Overview
Microbrewing has become a major industry in the U.S. over the last 15 years, as people's appreciation of a fine, tasty brew has grown significantly. Concurrent with that growth in appreciation has been the introduction of many home brewing kits, as more and more beer fans have come to love their brew enough to take a crack at making their own. However, a lot of these kits are very basic, so having good information is essential before buying one.
Coopers Microbrew Kit
Coopers Brewery put out a brewing kit about as big as a medium-sized cooler, and it gets high marks from virtually everyone who has ever bought one. More to the point, its Australian in origin, and the Aussies love their beer. It comes with everything a beginner might need, and is good for a home brewer's first 50 12-oz.bottles. Coopers also puts out a line of expansion accessories for making other kinds of beer, such as IPA or Stout. The kit retails at approximately $90, depending on the seller.
Seven Bridges Starter Kit
This starter kit comes with almost everything you need to make 5 gallons of Organic Seven Bridges Red Ale, plus a copy of Charlie Papazian's "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing." The only thing missing is a stainless steel pot to use as a brew pot, and a set of beer bottles. In this respect, the kit isn't as good as Coopers Microbrewery Kit or kits from Beer Machine, but organic enthusiasts will find the starter ingredients very welcoming. The price tag for this brewing kit is $130.
Mr. Beer Premium Edition Home Microbrewery System
This kit comes with a brew keg that is done up to look like a wooden keg. The kit is sized to turn out enough beer to fill the eight over-sized bottles it comes with (the equivalent of 240 oz. of beer), so a home brewer can turn out a reasonable amount of beer every week if she keeps the supplies coming. The main attraction is the price: Kits can be had for as little as $40.
Beer Machine's Brewery 2006
This kit is an improvement on the popular Beer Machine 2000. The older Beer Machine came with a nifty gadget in the form of a pressure gauge for keeping an eye on carbonation level and dispensing pressure, which is useful for quality control. There was also an easy-to-use, patented carbonation system. The 2006 Beer Machine adds a new system for bottling the beer without exposing it to the open air, which guarantees a bottling that will be good for several months. It comes with enough ingredients to make 28 regular 12-oz. bottles of beer and retails at about $140.
The Home Brewery Starter Kit
The Home Brewery Starer Kit comes with the ingredients and recipe for making 5 gallons of its American Lager, which is a nice, light lager. However, it also does not come with either a stainless steel brew pot or its own bottles. The kit itself is rather bland looking and utilitarian, and definitely has a laboratory feel to it. Finally a major drawback is that there are no expansion kits for making other kinds of beer. The main bonus is that it's a large beer-making kit that only costs about $70.
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