Buying Home Brewery Equipment

When deciding to purchase home brewery equipment for a home beer making system, there are certain considerations to be made, such as whether the individual wants the system to be automatic, semi-automatic or manual. The least expensive equipment is that which requires the most work by the individual in the brewing process and the most expensive is fully automatic.

Unless an individual goes through a lot of beer, giving it away to friends or creating their own micro brewery, buying equipment to do the process manually is probably the best option. The automatic systems often will brew fifteen gallons of beer at a minimum, which would last a long time for some individuals who do not host parties or other occasions where the beer may be used. The manual home brewery equipment will brew up to seven gallons of beer at a time in an average system, which is much more manageable, and in addition, the entire system costs less than two hundred dollars versus the three thousand dollars of an automated system.

Equipment Needed

Besides the kitchen equipment that a person probably already owns, such as plastic spatulas, sauce pans, mixing spoons and bowls, there are some other items that must be bought especially for brewing beer. One specialized piece of home brewery equipment is the primary fermenter. This piece of equipment has an airlock and stopper that allows the carbon dioxide to escape from the system while preventing the air from the outside to get into it, keeping the fermenting process pure. Since this is the first part of the fermenting process, where the wort is put into the system after boiling the ingredients, it is important that this equipment is especially made for the process, including the airlock and stopper.

Another piece of specialized home brewery equipment is the bottle capper, of which a one handed system is the best and most efficient. This allows the individual to hold onto the bottle while capping it, which is helpful especially when using glass bottles. These bottle cappers and caps can be bought at brewing supply stores, as well as the dark colored glass beer bottles that are recommended for home brewing equipment. Other than these specialty items, a food grade plastic hose is needed, a food grade plastic bottling bucket that has a spout at the bottom of it, a bottle brush for cleaning, and a stick on thermometer for the primary fermenter are needed to complete the home brewery equipment.