Wanna Brew Your Own? What You Need

Want to brew your own beer, but don’t know how or where to start?  Don’t worry it’s easy and rewarding.  For a marginal investment of about $100, you can make your own Home Brew!  I buy most of my brewing supplies from Midwest Homebrewing supplies.  Most online brewing supply stores have starter kits that you can buy which are geared for extract brewing, which when starting out is much easier.

starter kit image

A kit like this comes with the following items:

• 6.5 Gallon Plastic Fermenter with Lid
• 6.5 Gallon Bottling Bucket with Spigot
• 5 Gallon Glass Carboy
• Easy Clean No-Rinse Cleanser
• Drilled Universal Carboy Bung Airlock (Keeps air out of the fermenter)
• Hydrometer (Determines alcohol content)
• Bottle Brush
• Carboy Brush
• Bottle Capper
• Bottle Caps
• Liquid Crystal Thermometer
• Bottle Filler
• Siphon Tubing

Whats missing here (and you should get) is a 3-7gal stainless steel pot (like a lobster pot).  This will be used to steep the grains and boil the wort (pronounced “wert”). You’ll also want to buy an extract recipe kit (range from $20-$45) or you won’t have anything to brew…

All the parts that come in the kit are used at different stages in the brewing process – For most ales this will be 3-4 weeks.