Home Brewing Equipment and Other Important Brewing Notes

It maybe overwhelming when you first approach brewing and see the vast amount of home brewing equipment that is out there. You start to ask yourself do I need this piece of home brewing equipment or that one. Well don’t panic brewing is simple and I will list those pieces of equipment that are essential to brewing good quality beer. To make this a little easier I have broken down the brewing process into it individually processes.

The Mashing Process - Essential Home Brewing Equipment

If you are attempting an all grain mash you will need a malt mill (although you can get pre-milled malt). Once you have malt that has been crushed to the desired coarseness then you need a mast tun to put the water and malt into for the mash stand. You can use a false stainless steel bottom with any brew pot or suitable keg for collection after the mash stand. If you are going to use a large quantity of malt then I  would suggest buying a mash paddle or rake.

The Boil - Essential Home Brewing Equipment

You will need a brew pot although a large enough cooking pot will do. It is vital that the pot is big enough though as you are going to maintain a vigorous boil and any time you are working with hot sugar it can be dangerous.

It maybe desirable if you are using real full leaf hops to a buy a brewing kettle with a strainer. If you are serious about brewing then buy a brewing thermometer to make sure you brew consistent beer (never use mercury).

The Fermentation - Essential Home Brewing Equipment

Ok you can go with a plastic bucket if you are looking to cut costs (make sure it is food grade however) but I would suggest that you buy a carboy if you want to make really good beer. Carboys come in different sizes depending on how much beer you want to brew.

If you want to make sure that the fermentation is protected then buy an air lock which allows carbon dioxide to escape but not let air back in.

If you want to make the siphoning process more sanitary and easier and then get a ferment tap unit which also makes collecting and re-using yeast easier.

Another great piece of home brewing equipment that can help you if you are struggling to warm up a fermentation is a heating pad.

Other Essential Home Brewing Equipment

If you are serious about brewing beer you will also need the following:-

-Thermometer- to measure mash and fermentation temperature.
-Food grade hose - for any siphoning you need to do.
-Proper cleaners - Making sure your equipment is clean is vital
-Proper sanitizer - To make sure your beer isn’t infected at any point
-Good bottle filler - This is to make sure that the beer doesn’t get any oxygen in it when you are filling bottles which can lead to a “cardboardy” flavor.
-Hydrometer - To make sure that you know the alcohol content of your beer during fermentation.

In conclusion the amount of home brewing equipment you really need isn’t that great to make great brews and once you start to get a feel for the process you can start to buy more specialized home brewing equipment.