Beer Brewing Equipment

Whether you buy a beer making kit or prefer to buy your beer brewing equipment separately, here is some of the equipment you will need. Some items may not be absolutely necessary, but they are convenient and worthy of mentioning.

Below are descriptions of the various equipment used in brewing beer, if you are interested in purchasing a Beer Starter Kit all of the items that you would need is included to help you brew your first batch of beer.

	Glass Carboy (Fermenter) - Glass carboys are used to contain the beer while it ferments. They are sometimes referred to as fermentors. They come in various sizes, but the most common is 5 gallons.
	Carboy Stoppers - Stoppers are place in the carboy opening and air locks are placed in the stoppers. There are various sizes of rubber stoppers. The size that fits a 5 and 6 gallon carboy are 1 3/16" - 1 8/16".
	Air Lock (type 1) - This is one of 2 main types of air locks. This is the one I would recommend because you can clean the inside.
	Air Lock (type 2) - This is another type of air lock. Although is works just as well as the one above, you cannot clean the inside very easily.
	Brew Kettle - This is basically a large stainless steel pot. It needs to be at least 16 quarts to avoid spill-overs.
	Funnel - a large funnel is needed to pour the beer from the brew kettle to the carboy.
	Sparge Bag - These bags can be either disposable or made of reusable nylon. I prefer the reusable. They come in various sizes and are used to steep the hops or specialty grains in the brew kettle.
	Racking Cane - A racking cane is a hard plastic tubing with a bend on one end and a special cap on the other that allows liquid to flow through with a minimum of sediment. This is used when transferring the beer from the fermenter to the bottling bucket.
	Small Tubing - This tubing comes in either 3/8" or 1/2" inside diameter. You will need about 3 to 5 feet of this tubing to transfer beer from the fermenter and for bottling.
	Large Tubing - This tubing has a 1" inside diameter. You'll also need about 3 to 5 feet of this to attach to the fermenter during initial fermentation.
	Bottling Tube - A bottling tube is a hard plastic tube with a special, spring loaded tip that allows the beer to flow when pressed down on the inside bottom of the beer bottle.
	Bottling Bucket - A botting bucket is made of food grade plastic with a spigot on the bottom for convenience. These are sometimes called priming vessels because the priming sugar is added in these prior to bottling.
	12 oz. Returnable Grade Bottles - Make sure the bottles are returnable grade because of the pressure build-up and the rigors of cleaning. If you decide on 12 ounce bottles, you will need about 60 bottles if you plan on brewing a 5 gallon batch.
	22 oz. Returnable Grade Bottles - Make sure the bottles are returnable grade because of the pressure build-up and the rigors of cleaning. If you decide on 22 ounce bottles, you will need about 32 bottles if you plan on brewing a 5 gallon batch.
	Beer Bottle Caps - Always buy more bottle caps than you think you'll need. They are inexpensive and you never know how many you'll mess up when crimping. Some caps have a lining which absorbs oxygen which causes oxidation.
	Bottle Capper - This tool will crimp the caps onto the bottles. The one shown here is a two handed capper. There are some that mount to your table so they can be operated with one hand.
	Bottle Washer - Bottle washers attach to a faucet and work by spraying an intense spray when inserted into a bottle and its lever becomes depressed. This makes cleaning the hard deposits a breeze.
	Carboy Brush - A carboy brush is pretty much a necessity. There is no better way to scrub the inside of the carboy without one (and you will have to scrub to get it clean).
	Wort Chiller - Wort chillers are not really a necessity, but they sure help cool down the wort much faster. They come in various styles and sizes. You can even make your own with some copper tubing and a tubing bender.
	Hydrometer - A hydrometer measures the beer's gravity before fementation and after. The resulting measurement tells you how much of the sugars have been converted to alcohol. This device usually comes with a sampling tube (not shown) to take the meausurement in.

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