I'm trying to decide which home brew kit to get for a craft beer lover in the family, and since he's always talking about his favorites, I figured to get him his very first home brew kit. Originally, I was going to buy the Mr. Beer brew kit but I read that it was pretty much an easy bake oven and wouldn't get the full experience so I started browsing and reading beer blogs and found two that are in my price range. So... which of the two is better for a beginner? The Craft a Brew kit or the Brooklyn Brew Shop kit?
Do you mean the kit with all the ingredients, or the kit with all the hardware (fermenter, tubing, racking cane, etc.)?
Looking at the two, I'd lean towards the Craft a Brew one. Looking at the two, it has a rubber stopper for the jar rather than a screw cap. In terms of sanitizing and cleaning, the stopper is easier to clean (no nooks created by threading). Also, the funnel is a nice addition. I was going to recommend looking into some of the larger batch stuff that's around the same price, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there are usually other things that are needed as well (cookware, bottles, etc). The one gallon stuff should be a good way to get his feet wet. If he likes it, he can always upgrade
Brooklyn and Craft kits will net one measly gallon of beer + you have to procure your own bottles and non-resuable caps. The NB kit is more better value...equipment-wise...but still makes one measly gallon. Mr Beer has vastly improved the quality of their product line in recent months having switched their malt extract provider to Coopers + you brew twice as much beer as the others. There's no need to use MrB recipe products after batch #1 so it's no more an Easy-Bake than the others.
