Homebrewing Kit Buyer’s Guide

Buy Propane Burners

Getting started in homebrewing should not be intimidating. E. C. Kraus makes the initial leap much easier by including nearly everything you need for your first batch in one homebrewing kit.
Our Steam Freak Beermaking Starter

 includes:

  • Complete Joy of Homebrewing – This book is the original homebrewer’s guidebook. It will guide you through your first few batches and well beyond into your homebrewing career.
  • 6 Gallon Screw-Top Fermenter – This is what the beer ferments in for a week or so before moving to the secondary fermentation carboy. The fermenter comes with an airlock, stopper, and faucet. It can also be used as a bottling bucket.
  • 5 Gallon Plastic Carboy – After about ten days in primary fermentation, the beer is moved to the carboy for further conditioning and flavor development. The carboy also comes with an airlock, stopper, and faucet.
  • Triple Scale Hydrometer – This tool is used to measure the gravity of your homebrew, and those measurements are used to determine alcohol content. Learn more about working with your hydrometer in this blog post.
  • 21″ Curved Racking Cane – The racking cane, along with a section of vinyl hose, helps you transfer, or rack, the beer from one fermenter to another.
  • 6′ Length of 3/8″ Vinyl Hose – Attach the hose to the racking cane to complete your racking setup.
  • Double Lever Capper – Used to cap bottles.
  • Beer Bottle Brush – Used for cleaning bottles.
  • Racking Cane Clip – This clip secures the racking cane to the bucket to facilitate racking procedures.
  • 8″ Floating Thermometer – A thermometer can be used in the home brewery in a number of ways, in particular, measuring mash temperature.
  • Basic A No Rinse Cleanser – A brewery-grade cleaning agents used to clean all of your homebrewing gear.
  • 24″ Stirring Spoon – Used to stir and aerate the wort before pitching yeast
  • Steam Freak Kit – Unlike other homebrewing starter kits, our kit includes a Steam Freak recipe kit of your choice, including bottle caps. So the tough question is this: What beer style will you make with your first batch?
Shop Carboys

In addition to the Beermaking Starter Kit, you will also need a brew kettle. The 20-qt. Brew Kettle is ideal for brewing indoors, but many homebrewers will eventually upgrade to a larger kettle (see below).
 
Suggested Equipment Upgrades

Once you’ve brewed your first batch or two, you might be willing to make a few upgrades to your home brewery. Some of the most popular steps forward on the equipment side include:

  • Auto-siphon – This nifty device makes siphoning from one fermenter to another a breeze.
  • Temperature controller – After you brew a few batches of beer, you’ll soon discover that fermentation temperature control is a very important part of brewing good beer. If you have a spare freezer or refrigerator, a temperature controller will allow you to control your fermentation temperature to the degree.
  • Additional Fermenters – Once you’re hooked on homebrewing, additional fermentation capacity will definitely come in handy.
  • Mash tun cooler – If you’re interested in making the jump to all-grain brewing, you’re going to need a mash tun. A mash tun cooler is a simple, affordable way to mash the grains before the boil. (On a tight budget? The Brew In a Bag method is a wallet-friendly alternative.)
  • Bigger kettle – You might need a propane burner as well.
  • Stir plate – Yeast health is a crucial part of brewing good beer. This includes making sure that you have a healthy colony of yeast large enough to ferment your beer. A stir plate stirs the yeast in your yeast starter, giving it plenty of oxygen in order to grow to the right size.

What piece of equipment is on your home brewery wish list?

Below you will find a listing for Beginning Homebrew Kit containing the equipment needed, also there are several recipe kits available. What is your favorite beer? If you see it or one similar make note. Read the product description and the questions and answers also watch the video. See how easy a beer kit an be. Try one, enjoy the results of your efforts. Start your new hobby and share it with family and friends. You never know your beer could be in great demand. Once you have the equipment kit the recipes are endless. Make several types for poker night or the game party.


——
David Ackley is a beer writer, brewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder and editor of the Local Beer Blog.

