Can anyone recommend a starters kit, available in the UK?

I got the Brooklyn Brew Shop kit from the BrewDog shop in London (BottleDog King's Cross). It costs £40, and it includes the main material (you will only need a stockpot, strainer, funnel and bottles but that should be easy). It comes with ingredients for the first brew and the material is reusable. The fermenter is 1 gallon, so it doesn't take much space and it is good for beginners.

Brew UK are pretty good and have a range of starter kits such as the St Peter's Microbrewery kit. This will get you up and running. I got the Woodforde's Wherry kit to start off with (admittedly from a local home brew shop - it was a present from my wife).

If you are going to go into bottling, I'd recommend a second fermentation bin with a tap and a little bottler (as well as the bottle capper of course). As to the bottles, I just wash out and remove the labels from shop bought ales. You do have to be careful as many will not be designed for bottle conditioning but I've been very lucky so far with that only having one burst on me.

To give more localised advice, there's a small Homebrew shop at the bottom of Widcombe Hill in Bath, if you ever happen to be in Bath (Their website is very unfinished, however). The other supplier I know of is the-home-brew-shop.co.uk, based near Farnborough, Hampshire, where I was on placement.

I started with the Coopers Microbrewry Kit. Its $99, and comes with just about everything you need to start brewing.

• 1 Plastic 30 liter fermenter with lid (and o ring), makes 23 liters (6 Gallons)
• 1 Hydrometer
• 1 Sediment Reducer
• 1 Plastic Spoon
• 1 "Little Bottler" tube and bottling valve
• 1 Tap
• 1 Airlock
• 1 Airlock grommet
• 1 Thermometer
• 30 740ml PET bottles and caps
• 1 Instruction booklet
• 1 Instructional DVD
• 1 Cooper’s Lager Beer Kit Package – which includes:
  • 1 1.7kg Coopers Lager Beer Kit Concentrate with yeast
  • 1 1 kg Coopers Brewing Sugar
  • 1 Bag of Carbonation drops

Eventually you'll want to move up from the Coopers beer recipes (which are a bit boring), but the fermenting equipment that comes with the kit is quality stuff. I especially like the 30 liter fermenter. It's much better than a bucket and works great as a primary.

Home Brew Mart and The Home Brewery both have beginner equipment and accessories, along with instructions and recipes.

I think a starter kit is great advice. You will get going quick and easy, and learn a lot.

I got started with this: Midwest Brew Supply starter kit. Have fun!

First, welcome to brewing!

I would first urge to look around in your neighborhood to see if there's a local homebrew shop. They can help you with the equipment and knowledge to get started.

But, if there isn't one around you, there are a couple of online homebrew shops that sell the equipment needed to get started. The three I've used in the past and recommend are Northern Brewer, More Beer, and Austin Homebrew Supply. Each site has beginner equipment and ingredient kits.

I would trust the equipment from any of these sites but I've only tested the ingredient kits from Northern Brewer. I'd recommend Extract Kits to start with.

• Northern Brewer: Beginner Equipment Kits and Ingredient Kits
• More Beer: Beginner Equipment Kits and Ingredient Kits
• Austin Homebrew Supply: Beginner Equipment Kits and Ingredient Kits