The Best Beer Brewing Kit Retailers For Home Brewers

There are many online retailers that sell beer brewing kits, including Amazon, The Home Depot, Northern Brewer, Midwest Supplies, and MoreBeer. The prices of these kits vary, ranging from $49.99 to $699.99. Some kits are designed for beginners, while others are meant for more experienced brewers.

Online retailers that sell beer brewing kits

There are several online retailers that sell beer brewing kits, with options for beginners and master brewers alike. Here are some popular choices:

Craft a Brew

Craft a Brew offers a wide range of home brewing kits, including options for 1 and 5-gallon beer-making kits, as well as fermenters and an extensive selection of beer styles. They also provide free shipping on orders over $99. Their kits are suitable for both beginners and experienced brewers, making it easy to create your own beverages at home. Some of their unique beer styles include the American Pale Ale Beer Making Kit, the Chocolate Milk Stout Beer Making Kit, and the New England IPA Beer Making Kit.

Northern Brewer

Northern Brewer has been in the beer-making business since 1993 and offers a variety of beer brewing starter kits. Their kits are designed by homebrewers, for homebrewers, ensuring a user-friendly experience. Northern Brewer provides easy-to-follow instructions and a no-questions-asked guarantee for their beer recipe kits. They offer a range of options, from essential to ultimate craft brewery kits, with additional accessories and equipment available.

Midwest Supplies

Midwest Supplies caters to a wide range of experience levels, from beginners to master brewers. They offer a selection of beer-making kits, including the Essential Beer Making Kit, the Craft Beer Making Kit, and the Brew. Share. Enjoy. Beer Making Starter Kit. Midwest Supplies also provides larger kits such as the Ultimate Craft Brewery in a Box, as well as the option to skip bottling and go straight to kegging with the Master Brewer Equipment Kit.

The Home Depot

The Home Depot carries a variety of beer brewing kits, such as the BrewDemon Signature Beer Brewing Kit, the VEVOR Electric Brewing System, and the ROOTS & HARVEST Stainless Steel Fruit & Wine Press. They offer a range of options, from smaller conical fermenting systems to larger stainless steel brewing pots and fermenters, suitable for different batch sizes and brewing needs.

What's included in a beer brewing kit

A beer brewing kit is a great way to start your homebrewing journey. The kits are designed to be easy to use, with clear instructions, and they include all the specialised equipment you need to brew your own beer at home.

The kits are tailored to different experience levels, from beginners to master brewers, and come in different batch sizes, from 1-gallon to 16-gallon kits. The larger batch kits can produce up to 5 gallons of beer.

A basic beer brewing kit will include the essential equipment and ingredients for brewing. This typically includes a fermenter, a kettle, tubing, a thermometer, a hydrometer, a spoon, and yeast. Some kits also include a mesh bag for steeping grains, a wort chiller, a bottle filler, and sanitiser.

More advanced kits may include additional equipment, such as a brew kettle and burner, a mash/lauter tun, a spigot, an electric brew system, or a beer pump. These kits can also include online video courses to help you improve your brewing skills and take your beer to the next level.

Different types of beer brewing kits

There are different types of beer brewing kits catering to various experience levels and brewing preferences. Here is an overview of the different types of kits available:

Basic Kits:

Basic kits are ideal for new brewers on a budget, containing the essential equipment for brewing beer without a large upfront investment. A typical basic kit includes:

• A 5-gallon brew kettle
• Fermentation bucket with lid
• Racking equipment (siphon, tubing, bottling wand)
• Bottles, caps, and capper
• Cleaning and sanitizing supplies
• Basic brewing ingredients (malt extract, hops, yeast)

Intermediate Kits:

Intermediate kits offer more versatility and are suitable for brewers looking to expand their skills. They provide:

• A larger brew kettle (around 10 gallons)
• Stainless steel or enamelware boil kettle
• Glass carboy for secondary fermentation
• Improved temperature control
• Hydrometer for measuring alcohol content
• Bottle filler and auto-siphon for bottling
• Additional brewing ingredients and additives

Advanced Kits:

Advanced kits are designed for experienced brewers, offering professional-level functionality and customization. They include:

• RIMS or HERMS electric heating system
• Stainless steel mash tun for all-grain mashing
• 15+ gallon boil kettle with a ball valve
• Conical or cornelius kegs for pressurized fermentation
• Advanced temperature controllers and pumps
• High-end bottles, cappers, scales, and accessories
• Complete ingredients kit for all-grain batches

All-Grain Kits:

All-grain kits offer a more hands-on approach, allowing brewers to mash the grains and extract fermentable sugars. This process provides flexibility in experimenting with grain types, mash temperatures, and brewing techniques. All-grain kits typically involve:

• Mashing: Soaking crushed grains in hot water to break down starches into sugars
• Sparging: Rinsing the liquid (wort) through the grain bed to extract maximum sugar
• Boiling: Adding hops at different stages for bitterness, flavour, and aroma
• Fermenting: Adding yeast to the cooled wort and allowing fermentation
• Conditioning and Bottling: Developing deeper flavours and bottling with sugar for carbonation

Extract Kits:

Extract kits are simpler and help brewers work efficiently. They usually include pre-measured ingredients such as malt extract, hops, and yeast, making the process more manageable for beginners.

