Brewing Materials
If you're starting-out making beer then you'll need to buy a few things. Some of these you will get if you buy a "beginner's kit' to making beer but others you will need to to obtain for yourself. Remember that purchasing these items is a one-time expense and you can re-use everything (including the bottles).
Plastic barrel or Carboy
What you need is a large vessel (the usual is 5 gallons (23l), though if you are making fruit beer or mead you may want a larger 30l vessel). Essentially this is a stout jar of some kind that can withstand some of the pressures of fermentation. It also only has a small entranceway which reduces the risk of contamination. A cheaper but less secure alternative is a fermenting bucket (see below).
Fermenting Bucket
This is a cheaper alternative to a plastic barrel or a carboy. It is a large-volume (22–30l) plastic bucket that has a lip around the rim. The lid fits securely over this and snaps into place. The lid of the bucket has an off-centre hole in the top, into which a bung and fermentation lock fit. The seal around the lid of the bucket should be air-tight, preventing contamination.
A Large Stainless Steel or Ceramic Cooking Pot
This pot should have a capacity of about 20l. This is used for your initial boil and though a ceramic pot will work, ceramic pots can crack and this harbours bacteria. Stainless steel is the best and is far easier to sterilize. (Note the cast iron pots cannot be used as they will taint the beer.) If you are serious about your beer making and want to start with whole grains then you may be better buying a 30l pot now.
Muslin Bags
These are used to hold your grains whilst they are steeped in hot water
Large-mouthed Plastic Funnel
This is used to aid in the pouring of the contents of your boiling pot into your fermenting barrel (if you're using a fermenting bucket you probably won't need a funnel).
Fine-meshed Stainless Steel Strainer
This is used to strain-out the hops and loose grains when pouring the wort into your fermenting barrel (or bucket). If using a barrel, get a canonical strainer that fits into the mouth of your funnel.
Rubber Bung (Stopper) and Fermentation Lock
Once your wort has been added to your barrel and the yeast has been added fermentation will begin. At this point you will need to seal the vessel which is where the bung (stopper comes in). As fermentation progresses the yeast produces CO2 gas and pressure will build-up. To prevent this from becoming excessive you will need a fermentation airlock. This is an U-tube valve that contains either water or alcohol through which excess CO2 can escape but air cannot enter to contaminate the fermentation process.
Long-handled Plastic or Stainless Steel Spoon
These are needed to stir the boiling wort and to help aerate the wort once it's in the barrel or fermenting bucket.
Racking Cane
In brewing terms 'racking' is simply the movement of liquid from one vessel into another. One of the main times for doing this is during the bottling process. Though it is possible to buy a racking cane, in essence it's really only a plastic tube and you can easily make your own. Take a length of tubing and place a rubber or plastic bung in one end, securing with glue. Drill holes in the tube some 4cm above this bung (this allows the tube to be inserted to the bottom of the fermenting barrel or bucket without extracting the yeast sediment which lies there at the end of the fermentation process.
Large Plastic Bucket (25l)
You will need a large plastic bucket into which the beer can be racked (decanted) after fermentation. This is known as the bottling bucket.
Bottles
This may sound obvious, but you will need a large number of bottles. Ones to which crown caps can be affixed are very useful (but if you get these you will also need to buy caps and a capper). However, you can save on the cost of the bottles themselves by asking your friends and family to collect them for you.
Spring Filler
The spring bottle filler fits onto the end of your racking tube and aids in filling bottles. The attachment is spring loaded so that when pressed to the bottom of a bottle a valve opens allowing fluid to flow through. Once the tip is withdrawn from the bottom of the bottle the flow of beer stops and the bottle is not-over filled. Also the presence of the tube in the bottle means that you have the requisite 3cm head space once the racking tube is withdrawn.
Hydrometer
This is a piece of scientific equipment that allows you to take readings of the specific gravity of your beer. Distilled
water has a specific gravity of 1.000 at 60F(15C) and is used as a
baseline. The specific gravity of beer measured before fermentation
is called its Original Gravity or OG and sometimes its Starting
Gravity (SG). This gives an idea of how much sugar is dissolved in
the wort (unfermented beer) on which the yeast can work. The range of
values goes from approximately 1.020 to 1.160 meaning the wort can be
from 1.02 to 1.16 times as dense as water. When measured after fermentation
it is called the Final Gravity (FG) or Terminal Gravity (TG). The
difference between these two values is a good gauge of the amount of
alcohol produced during fermentation.
Thermometer
Though not strictly necessary a thermometer is still a very useful piece of equipment as it will tell you when your wort has cooled sufficiently for you to add the yeast. It is even more important if you are making beer from scratch. You will need a sugar thermometer for this, one that goes up to at least 180°C.
Cleaning Brushes
Sterility is an important factor in all beer making and you will need to clean all your equipment after use. A bottle brush is indispensable in this and a long-handled brush to clean your fermentation barrel would also be very useful.
If you are planning on making mead then you will need the following:Mesh Skimmer
A fine-meshed stainless steel skimmer used to skim foam from the top of boiling must. This must be suitable for boiling liquids and though you can use a spoon a strainer is better and less wasteful.
Fermenting Vessel
A number of glass demijohns or cider jugs. These are your primary fermentation vessels and should be about 5l in volume.
If you are planning on brewing beer 'form scratch' (known as all-grain brewing) then will need the following:Mashing Tun
There are several commercial mashing tuns available (such as the one left) but these tend to be expensive. If you're adventurous you can make their own... In principle the mashing tun is relatively simple it's a bucket with a spigot at the base allowing the liquid to be drained off the mashed grains. Most also have some kind of false bottom made from a fine wire mesh that allows the cracked grain to sit on top so that the liquid can seep through hand the grains don't clog the spigot. This is important for the sparging process where inflow and outflow often need to be matched. If you're feeling a bit adventurous then you can make a simple mashing tun yourself. The simplest kind is a 'double bucket' where you have one fermenting bucket sitting inside another. A hole is drilled near the base of the outer bucket and a tap or spigot is glued in place there. To aid with even liquid flow you can also attach a coil of plastic piping to the inside of this. Drill a number of holes in this and coil it in a loose spiral around the inside of the base of the bucket. This means that the liquid will drain evenly rather than flowing from a single point. Next take the inner bucket, invert it and drill a very large number of small holes in the base (use the finest drill bit you can find and drill as many holes as you can. Next plug the existing hole in the lid of the inner bucket and drill a new hole near the centre. This needs to be large enough to fit a length of piping through an to glue it in place. This tubing will be used for sparging and needs a connector on the outer side so that it can be attached to the sparging tank. On the inside the tube needs to be attached to some kind of spraying device so that during sparging the grains can be washed evenly. The spray head from a medium-sized watering can (or one from a garden hose) is good for this. If you're feeling very adventurous then you can create a mashing tun from a cooler box. This is a slightly more complicated build but has the advantage that you have better temperature control.
Top Reservoir
This is the reservoir that holds your sparging liquid. It needs to be at least 20l in volume and must have a tap or spigot at the bottom so that you can attach the tubing that links it to the mashing tun sparging head. Again you can buy commercial versions that will heat the water for you. But any container that's large enough and into which you can pour hot water will work.
Need to convert any measurements on this site? I have conversion pages available for Volumes, Mass/Weight and Temperatures available.
