Getting Started with Homebrewing

So, you're ready to start homebrewing. Congratulations - you've made a great decision! Homebrewing is such a rewarding hobby because it's an awesome creative outlet and my friends and family love when I share my homebrew.

There is an overwhelming amount of homebrewing information available in books, YouTube videos, blogs, Instagram and TikTok. I will help you make sense of it all, preparing you for first brew day in no time. I will share what I've learned and will guide you through every step of your journey. Let's start at the very beginning by answering a question that I get asked all of the time - how do you get started?

Batch Size

Many homebrewers make beer in five, ten, or even twenty-gallon batch sizes. For someone just starting out, I think those batch sizes are too big. I recommend that new homebrewers start out with small batch brewing - click here to read my post on the Top 5 Reasons to Brew Beer in Small Batches. I will define a small batch as anything between one and three gallons.

In my early days as a homebrewer I sought out small batch brewing to keep entry cost low and not use a lot of kitchen space. I have added a five gallon brewing system to my arsenal of brewing equipment but I still prefer to brew smaller batches. There is definitely a time and place for larger batch sizes. I will cover larger batch brewing in future posts but for now I'll focus on one-gallon sized batches.

Extract vs. Partial Mash vs. All Grain Brewing

Beer is made from water, hops, yeast and grain (usually barley). Steeping milled barley (mashing) in hot water is one of the first beer brewing steps. During mashing, fermentable sugar is extracted from the barley, yielding a highly fermentable liquid called wort. Yeast is added to cooled wort, consuming its sugar and creating alcohol and CO2 in a process known called fermentation. Adding hops at different stages in the brewing process will contribute to flavor, aroma and bitterness in the finished beer.

To produce wort, brewers use three methods, each with their own pros and cons:

With extract brewing, wort is made by combining concentrated malt extract (either in powdered or syrup format) and hot water. It's quick and easy and very beginner friendly, however malt extract is more expensive than grain and typically offers less flexibility and customization on brew day.

Partial mash brewing is very similar to extract brewing with one main difference. Some grain is added to the extract and water to lend additional color and depth of flavor but the chosen malt extract base will still be the main influencer in your finished beer.

All grain brewing is the most flexible of the three brewing methods because it relies exclusively on grain and not malt extract. With this method you have complete creative freedom with recipe development and generally lower ingredient costs. The biggest cons for all grain brewing are longer brew days (because your mashing process will take more time) and increased margin for error.

Many people start with extract brewing and work their way into all grain brewing. Others, myself included, jump right into all grain brewing. There's no right answer here - go with what feels right.

Let’s look at some examples of ‘starter kits’

Brooklyn Brew Shop

I brewed my very first batch using this exact kit. I highly recommend it if you are brand new to the hobby and want to get started with all grain brewing. It comes with most of what you'll need to get your first brew going though you will need to supply two pots, each with a two gallon capacity. Brooklyn Brew Shop also offers other equipment that is extremely useful on both brew and bottling day. I recommend the following items:

  • Funnel with screen

  • A jug brush for cleaning out your carboy

  • Strainer

  • Bottle Capper and Caps

  • Bottles - Buy these brand new or save and recycle your beer bottles

  • Auto-siphon - You can siphon beer with the equipment included in the Beer Making Kit but you'll want to upgrade to an auto-siphon as this will greatly simplify transferring beer out of a carboy

Once you've completed your first brew you can also order additional recipe-only mixes to use for future brews.

Craft a Brew

Craft a Brew offers single gallon starter kits that are very similar to Brooklyn Brew Shop, however they differ in that they are of the partial mash variety and include dried malt extract (DME) along with small amounts of specialty grain. As with the Brooklyn Brew Shop kit, you’ll need a pot with a two gallon capacity along with the other items on the list above, with the exception of a funnel, which Craft a Brew supplies.

If you're interested in larger batch sizes, they also offer a nice five gallon starter set up, however you'll definitely need a pot large enough to support that batch size. Craft a Brew offers an 8 gallon capacity pot on their accessories page, along with other items to support both small and large batch brewing. They also offer additional recipe kits for both single and five gallon batch sizes.

MoreBeer

MoreBeer offers a few one gallon starter kits including this Irish Red Ale. I prefer the equipment that MoreBeer provides in their kits over Brooklyn Brew Shop or Craft a Brew for a number of reasons:

  • It's much easier to clean a wide-mouth jar than a carboy

  • The jar can also be cleaned without a specialized jug brush

  • The kit includes two highly recommended items that simplify bottling day - an auto-siphon and a bottling wand (aka a bottle filler)

  • It also includes carbonation drops - no need to mix priming solution on bottling day

  • Rather than an individual packet of powdered sanitizer, MoreBeer's kit includes a small bottle of Star-San concentrated liquid sanitizer

  • MoreBeer's kit includes a higher-quality bottle capper

Like Craft a Brew's kits, MoreBeer recipe kits are typically of the partial mash variety, including malt extract (in syrup form) and small amounts of steeping grains for added flavor.

MoreBeer also sells recipe kits without the rest of the equipment for future brew days. You can also purchase new bottles or use your own recycled bottles. MoreBeer also offers a few different homebrewing kits for those looking to brew larger sized batches.

Conclusion

This is also not meant to be a comprehensive equipment list. I’ll cover equipment needed for brewing and packaging in much more detail in upcoming posts.