What gear do I need to start home brewing?

What gear do I need to start home brewing?

If you’ve decided to brew beer, you’re in great company.

Einstein, Churchill and Thor himself, and every man with a shed has at one point or another brewed some tasty beverages.

But they all had to start somewhere, and so here’s a list of what equipment you might need to get started brewing beer.

We’re talking about brewing using a beer kit here, the kind of brewing where you ‘beer wort’ basically comes in a can.

You get to choose what hops or sugar you add (jelly beans maybe) and the rest is simply following some good brewing instructions.

But what do you need to brew some good home made beer.

This list is just the basics, you could probably actually get away with using less but at the very least, this guide should help you decide what you need to get that golden ale flowing down your gullet. 

What gear you might use on brewing day 

Ingredients 

• A beer kit – source a handy brew from an online store, or your local brew supplier. Some supermarkets stock them 
• A brew enhancer, DME or dextrose – 1Kg 
• Hops – an optional addition but good for getting some good aromatic flavours and it's easy to add hops to the beer *
• Honey if you want to increase the ABV.

Equipment for brewing

• Sanitizer - To sanitize all of your equipment. It’s a must. If you don’t your beer might die. 
• 6 gallon / 23 litre fermenter (drum or bottle). You will use this for making your beer in. You could even use a conical fermenter if you're feeling fancy.
• Thermometer - To monitor the temperature of the wort – this is so you can add the yeast at the correct temperature and avoid killing it. *
• PH meters are good for improving beer taste. 
• Hydrometer - Used test the original gravity of your batch *
• Paddle or spoon - Something to stir the boil with, maybe not your wife’s best spoon. A long handle is what you need. 
• Gloves – making beer can get a little messy (maybe use white ox gloves?) *
• Can opener – to open the beer kit 
• A good kettle to use as a mash tun
• Water - Access to both boiling and cold water 
• Bubble Airlock – to allow the release of CO2 and to assist with the observation of fermentation

Bottling your beer - what you need

• Bottles! – cleaned and free of dirt and spiders or weta (trust us on this, it’s happened) 
• Sanitizer – Yes, once again you need sanitize all equipment and bottles and caps 
• Bottle caps - Make sure they are not twist-off bottles (did you know you can recycle used beer caps for bottling beer?)
• Bottle capper – speaks for itself, helps you place the caps on bottles 
• Hydrometer - To measure the final gravity *
• Priming sugar – Sucrose which is to carbonate the beer while in the bottle (called beer conditioning) 
• Bottling wand - This allows you to easily control the flow while bottling and means less spillage will occur. *

* denotes an optional item of equipment

Originally published on How to homebrew beers as What equipment do I need to brew beer?

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