Brewing Equipment

Brewing Equipment

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Category: Equipment

Published on Monday, 15 February 2010 09:04

Written by Administrator

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Basic Home Brewing Equipment (pictures to be added soon)

You really don't need much equipment to brew your own beer at home. I work on the bare essentials because I don't have much space for storing everything. You could easily add a lot more bits and pieces to this list and if you have the space then go ahead as some equipment available can make it easier. But for simple home brewing, this is what you need at minimum:

Fermenter

Most fermenters are a plastic 'vat' with a screw top lid and a threaded hole for a tap at the bottom. They typically hold about 25 litres although I have one which is about 30 litres capacity. I actually have 2 because sometimes I get behind with my brewing and need to do multiple batches or I use the second one for 'racking'.

These are easy to buy. Naturally the home brew shops have them, but you can also get them at your local supermarkets (like Coles and Woolworths). One of mine came in a Tooheys Beer Starter Kit.

But you can in fact use all sorts of things for a fermenter. A popular choice is one of those containers the spring water comes in for your water cooler. people use them with a rubber stopper that has a hole in it to fit a tube to use as an air lock.

Personally, I strongly recommend the proper, screw-top fermenters. Much easier to get your hand/arm into for washing. I also prefer to take the beer out of the bottom rather than siphoning. They have a simple air lock at the top and are generally very easy to use.

Keep the seal clean with these and replace the tap every now and then.

Mine also have a stick-on temperature gauge on them which makes monitoring the temperature of your brew a breeze.

Whatever you use, try and make sure it is plastic or stainless steel. Avoid aluminium as it reacts with some sanitizers.

Bottles and Kegs

Once your brew is fermented, you need something to put the beer into for consumption. You have 2 options. You can either use kegs or bottles. Personally, I don't have a dedicated beer fridge so I don't use kegs. With kegs, you need to put them in the fridge to chill them which takes a lot of fridge space which is why you typically need a dedicated fridge. I do hope to move to keg brewing one day as the cleaning and sanitizing is easier.

But for now I am using bottles. I prefer to use glass bottles with proper crown seal tops on them. My main reason for this preference is I like the fact that you can mark the crown seal so you know what is in the bottle very easily and the mark is gone again once you open it. With plastic bottles, you have to stick a label onto them to do the same thing. But glass bottles with proper crown seals are harder and harder to come by. I bought mine from the home brew shop but you can also find them in the newspaper classifieds and on eBay.

You can also use twist top style bottles. You just need to buy the right crown seals to use on them. i don't use these type purely because my bottle capper gets stuck on the lip.

With either crown seal top or screw top bottles, you can use either 'tallies' (750ml) or 'stubbies' (375ml). If you are going to use stubbies, you really need to be racking your brew to eliminate the sediment.

PET plastic bottles are readily available from the supermarket and home brew shops. I have some of these as well. They work perfectly well and despite what they say, yes you can reuse the screw-on caps (I use mine over and over with no problems). The golden rule with plastic bottles is always wash them after you empty them as they are a nightmare to get clean again once old beer dries inside.

Bottle Capper

Naturally you need a capper only if you are using bottles. These come in several styles including wooden post type ones you have to hit with a mallet, toggle style, lever action ones that sit on top of a bench, and the 2 lever style ones which you push over the top of the bottle (pictured).

I don't recommend using the type you hit with a mallet at all. They are too slow and it is too easy to break a bottle. Invest in the bench-top lever style or the 2 handle lever style. it is well worth it.

Beer Hydrometer

The beer hydrometer is used to measure the specific gravity of the beer you are brewing. It is possible to brew without one but it tells you a lot about your brew as you make it. Firstly, it can tell you when your beer is fully fermented and ready to bottle. Secondly, by taking starting and finishing readings, you can calculate the percentage of alcohol in your brew. They don't cost much and I recommend getting one.

Brew Extractor

A brew extractor is a plastic tube that fits into the tap at the bottom of your fermenter and has a simple valve on the end. It is used at bottling to extract the brew from the fermenter. Bottling is made very simple with one of these. You just put the bottle over the tube and when the tube touches the bottom it opens the valve to fill the bottle. To stop the flow you push the bottle down again and the flow stops instantly. You fill the bottle all the way to the top and when you remove the tube you have the perfect amount in the bottle. A brew extractor makes bottle so much easier you simply just have to have one.

Air Lock

You fermenter needs to have an air lock. The air lock lets the gas produced by the brewing process out and prevents contaminants from coming in. It is possible to use your fermenter without one but it is asking for trouble. It costs hardly anything for a good one and they are easy to use. You would be surprised how small an opening fruit flies need to get into your brewing beer so it is definitely better to have your fermenter fully sealed. Plus the bubbling or not-bubbling air lock gives you an idea if the brew is ready to bottle.

Mixing Spoon

Realistically you can use almost anything to mix your brew but it does help to have a dedicated mixing spoon. The home brew shops have great ones with long handles. I personally like using a plastic slotted mixing spoon that has a flat end on it (see picture). I like it because the angle of the flat end is perfect for scraping along the bottom of the fermenter when I'm mixing. But any plastic or metal spoon will do but don't use wooden spoons. They can harbor unwanted bacteria in the grain and scratches.

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