Mr. Beer Craft BrewMax 6-Gallon Brewing Kit

Just to confirm, the bucket is translucent

Just a tip from a professional brewer here... Don't just "rinse" the fermenting bucket and bottles. You need to thoroughly sanitize everything before ever adding wort (unfermented beer) or beer to minimize the chance of infection. Chances are, even without infection, that your first batches of beer are going to be less than stellar. You're really just trying to fall in love with the process, here. Good product will come with time, but know that it's all drinkable at the end of the day. You'll learn that most of the brewing process is cleaning. Clean, sanitize, repeat. To hit on a couple things the gentleman above said, make sure to keep your fermenter in a dark space. I can't tell from the picture if the fermenting bucket is opaque or solid color, but light is no friend of beer (light skunks a beer, not heat). Also, you don't have to worry about the stuff in the bottom of the beer bottle. A small fermentation occurs after adding priming sugar that conditions (carbonates) the bottle. The sediment is dormant or dead yeast from that small fermentation. It CAN be a touch bitter, but chances are there isn't enough to even taste. Go ahead and drink it if you'd like! It's just protein, vitamins, and minerals! Lastly, I'll reiterate once more: Try to fall in love with the process. Quality will follow.

I bought one of these (pre Massdrop). It works, however I would definitely reccomend cleaning it properly before the first use. It'll come with instructions that it only needs a rinse first use, but when we followed that instruction our beer came out very bitter and it took a couple more months wait time before it became drinkable. NOTE: Do not drink the beer directly out of the vat! This system relies on a secondary fermentation inside the bottles, so the vat brew is only half the process. Also do not drink directly out of the bottle, there will be sediment in the bottles that you dont want to be drinking so you'll want to use a glass. The krausen collar system is a little odd to see if you're a conventional brewer, but it works with no need to fit a gas valve. PET bottles are fine, caps are re-usable. Overall I'd say its a good system, and it gets you into the brewing hobby pretty easily. Couple of pointers: temperature is key with brewing, you'll have a range you need to keep it in, luckily there's a thermometer that you stick on the outside of the vat. I found that helps is to wrap the vat in an old blanket to insulate it a bit. We also used to use an old desk lamp to add heat if it was getting cold, but any method to warm it to keep it in the right range will work. Also, be sure to rinse the bottles before bottling. If you're going to re-use glass bottles, go with crown cap bottles (the ones that need bottle openers) as these will withstand the pressure of the secondary fermentation process better.