Home brew equipment for making delicious beer
Ready to make beer at home? You'll need great beer brewing supplies.
If you don’t want to go with a beer brewing kit, you’ll need to buy each piece of your beer brewing supplies and homebrew equipment separately. Here are all the essential beer-making items you’ll need to set up an at-home brewing system that will help you make brilliant, delicious beer every time.
Homebrew beer fermenter
The fermenter is a container that your brew will sit in while it ferments. It is the most essential of your beer brewing supplies! For a simple but very well-reviewed option, the Speidel Plastic Fermenter-30L (7.9 gal) is a great choice.
This fermenter includes an oversized airlock and opening, a spigot, and handles. The airlock allows gas out of the fermenter without allowing air in.
Homebrew beer bottling valve
The bottling valve is an excellent accessory that keeps your beer bottling process mess-free. It attaches to your tap and the spring-loaded button foot-valve presses against the bottom of the beer bottle to start the filling process.
This Professional Stainless Steel Spring Loaded Bottle Filler 14″ Wand Kit for Home Brew is an excellent choice because it includes tubing to make the process easier. And, it is made of stainless steel, which will last much longer than a plastic version.
No-rinse steriliser or sanitiser
You’ll need a steriliser to prevent contamination in your beer-making equipment. “No-rinse” sterilisers like One Step No Rinse Cleaner make sanitising easy, and it is environmentally-friendly, too, because it breaks down to just natural minerals and water.
It’s easy: sterilise your beer fermenter before you start your homebrewing by mixing a sachet with cold tap water, then shake to ensure all surfaces are covered. Next, leave the mixture to sit for a few minutes before draining it out of the fermenter. Everything is sanitised and you don’t even need to rinse it out after!
Long spoon or paddle
You’ll need a long-handled spoon for mixing your home-brew ingredients in your beer fermenter.
This Great Credentials 21-inch brewing spoon will work just fine, otherwise any long spoon or paddle will suit.
Brewer’s hydrometer (specific gravity ABV tester) and thermometer
You’ll need a hydrometer for your home brewing process. A hydrometer will let you test to check if the fermentation process is finished for your beer. It will also measure the alcohol in your home-brew beer. This Brewer’s Elite Hydrometer for home brew beer (specific gravity ABV tester) comes with a deluxe triple scale set, hardcase and cloth and measures the sugar levels of your home-brew. It will tell you when your beer is ready to be bottled – check that bubbling has stopped in the airlock and that the hydrometer reading is nice and stable.
You can use any stainless steel thermometer like this Ferrodale homebrew kettle thermometer.
Beer bottle brush
A bottle brush will be essential for getting your home-brew beer bottles clean and ready to re-use after you’ve finished drinking your delicious beer. This set of utility bottle cleaning brushes are bendable and will allow you to get through the narrow neck of your beer bottles to clean them easily.
Beer carbonation drops
Beer carbonation drops will help you get your home-brew to just the right carbonation level. Use one pro for a 375ml bottle or two drops for a 750ml bottle to get just the right amount of sugar in your beer to create secondary fermentation in the bottle. No mess, no waste, no measuring – just an easy way to a chief naturally-carbonated, home-brewed beer. These Coopers carbonation drops for priming beer and cider come in a two-pack and support a great Australian brand.
Beer bottle capper and royal crown seals
Once you’ve made your beer and bottled it, you need to put a cap on it. You’ll need a beer bottle capper and royal crown seals to cap your beautiful bottles of homemade beer. This bench capper is heavy-weight and easy to use. It will allow you to cap lots of bottles very quickly.
The caps are simple to use and some even help absorb oxygen, like these beer bottle caps with oxygen-absorbing crowns, ideal for homebrew, which are well-priced and come in seven assorted colours.
Beer bottles
What is home brew beer without a bottle to drink it out of? Bottles are simple but very important – make sure to get a high quality bottle that is robust and will withstand multiple reuses for a long time. You want to enjoy your home-brew beer for years to come, and you need good quality beer bottles to do that, like these 22oz homebrew beer bottles or these 12oz homebrew beer bottles. Be sure to buy bottles made for pry-off caps, not screw tops. And you’ll want to test every single batch with your hydrometer to make sure that your beer has finished fermenting before you but your caps on.
Beer recipe kits
You can buy beer recipe kits from many retailers, but we here at Making Beer love the huge variety of recipe kits from Craft a Brew. Their kits include everything you need to restock your beer making kit with home brewing ingredients to brew your next beer of the month, including sanitiser, dry malt extract, hops, grains, yeast, and a grain steeping bag. They have a wide range of beer varieties to try, including:
Hefeweizen
American Pale Ale
Bone Dry Irish Stout
Brown Ale
Chocolate Milk Stout
Gluten Free Ale
Oak Aged IPA (India Pale Ale)
Oktoberfest Ale
Single Hop IPA (India Pale Ale)
White House Honey Ale.
Check out our beer recipe kit reviews to see which kit might be the best fit for you.
What’s next
And that’s it! Those are the beer making equipment essentials that you will need to get started on your first home brew adventure! Now, why not check out the homebrew ingredients you’ll need to brew your own beer at home? Or stop by our blog to learn more about our favourite subject – how to make beer!