Why Make Your Own Beer Kit?
Whatever your reason, at some point you may decide you need to make your own beer kit. This article is based on the minimum amount of gear that you will need to get started.
If you have decided to make your own beer kit, you then need to decide on your level of brewing. The established home brewing methods of making beer may require more or less equipment depending on the level of technicality:
- Homebrew in a can (kit brewing): the least amount of equipment
- Extract brewing: slightly more equipment
- Partial mash brewing: a few more gadgets than extract brewing
- All-grain brewing kit: moderate-to-heavy equipment list
Next, you will need to decide on serving. The most commonly used beer packaging for homebrewers are:
- Bottles: minimal equipment but plenty of bottles and caps
- Kegs: more technical equipment, but you don’t need cartons of empty beer bottles.
Once you know which methods you want to use, putting your customized beer kit together is easy. For this article, we will assume you will be bottling your beer.
Beer Kit for Homebrew Cans
Because the brewery has already made your beer and condensed it into a convenient can, all you will really need is fermentation, measuring, and cleaning equipment.
- Fermenter: A food-grade plastic (HDPE) bucket with a sealable lid will work very well as a beer fermenter. You will need either a food-grade plastic tap fitted to the side (near the bottom) or a siphon. The tap will be much easier. You should also fit a small airlock to the lid.
- Airlock: you can make one yourself, but they are very cheap to buy from a home brew supplier.
- Soft Sponge for cleaning your fermenter.
- Non detergent-based cleaner: detergent makes your beer lose carbonation faster.
- Hydrometer (optional): a tool to measure the density of your beer, know when fermentation has stopped, and find out your alcohol volume.
- Bottles and caps: clean, fresh PET bottles work very well. If you are using glass, you will need a capper as well.
- Capper: several varieties exist, from the slow but very cheap Hand Capper to the deluxe Bench Capper.
- Sanitiser: Iodine, bleach solution, or alcohol sanitizer in a dedicated spray-pack work extremely well.
- Bottle Brush: for cleaning bottles.
These items provide the bare essentials. All the equipment following will build upon the list above.
Extract Brewing Kit
The second easiest kit to build gives you considerably more control over your product. In addition to the list above, you will need:
- A pot of near-equal volume to your fermenter. It is much easier if you can also get a tap into the bottom of your pot, but not necessary.
- Up to three hop-bags (optional) for removing hop waste from your beer.
- A cooking thermometer that can handle temperatures up to boiling point.
Partial Mash Kit
You will have far greater control over your beer, but you will need just a little more equipment:
- Grain Bag: big enough to hold the required volume of grain you will be mashing.
All-Grain Brewing Kit
For the least amount of equipment to do an all-grain brew, you will also need:
- A bigger grain bag: capable of holding all the grain you need, plus enough excess room for water to move through and thoroughly soak all the grains.
If you are using the brew in a bag (BIAB) method, your beer will have a lower efficiency (less beery goodness per pound of grain), but you will be up and running.
Cheers!
So there you have the minimum requirements needed to make your own beer kit. You may find that it’s easier to just buy a pre-made starter kit like Northern Brewer’s starter kit or a 1-gallon all grain brewing kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop. However, these items above will form the foundations of your new winning brewery.
1-Gallon all grain brewing kit ($48 here)
5-gallon starter kit ($99.98 here)
Please leave a comment if you have any questions or feedback!
Read next: The Best Foods To Pair With Cold Beer and 15 Best Holiday Gifts For Beer Lovers
Hey! Good article on brewing. At past my friends were also making their own beer and it was so fun. But the process was taking time as you’re trying to catch the taste that you’re aiming for. I just expected deeper information, maybe you can write more about brewing. Still, good post!
Hi Tyler,
Thank you so much for your feedback. I’m planning to add much more on a wide variety of topics – if you want info on anything specific, please leave another comment with your request and I will try to write an article for you!
Maybe this is helpful to you: 4 methods of brewing a chocolate porter
Good article there. This sounds like fun and I have been doing some research on kits lately because I really want to start making beer with a friend of mine. This is very interesting. I always thought that this would be a very expensive hobby to take on and never thought you could do it yourself.
Thanks for the information
Daven
Hi Daven, Thank you for stopping by.
The truth is, it can become a very expensive hobby – but it doesn’t have to be. I’ll be sure to keep posting cost effective brewing as well as the high end techniques. Feel free to comment or email me for any specific details while you get started!
I love beer and to me this article is absolutely amazing. Definitely a must read for the fans of the beer. Would love to try to build my own beer kit, it does however seem a bit complicated, maybe you can share some extra tipps?
Thank you very much Hristo, and a great question.
I have needed to start over a few of times (usually when I move to a new country or return to my original country.) THe absolute easiest way to go about it is to have a complete startup kit shipped to your door!
I’ll look through some international suppliers and share links with you soon.
This looks AWESOME! Homebrew here I come! Extract Brewing Kit for me 🙂
Nice one! Extract brewing is a great way to perfect your basic recipes with some not-so-basic twists. For an extra level of flavour, you can use a small amount of crushed specialty grain, you just add it to a coffe plunger, pour in boiling water, wat 20 mins and drain it into the brew pot.
Oh I didn’t realise you can make your own beer. My husband will probably be interested to look into this. It does look a little bit complicated though. I understand why people brew their own coffee, but I am curious to find reasons why people make their own beer. What are the advantages over commercially prepared beer?
Hi Raquel.
You are right, it can be complicated – however there are also many simple methods available these days which are employed by people all over the world.
The advantages over commercially made beers are numerous: You can save money, you can make beer better than a mass-production brewery, it’s extremely fun, you can control what you put into your body (healthier beer!)
The list goes on. But what it boils don to for many is simply: You can Drink Better Beer.
Cheers,
Jesse
Got a mate that is well into this home brewing lark and he’s actually become quite good at it now…it tool him a while though!
He believes that it is the perfect hobby for his as he has a busy job. Keeps claiming that brewing is a great hobby for busy people, as it really does not take that much work to brew a batch of beer.
I’m thinking about asking him for a few swift tutorials!
I have to agree with your mate! Although it is possible to spend a lot o time on each batch, depending what level of brewing you want to get into, it is possible to make great beers with minimal equipment and just a couple of hours of preparation.
Ask for some tutorials before you get your equipment – offer to be his brewing assistant for a couple of batches!
You might also find this useful: How To Improve Kit Beer
Cheers!
I’ve always wanted to buy my husband his own beer making kit, so I am glad I came across this! especially just in enough time for Christmas. Maybe I can get it for him as a gift. I like how you added all the supplies that will be needed. Do you know of a place where I can purchase all the tools needed, but in one set? Thank You!
–Rina
Hi Rina,
Thank you for asking. If you are in the USA, I recommend buying a complete kit from Adventures in Homebrewing – they will provide free shipping: Beer brewing kits
If you are not in the USA, you may need to find someone closer. I usually find Amazon to be a great option! Here is a link to their beer kits (Click Here)
Cheers!