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Equipment checklist

  • Brew kettle
  • Thermometer
  • Hydrometer or refractometer
  • Fermenter
  • Airlock and bung
  • Mash tun or brew bag
  • Wort chiller
  • Kitchen scale
  • Sanitizer
  • Stirring paddle
  • Grain mill
  • Bottles
  • Bottling wand and capper
  • Keg
  • Fermentation fridge

Learning path

  1. Sanitize the cold side

    Wort after the chill is food for anything that lands in it. Clean first, then use a no-rinse sanitizer on the fermenter, airlock, spoon and hydrometer.

    Required: Sanitizer, Brew kettle, Stirring paddle

    Open related recipes or guidance: Sanitize the cold side

  2. American Pale Ale

    First mash: a single infusion at about 67 °C for 60 minutes, then an ale fermentation around 19 °C — one temperature, one hop family, a beer you can taste against the next one.

    Required: Brew kettle, Thermometer, Hydrometer or refractometer, Fermenter, Airlock and bung, Mash tun or brew bag, Wort chiller, Kitchen scale, Sanitizer, Stirring paddle, Bottles, Bottling wand and capper

    Open related recipes or guidance: American Pale Ale

  3. Belgian Witbier

    Wheat and a wit yeast; the haze is the style, not a fault. Teaches a protein-rich mash without a lager fridge.

    Required: Brew kettle, Thermometer, Hydrometer or refractometer, Fermenter, Airlock and bung, Mash tun or brew bag, Wort chiller, Kitchen scale, Sanitizer, Stirring paddle, Bottles, Bottling wand and capper

    Open related recipes or guidance: Belgian Witbier

  4. American IPA

    A full hop schedule, not just bittering: late additions and a dry hop after high krausen.

    Required: Brew kettle, Thermometer, Hydrometer or refractometer, Fermenter, Airlock and bung, Mash tun or brew bag, Wort chiller, Kitchen scale, Sanitizer, Stirring paddle, Bottles, Bottling wand and capper

    Open related recipes or guidance: American IPA

  5. Brown Porter

    First roasted-malt batch. Do not oversparge the dark grains, or husk tannin reads as ash.

    Required: Brew kettle, Thermometer, Hydrometer or refractometer, Fermenter, Airlock and bung, Mash tun or brew bag, Wort chiller, Kitchen scale, Sanitizer, Stirring paddle, Bottles, Bottling wand and capper

    Open related recipes or guidance: Brown Porter

  6. Dry Stout

    A session roast with Irish ale yeast; the roast malt acidity already drops the mash pH, so do not also add acid.

    Required: Brew kettle, Thermometer, Hydrometer or refractometer, Fermenter, Airlock and bung, Mash tun or brew bag, Wort chiller, Kitchen scale, Sanitizer, Stirring paddle, Bottles, Bottling wand and capper

    Open related recipes or guidance: Dry Stout

  7. Saison

    Warm fermentation and high attenuation; do not cold-crash until gravity has actually stopped.

    Required: Brew kettle, Thermometer, Hydrometer or refractometer, Fermenter, Airlock and bung, Mash tun or brew bag, Wort chiller, Kitchen scale, Sanitizer, Stirring paddle, Bottles, Bottling wand and capper

    Open related recipes or guidance: Saison

  8. Pilsen Lager

    First cold fermentation: mash at 65 °C, ferment at 9 °C, then a diacetyl rest before lagering — without temperature control this is a pale ale with the wrong yeast.

    Required: Brew kettle, Thermometer, Hydrometer or refractometer, Fermenter, Airlock and bung, Mash tun or brew bag, Wort chiller, Kitchen scale, Sanitizer, Stirring paddle, Bottles, Bottling wand and capper, Fermentation fridge

    Open related recipes or guidance: Pilsen Lager