point you will be mashing right at the top of the kettle, which I don't recommend.  I make 2.5 gallon batches and started out brewing-in-a-bag (BIAB) in a plain ol' 5-gal pot that I had laying around and it worked great...but eventually I moved up to 8-gal and haven't looked back.

If your intention is to brew 5-gallon batches, then definitely get a bigger kettle.

I'm not one to suggest you go "All-In" with equipment right off the bat.  I understand the logic behind "buy once-cry once" but unless you are dead sure this hobby is for you and you plan on staying for the long haul, you might want to start small and see what all is involved first. 

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Agreed.  I bought a starter kit from Northern Brewer.  It included the 5 gallon pot, two fermenting buckets, bottle capper and caps, brushes and all.  I used it to get started with Extract recipes and it was great.  The pot fit on my stove in the kitchen so I could control the heat a bit better and got my feet wet with it.  My brother now uses it and I have moved on to a 10 gallon boil kettle with a propane burner I use in the garage with a BIAB setup.    I still use the buckets for my fermenting and made a DIY bucket and keg washer out of old pvc and a pond pump.  My thought was, start out small and move on as you improve your process.  There is nothing wrong with doing to Extract recipes, and I have thought about going back for a few batches because they are so much easier.  Either way, good luck and enjoy the process.

Partial extract also works well. Use grain for your flavor but extract for the bulk of your fermentable sugar. Saves some time and simplifies your rest and mash in cycles.


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