What equipment do I need to get started brewing?

Last Updated on 17.07.08

One of the first question asked by first time brewers is "what do I need to get started brewing?". Rather list the bare minimum of equipment with which you could conceivably brew a beer, I have listed what I think you should have to easily make a decent drinkable first beer. Bear in mind that you could make due with a little less and you could buy a lot more.

Equipment list

• 2 Fermenting Vessels.
• 1 Pressure barrel.
• A couple of meters 16mm (5/8 inch) PVC food grade tubing.
• A long spoon or slotted paddle stirrer.
• Campden Tablets (to remove chlorine and chloramine from the water (though you probably dont need it with bottled water it doesn't hurt).
• Beer finings.
• 1 1.8kg beer kit.
• 1 kg spray malt (alternatively 1kg of beer kit enhancer).
• 1 spare package of ale yeast (the yeast in kits is frequently dead and even if it's not the package is usually too small).
• Sanitiser (sodium metabisulphite or thin bleach work well but both need to be rinsed thoroughly with cold water before coming into contact with the beer).

The reason I recommend 2 fermenting vessels is that you need one to put your water in to pre-treat with the campden tablet while the other will initially hold the sanitising solution and later be used to mix the beer extract and spray malt before topping up with water to the desired brew length.