Barrels & Bottles

Fermenters, barrels etc can be found in most online stores, the King Keg barrels seem best, try the special Sparkler tap with a top tap barrel as this seems to give good results.

King Keg Barrel - Top Tap With Sparkler Tap, Get a spanner for the top! Make sure you vaseline the o'ring well, and smooth the top surface of the barrel where it meets the o'ring with some fine sandpaper. For CO2 the standard bulbs work ok, prices vary considerably, and often two required for each barrel as the volume drops.

There is a system for using larger CO2 pressure bottles (can use welding CO2, same gas, no contaminants), but requires different valves and fittings. Perhaps a future project?

For bulk bottling caps try 1000 packs from homebrew online. Use the standard capper works well. Bottles are tricky, you need lots, so keep your old ones, but make sure you wash and rinse them well immediately after use. The plastic bottles are useful place to start and they are useful for 'feeling' the build up of CO2.


Hydrometer

The standard ones don’t give an easy to read accuracy, get a large scale hydrometer and a trial jar to fit:

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=29



Kits

Lots of suppliers, don't forget to look at Wilko and Tesco, they sometimes have good kits at better prices. For usual kits and S04 yeast try:

http://www.home-brew-online.com/

http://www.Brewbitz.com

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/

http://www.thebrewshop.co.uk/

http://hopandgrape.co.uk

Special Additions & Spray Malts

There are different types of spray malt, (light, medium, dark), Young's does one with added hops. Use non fermenting lactose sugar for adding mouthfeel and sweetening the final beer. Try these for specialist yeast and other ingredients:-

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk

Hops for 'dry hopping' try - Fuggles Finishing Hops, Goldings Finishing Hops, Willamette Finishing Hops. Use lactose sugar for improving 'mouthfeel' and to sweeten the final beer as it does not ferment.

Use Raw Cacao Nibs (try ebay), these work well added to stout type of ales.

Buying Tips and Links

There are some crucial bits you need to do the job properly.  Unfortunately no single store provide all the right bits