Homebrewing is more than just a hobby. Local breweries have been popping up all over the place in the last few years, and it’s a trend that many want to try at home. If you have thought about making your own brews at home, you’ve likely thought about the basic supplies you will need to get started.

Let’s go over the most common components you’ll find in a home brewing and what they are used for. There are many options and methods for brewing your own beer at home. Let’s go over some of the basic materials and features.

Sanitizing Materials

Brewing your own beer takes a ton of cleaning and sanitizing. Before you begin brewing and bottling, sanitizing kills the bacteria on any surfaces. Equipment you will need includes sanitizing solutions, mixing bottles, and cleaning brushes.

Depending on the containers you use for bottling, you will likely have a few different cleaning brushes, such as a bottle brush and a carboy brush. There are also a variety of sanitizers and sanitizing methods available. Some cleaners are oxygen-based, iodine-based, and even acid-based, depending on the method and timeline of your brewing.

Basic Brewing Ingredients

Depending on the type of beer you want to make, you might add ingredients at different times, in different orders, or in different quantities. However, most brews all include the same 4 basic ingredients: malted barley, hops, water, and yeast.

There are many features that might change the flavor of your brews, such as using hard water or soft water. You might also include different minerals or flavor elements to create sour, sweet, bitter, or any other flavor you’d like to try out! Infusion Spirals offer different toasted woods to create unique flavors. We also offer spirals made from Spanish Cedar, Cypress, Sugar Maple, and Cherry. 

Brewing and Fermentation Equipment

Once the equipment is cleaned and sanitized, you can begin the brewing process. The basic tools and equipment include:

• A heat source – such as a stovetop
• At least one large brew pot, depending on your brewing method
• A siphon and tubing
• A fermenter – the vessel that will hold the liquid (wort) that will ferment and become beer. This will also require an airlock at the top that allows carbon dioxide to escape out the top
• Hydrometer to measure alcohol content
• More cleaner and sanitizer. Everything (including your hands) should be cleaned and sanitized at every step

Using Infusion Spiral systems to brew our beer will help you achieve different flavors, brew in a shorter time period, and use less space. Our variety of flavors and roasts give home-brewers the opportunity to experiment and try new things.