San Juan Brewing

For those nights when you just don’t feel like heading out to your local bar, nothing tastes better than some fine home-brewed beer. Homebrewing is allowed in most states for personal usecheck the restrictions in your state before getting started.Some home brewers prefer to go it au naturale, gathering their ingredients from disparate sources and bringing them all together. Others prefer the ease of getting everything in a kit. Both are valid options. For those who decide to go with a kit, there’s still the choice of which kit. We’ve highlighted three popular choices below.Mr. Beer: Mr. Beer claims to make “America’s 1 Selling Home Brewing Systems.” You can choose from one of four kits: Deluxe (39.95), Premium (49.95), Premium Gold (59.95), and Brewmasters Select (99.95). Each kit comes with a 2 gallon fermenter, a brewing guide, and ingredients for one batch of beer. All kits except the Deluxe also come with bottles, caps, and labels. The Premium and Premium Gold kits come with the Standard Recipe (one batch in the Premium, two in the Gold). The Brewmasters Select kit comes with two batches of the Premium Recipe, a brewing thermometer and sugar measure, a cap and T-shirt, and pint glasses.Homebrewers Outpost: The basic Beer Making Starter Kit at HO will set you back much more than the cheapest Mr. Beer option–99.95. However, it does come with more equipment (but not bottles), including: a 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket, a 6.5 gallon bottling bucket with spigot, an airlock, a siphon unit, a thermometer and hydrometer, a bottle capper and brush, a home beer making book, and more. The kit also includes your choice of a starting Alpine Brew Kit. You can choose from Blonde Ale, North Rim Wheat, Altitude Amber, Northface Nutbrown, Ponderosa Porter, or Beartooth Stout. Alternatively, you can choose to save 20 and not get any ingredients.Midwest Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies: The Brewing Basics Equipment Kit (59.95) from Midwest Supplies comes with all the starter equipment except for bottles, ingredients, and a brewing kettle. The Instructional Homebrewing DVD that comes with the kit is a nice touch, though. A 71-page guide is also included, along with the 6.5 gallon fermenter and 6.5 gallon bottling bucket. 8 oz. of Easy Clean No-Rinse Cleanser are also included, along with bottle accessories like caps, a capper, a filler and a bottle brush.