Home Brewing Equipment

When home brewing beer there are two types of homebrewing equipment: the necessary equipment and the optional equipment.

Necessary Homebrewing Equipment:

Boiling kettle :
The boiling kettle should be at least a four gallon stainless steel kettle. You can use any cooking kettle.

Fermenter : There are several kinds of fermenting containers such as the basic plastic 10 gallon bucket, or glass carboy. If you really want to step it up a notch, homebrew supply stores offer the steel fermenter for larger batches as well. Just make sure the fermenter can be locked airtight using either an airtight lid or plug which is used for glass carboys and can accommodate an airlock to allow air to escape while the beer if fermenting.

Large stirring spoon : two kinds are usually used. Either stainless steel or a wooden spoon. Make sure the spoon is a pretty large one as you will be stirring a large pot of wort with it.

Airlocks/Fermentation locks : as mentioned earlier, you will need airlocks which will attach to the openings provided by the fermenter. Most fermenter are provided with airlocks, however, some home brewing supply shops offer them separately. Beer kits like Mr. Beer already have most of the supplies ready.

Plastic hose/Siphoning equipment : the siphoning hoses and equipment won’t be needed until after primary fermentation when the beer will be removed from the yeast (trub) and placed in another carboy for secondary fermentation for clearing. A 5-6 foot 3/8” clear plastic hose will do fine. Be sure to get a racking tube as well as a clamp to stop the beer flow with.

Hydrometer : The hydrometer will measure what the gravity of the wort is before pitching the yeast. It will go down as the yeast converts the sugar. The hydrometer readings are based on the density of the wort in regards to the sugar in the wort.

Thermometer : You will need to keep a constant eye on temperatures of your brewing process especially while steeping the grains as it takes a certain temperature to activate the enzymes which will them convert the starches into fermentable sugars.

Strainer : A strainer is great for separating the grains from the wort. Try to get one that will latch onto the brew kettle.

Bottles : Bottles or kegs will be needed after the entire fermentation process is complete, so it would be a good idea to be prepared early.

Cleaning supplies : Before using your brewing equipment and especially AFTER the boil, you will need clean, sanitized equipment. There are many great cleaners and sanitizers like StarSan products out there that you can get for a very decent price and are not nearly as potentially damaging to rugs, skin and more as bleach is as StarSan and such are non-toxic and excellent sanitizers.

Capper and caps : The capper is a necessity if you are racking your beer into bottles as are caps. So, again, it’s a good idea to already have the supplies ready. It also saves you a trip to the store

Bottle filler : There are many little devices to help assist with the racking of the beer, but if you want to keep it simple, just get a racking tube that fits at the end of the siphoning hose and opens up when the springed opening device is pushed back and into the tube opening a hole on the bottom.