Everything You Need to Start Homebrewing

Many people feel too intimidated to start homebrewing. I recently wrote a post for another website about how to make mead at home. Like many first time brewers, when my husband and I tried to brew our first batch of beer, we spent far too much money, tried too hard of a recipe, and ultimately ended up pouring the whole batch down the drain.

So what do you need to start brewing at home? All you need to make your first one gallon batch of homebrew is a fermenter, an airlock, food-grade sanitizer, and a basic recipe.

With our recommendations, you could get everything you need for your first one gallon of beer, mead, or cider, for less than $50.

Fermenter

A fermenter is just a container where your non-alcohol mixture converts to an alcoholic drink. The process is called fermentation. The yeast in the mixture eats sugars and produce alcohol as a byproduct.

A decent fermenter will be glass and have a wide mouth that is easy to clean. We like using one like this:

Home Brew Ohio One gal Wide Mouth Jar with Lid and Econolock

This handy kit comes with the fermenter AND the airlock you need for just over $15.

If you happen to be making a cider for your first homebrew, you might find a gallon of unpasteurized apple cider at your local grocery store that comes in a glass jar. If so, you can turn that glass jar into your fermenter.

For reference, those jugs look like this one:

One Gallon Glass Jug

Airlock

The airlock releases gases produced while your recipe is fermenting, but prevents air, dust, or bugs from getting in and ruining your brew. Our favorite airlock is the three piece kind. They’re easy to take apart in clean.

Three Piece Airlock

Sometimes, your brew might ferment very quickly which might cause foam or liquid to be forced into the airlock. The “s” shaped airlocks are much harder to clean when that happens. However, if you happen to get them, they work fine, just harder to clean.

Twin Bubble Airlock

Food-Grade Sanitizer

Santizers prevent stray bacteria, mold, or other funguses from contaminating your brew. The go-to sanitizer for home brewing is hands down Star San. It’s important to sanitize all your brewing equipment, such as the fermenter, airlock, any spoons or utensils you might use, even your hands. Follow the recommendations on the bottle about how much sanitizer concentrate to mix with how much water, and how long the sanitizer needs to sit on the surface before it’s sufficiently clean.

Stan San

Running Total: $15.02+$7.98 = $23.00

Recipes

Now that you have your equipment, you can actually start homebrewing! Your remaining budget can be spent on ingredients for your recipe.

• Mead: 3lb of Cheap Honey, Bottled Spring Water, and White Labs WLP720 Mead Yeast. Total: $24.89 (without shipping, but you might be able to find the honey at your local box store for cheaper)
• Cider: One Gallon Apple Cider, Unpastuerized, White Labs WLP775 Cider Yeast. Total: Under $15, depending on where you find your cider.
• Beer: Try a basic one gallon starter kit, like those sold by Northern Brewer. Total: $14.99

If you want to learn more about how to brew these recipes, leave me a comment or look out for future posts! You can also read about how to make mead here: https://californiawineryadvisor.com/how-to-make-meade-at-home/

Return on Investment

For your first one gallon batch, you should be able to get about eight pints of brew, which works out to about $6.25. If you live on the West Coast like I do, that’s a pretty reasonable price for a craft beer at a bar our restaurant. If you decide to make a second batch, your next price per pint would be just $3-4. Making your own brew at home could be a great, frugal hobby to give a try. Hopefully, we can inspire you to start homebrewing with this easy list of equipment.

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