Best Home Beer Making Kits & Supplies

Recently someone asked me about brewing beer from home, and if I had any suggestions about how to get started.

An example of what you'll find in a beer recipe kit

Although my expertise really is with wine and making wine from kits, I have always had an interest in learning how to brew beer from home as well. Turns out, it is just as easy - if not easier - as making your own wine.There are loads of great beer kits available cheaply from online retailers. I, personally, like to get mine through Happy Homebrew - a website that searches from the cheapest online beer kits available and also has some great reviews and informational posts about homebrewing generally. (They also have wine kits for sale too!).
Basically, to get started with brewing beer, you will need the following:

• The basic equipment. You can purchase a beginner's equipment kit for about $100
• Ingredients. I suggest you also get a beginner beer recipe kit like the nut brown or English IPA kit from Happy Homebrew. These kits are best for beginners because they are all extract kits, and only need to be boiled for about twenty minutes.
• A big pot (to boil your extract in. I use a large canning pot)
• Bottles (to put your beer in). Save your own if you can, to save money. Just make sure you only save bottles that don't use a twist off cap.

That's pretty much it. You can easily get started in home brewing beer for under $200. Most kits cost under $30, and make around six gallons of beer - or about sixty bottles of beer. That works out to about 50 cents a bottle for great tasting beer - so it is definitely well worth your time!

Basic Winemaking Supplies

So you are interested in making wine at home, but what exactly will you need to make your first batch of wine?

Here is a list of some of the basic winemaking supplies and equipment needed for the home winemaker. You should be able to find all the equipment and supplies either online at a winemaking or beer brewing online retailer or, if you are lucky to have one nearby, you local winemaking shop:

Winemaking Supplies: What You Will Need to Make Your First Batch of Wine

• Grapes (or grape concentrate)
• Large container for crushing grapes (not necessary if using concentrate)
• Bottles and corks
• Bottle corker
• Campden tablets
• Wine Yeast
• Two Glass Carboys or a carboy and a barrel
• Syphon
• Airlock
• Hydrometer

If you are just starting out, you may find that purchasing a winemaking kit is the easiest way to make your first batch of wine. With a winemaking starter kit all the ingredients and winemaking supplies will be included, usually for a very reasonable price. There are many online retailers that sell winemaking starter kits, and you should shop around to find the best price. You should be aware that you may want to upgrade your equipment soon if you purchase one of the cheapest kits, and buying a slightly more advanced kit may be a better investment in the long run.

For more tips and advice on how to make wine at home and reviews of the best in winemaking supplies, return to the Winemaking Supplies Home Page. Happy winemaking!

How To Make Wine From A Kit: The Basic Steps

So, you are considering purchasing a winemaking kit from a winemaking supplies store, but you first want to know what is involved in the process and how you will be able to make wine with it? Read through this quick outline of the basic steps of kit winemaking to get an idea of the winemaking kit process.

How to Make Wine From a Kit: The Basic Steps

First you should check and see what kind of yeast came with the kit. If it is a liquid yeast, you will need to activate it at least 24 hours before making wine. Follow the instructions on the yeast package to activate the yeast.

Second, you should clean and sanitize all your winemaking equipment. You can buy equipment sanitizer from your local (or online) winemaking supplies store (or use bleach) to sanitize all your equipment.

Once your yeast is ready and your equiment is clean, you're ready to start the real process of making wine from a kit! Follow these basic steps (unless the instructions provided from your local winemaking supplies store say otherwise):

1. Pour the juice into your primary fermenter and add water until you have 6 gallons in the fermenter.
   
   
2. Add your yeast and stir well with a spoon that has been sanitized.
   
   
3. Put the cover onto the fermenter and attach the airlock to it by placing the (sanitized) airlock into the hole on top of the lid.
   
   
4. Keep the fermenter in a room that is between 68-85 degrees (F). Within a couple of days you should start to see bubbles in the airlock, showing that the fermentation process is underway.
   
   
5. Keep the fermenter in this environment/temperature until fermentation is near complete. Once the bubbling subsides to only about one bubble a minute from the airlock, the fermentation will be finished and it will be time to transfer it into a glass carboy or wood barrel.
   
   
6. Age the wine. This will take at least six to nine months. You may want to transfer the wine to a new carboy every one or two months, to eliminate the effects of the sediment that will accumulate on the bottom of the carboy.
   
   
7. Bottle and drink.
   

There may be other steps that you will have to take if you notice there is something "off" with the winemaking process along the way, but this is really the basic steps of the winemaking process for the homemaker. Not hard, huh?

There are numerous places you can purchase winemaking kits and winemaking supplies online (many with advertisements on this web page). One of my favorites, however, is Midwest Supplies. If you live in the midwest portion of the United States, you will find they have very reasonable prices and quick shipping!

Thank you for visiting my web page devoted to winemaking and winemaking supplies. For even more information and reviews of winemaking supplies and equipment, please return to the Winemaking Supplies Home Page.

Winemaking Supplies for the Beginner: To Kit or Not To Kit

Making wine at home can be a fun, educational and money saving endeavor. If you are a wine enthusiast, learning to make your own wine will teach you much about the product and help you appreciate the finished product even more. If you are living on a budget but also love wine, making wine at home can help you enjoy more wine for your dollars.

When setting out to make wine at home, you will have to initially make an investment in quality winemaking supplies. There are many companies you can choose from to purchase winemaking supplies, and it is in your best interest to shop around and compare prices (be sure to calculate the shipping costs as well, however, since many winemaking supplies can be quite heavy to ship).

Many online stores will offer winemaking supplies kits which will include all the basic equipment and supplies you need to make your first batch of wine, often including the ingredients (you can often choose between a white wine kit or a red wine kit). These kits can be an excellent investment for beginning winemakers. Some kits include instructional videos that walk you through each step of the process. You will know that you have everything you need to successfully make your first batch of wine, and it will be hard to go wrong if you start of your winemaking experience with a kit.

However, there are some disadvantages to using a winemaking kit. For one, the selection of wines you can choose to make with winemaking kits are often quite limited, and often not of the best quality. Another disadavantage is that the quality of some of the winemaking equipment included in the kits is geared towards the beginner and for those interested in more advanced winemaking experimentation, many of the winemaking supplies included in these kits will soon become obsolete. Those who decide to pursue winemaking as a serious hobby will soon grow out of the basic winemaking supplies available in the kits and want to branch out and try their hand at personal experimentation.

As long as you are aware of both the advantages and disadvantages of starting your winemaking experience with a kit, however, you should not be disappointed and on your way to making some great wine!

Welcome to Winemaking Supplies

Welcome to Winemaking Supplies. This site seeks to provide unbiased information and reviews about winemaking supplies, equipment and online retailers. You will find discussions of how to find the best winemaking supplies for your money, where to locate the best winemaking information for your region, and much much more.

As a long term home winemaker and beer brewer, I know how difficult it can be to navigate the web for information about winemaking supplies, especially when you are a winemaking beginner. I wanted to provide a website for winemakers like me to go to that is not sponsored by a winemaking store, and where they can find honest reviews and discussions about winemaking supplies can be found.

On the right hand side of the page, you will find links to a variety of articles about winemaking supplies, reviews of winemaking equipment, recommended books and magazines about winemaking, and much much more. Please bookmark this blog and check back frequently for new articles, reviews and information about winemaking supplies and home winemaking in general.

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