How to brew beer at home

Homebrewing is a fun and rewarding hobby that can be as simple or complex as you like. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to brew beer at home:

Step 1: Gather Your Equipment and Ingredients

First, you'll need to get your hands on some basic brewing equipment. This includes:

• A fermenter with an airlock
• A beer recipe kit or individual ingredients (malted barley, hops, yeast, and water)
• A 5-gallon brew kettle
• Sanitizer and cleaning supplies
• Bottling equipment (bottles, caps, a capper, transfer tubing, and a bottling wand)

Step 2: Sanitize Everything

Sanitation is crucial to ensuring your beer doesn't become contaminated. Clean and sanitize anything that will come into contact with your beer after the boiling process. This includes your fermenter, kettle, bottles, and any other equipment. Use a no-rinse, acid-based sanitizer like Star San, and don't forget to sanitise your hands!

Step 3: Steep Your Grains

Fill your brew kettle with 2.5 gallons of water and heat it up. Steep your grains in the hot water for about 20 minutes or until the water reaches 170°F (77°C). Remove the grains and let the water drip back into the kettle. Avoid squeezing the grain bag, as this can extract tannins that may affect the flavour of your beer.

Step 4: Boil and Add Hops

Bring your kettle to a rolling boil. Once it reaches a boil, remove it from the heat and add your malt extracts. Return the mixture to a boil and add your hops at various intervals, following your recipe's instructions. Be careful not to boil over when adding hops.

Step 5: Cool the Wort

At this stage, you have created wort, or sugar water. It's important to cool the wort as quickly as possible to prepare it for fermentation. You can do this by using an ice bath or a wort chiller.

Step 6: Ferment

Pour the cooled wort into your fermenter and add water to bring the level up to 5 gallons. Aerate the wort by splashing it around, as yeast needs oxygen. Add your yeast; dry yeast is the easiest option as it requires no preparation. Seal your fermenter with an airlock and store it in a cool, dark place. Ales typically ferment best at 68°F (20°C).

Step 7: Bottle and Carbonate

After fermentation is complete (usually within two weeks), it's time to bottle your beer. Clean and sanitise your bottles, bottle filler, bottle caps, bottling bucket, and any transfer hoses. Boil priming sugar in water and add it to the bottling bucket. Siphon your beer from the fermenter into the bottling bucket, leaving any sediment behind. Fill your bottles, cap them, and store them at room temperature for about two weeks to allow for carbonation.

Step 8: Enjoy!

After carbonation, your beer is ready to drink and share! Homebrewing is a rewarding hobby that allows you to experiment with different ingredients, techniques, and flavours. Cheers to your first of many batches!

Reviews of beer brewing kits

Northern Brewer Brew. Share. Enjoy. Homebrew Starter Kit

This kit is deemed the best kit for beginners by Wirecutter, which has been reviewing homebrewing kits since 2017. It includes more of the most important tools than other kits, and it costs less. Northern Brewer also provides excellent support, with a team of dedicated "brewmasters" available seven days a week to answer any queries. The kit includes a 5-gallon kettle and a 21-inch stirring spoon, two items most other kits in this price category don't include. It also features a siphonless design, which makes transferring beer after fermentation extremely simple. However, the kettle is on the thin and flimsy side, and its handles are uncomfortable when full. The kit doesn't include a no-rinse sanitizer, which is essential for preventing off-flavours.

MoreBeer Premium Home Brewing Kit

This kit is recommended by Wirecutter as an upgrade option for those who are certain they want to dive into brewing. It includes bigger and better gear, such as an 8.5-gallon stainless steel kettle with a ball-valve spigot, a wide-mouth 7-gallon fermenter, and a copper immersion chiller. The larger kettle allows for full-volume boils for 5-gallon batches, and the ball valve makes for easy transfers. The copper immersion chiller is also a useful addition, as it spares you from having to fill a sink with ice water to chill the wort. The recipes and instructions are solid, and MoreBeer offers a variety of support options, including phone, email, live chat, and how-to articles.

Mr. Beer Complete Beer Making Starter Kit

This kit is recommended by The Spruce Eats as the best option for beginners. At $55, it is a more affordable and smaller setup that is super easy to use. The brewing process is simple and replaces grains and hops with hopped malt extract, cutting your brew day to around 30 minutes. The kit includes a 2-gallon fermenter with a spigot, a can of brewing extract, a yeast packet, no-rinse cleanser, carbonation drops, and 11 25-ounce plastic bottles with caps and labels. However, the fermenter and bottles are made of plastic, which looks a little cheap next to stainless steel vessels and glass bottles. The kit also doesn't allow for any customisation or tinkering with the included recipe.

Brooklyn Brew Shop Everyday IPA Beer Making Kit

This kit is recommended by The Spruce Eats general manager Emma Christensen, who has written three books on homebrewing. It offers dozens of choices for beer style, including collaborations with craft breweries like Stillwater, BrewDog, and Mikkeller. The kit includes grain, hops, yeast, a 1-gallon glass fermenter, and all the necessary bits and pieces that attach to it. There aren't any bottles or bottling equipment included, but a full batch is only 8 pints of beer, so you can pour it into screw-top growlers and finish it before it goes flat. After the first batch, you can reuse the equipment and buy beer-making mixes for $16 apiece.

Northern Brewer Craft Beer Making Kit With Siphonless Fermenter

This 1-gallon kit is recommended by Wirecutter as the best option for those on a tight budget, with limited space, or who are unsure if they want to brew their own beer. It makes the brewing process more foolproof than any other 1-gallon option and features a siphonless design, with a wide-mouth 1-gallon fermenter that is easier to clean than typical apple-juice-jug-style small fermenters. It includes almost all the essentials, such as an airlock, bottling wand and tubing, a bottle capper, bottle caps, oxygen-based cleanser, and even personalisable beer bottle labels. However, it doesn't include a hydrometer or a kettle, and it doesn't come with bottles.

Frequently asked questions