Getting Started: Essential Home Brewing Equipment List

I’m frequently asked by craft beer fans what they need in order to start brewing their own beer. Is there a home brewing equipment list that one could follow? Luckily, E. C. Kraus has taken the guess work out of this question by offering a Starter Home Brew Kit, which includes a bunch of equipment and one ingredient kit for the homebrewer’s first batch of beer. The only thing not included is a large kettle, which you may have on hand already. (If you don’t, we can hook you up with a brew kettle, too!)

Now, let’s take a closer look at the list of home brewing equipment included in the Steam Freak beer brewing kit:

  • Home Brewing Book:
    Before even getting to the actual equipment, every brewer needs some literature to guide them through their first batch. The Complete Joy of Home Brewing is the perfect accompaniment for the beginning brewer. After getting a batch or two of homemade beer under their belt, homebrewers can upgrade to more advanced books. I recommend Marty Nachel’s Homebrewing for Dummies and Ray Daniels’ Designing Great BeersMore >>
  • 6 Gallon Primary Fermenter (Comes with airlock, stopper, and faucet):
    6 Gallon Fermenter is ideal for primary fermentation. Even though you will be brewing a five-gallon batch, the extra space allows for krausen, or foam, to build during the height of fermentation. The airlock and stopper allow carbon dioxide – a byproduct of fermentation – to escape from the fermenter, while the faucet makes it easy to transfer to the carboy for secondary fermentation. More >>
  • 5 Gallon Plastic Carboy (Comes with airlock, stopper, and faucet):
    The carboy is where the beer sits for a 10-14 day conditioning phase, known as secondary fermentation. A curved racking cane will make it easier to transfer from the carboy back into the fermenter for bottling. More >>
  • Home Brew Hydrometer:
    This nifty tool should on any home brewing equipment list. It allows brewers at every level to determine the alcohol content of their beer. Carefully place the sanitized home brew hydrometer in the unfermented wort to take the first measurement – referred to as the original gravity (OG). After fermentation, take another – called the final gravity (FG). The difference between the two is used to calculate the alcohol by volume (ABV)! More >>
  • Thermometer:
    Your fermentation temperature matters. Too cool, and the yeast won’t ferment; too warm and you are promoting bacterial growth and possible death of the yeast. More >>
  • 6′ Length of 3/8″ Vinyl Hose:
    Any home brewing equipment list is going to have this. The heat resistant hose facilitates transferring from one fermenter to the other. More >>
  • Bottle Capper  
    When it’s time to bottle your brew, you’ll need something to cap the beer bottles. The double lever capper is easy to operate and ensures a firm seal on every bottle. More >>
  • Cleaner/Sanitizer:
    Brewing can get a little messy, but with several cases of beer at the end, it’s well worth the effort. A cleaner is ideal for cleaning your home brewing equipment before and after brewing a batch of beer. More >>
  • Beer Bottle Brush:
    Homebrewers typically save beer bottles for when their home brew is ready. The beer bottle brush helps to clean the insides of the bottles, helping to make sure nothing contaminates the beer you’ve worked so hard to make. More >>
  • Beer Ingredient Kit:
    Choose from over 30 beer ingredient kits for your making your first batch of beer. The Steam Freak Ingredient Kits include all home brewing ingredients for a five gallon batch, recipe instructions, and caps. More >>

Check out this great video about the Beginning Homebrew Kit

So what are you waiting for? Order a kit already and start brewing! It has a home brewing equipment list that is perfect for the first-timer. And, it’s something you can easily build upon as you progress in this wonderful hobby.

Below you will find a listing for Beginning Homebrew Kit containing the equipment needed, also there are several recipe kits available. What is your favorite beer? If you see it or one similar make note. Read the product description and the questions and answers also watch the video. See how easy a beer kit an be. Try one, enjoy the results of your efforts. Start your new hobby and share it with family and friends. You never know your beer could be in great demand. Once you have the equipment kit the recipes are endless. Make several types for poker night or the game party.


—–
David Ackley is a beer writer, brewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He is a graduate of the Siebel Institute of Technology’s “Start Your Own Brewery” program and the Oskar Blues Brew School in Brevard, NC.