Let's Brew! Basic Homebrew Starter Kit

You love beer, right? Can you follow a recipe? Do you like to cook? Well then, you can brew your beer!

High Gravity makes it easy to get started. Our Let's Brew! Homebrew Starter Kit has all the basic equipment to get started. In just a few weeks you will be drinking 2 cases of tasty beer that you made yourself.

SKU: 18987028
Product Type: Starter Equipment Kit
$109.99
$109.99
Subtotal: $109.99
Let's Brew! Basic Homebrew Starter Kit

Vendor: Small Batch Brewtique

Let's Brew! Basic Homebrew Starter Kit

$109.99

Vendor: Small Batch Brewtique

Let's Brew! Basic Homebrew Starter Kit

$109.99

Our Basic Starter Kit has all the equipment you need to start brewing beer. You can also upgrade your capper and add a brew pot.

We guarantee you've decided to start the best hobby ever, and we are here to make sure you have a great experience.

The base kit includes the following:

6.5 Gallon Bottling Bucket with Bottling Spigot.

6.5 Gallon Primary Fermenter and Drilled Lid with grommet and airlock.

Bottle Filler

Auto-Siphon & Tubing

Hydrometer

Twin Lever Capper (referred to as the Red Emily)

Bottle Brush

Liquid Crystal Thermometer

Sanitizer


Extract Brewing with Specialty Grains

Homebrew extract kits with specialty grains come with a liquid malt extract, hops and specialty grains. Many homebrewers consider this the best way to get started making beer as it doesn't require a great amount of time, yet making the beer is fun and challenging. With extract kits, homebrewers get to really cook the beer.
 
Extract kits with specialty grains come in many styles, from light American to Irish stouts. Because every style of beer has it's own hops and hopping schedule, each kit has its own set of instructions.
 
Specialty grains add flavor and color to beer. They come in a wide range of flavors and colors. The more common ones being crystal malts and dark malts such as chocolate and black patent. Every style of beer has it's own combination of specialty grains, which are steeped at a particular temperature before bringing the water to a boil. Specialty grains must be crushed prior to steeping.
 
To brew an extract kit with specialty grains, you will need a pot that can hold 3 gallons of water. Follow the basic steps below to make a great tasting beer!
 

1. First, gather the equipment needed for brew day. You will need a brew pot that can hold at least 3 gallons of water, a fermenting bucket, airlock, and a hydrometer if you want to take readings.

 

2. If your kit came with a Wyeast liquid yeast, remove it from the fridge and activate it by breaking the nutrient bag that is inside the package. Try to do this 3-5 hours before you pitch your yeast. Other liquid yeast should be brought to room temperature before pitching.

 

3. Heat 2-3 gallons of water to the temperature specified in the instruction, usually 150°-160°. Place the specialty grains in the muslin bag that is provided in the kit and steep for 30-45 minutes, depending on the recipe. Remove the grains and bring the water to a boil.

 

4. Add malt extract and stir to dissolve. Bring back to a boil.

 

5. Add hops according to the hopping schedule. If the kit came with a hop bag, place the hops in the bag. It will help reduce the amount of sludge that is created. Hops are generally considered bittering, flavoring or finishing/aroma hops. They can be the same variety of hop but the amount of time they are boiled determines what kind of hop they are to the recipe. Bittering hops tend to be added at the beginning of the boil. Flavoring hops are added when there is 15 to 30 minutes left in the boil and finishing/aroma hops are added at the end of the boil.

 

6. While the beer is being brewed, you should sanitize your fermenting bucket, lid, airlock and anything that will come in contact with your beer after it is cooled down.

 

7. Cool the wort (wort is what we call unfermented beer) as quickly as possible. Placing the brewpot is a sink full of ice water is very effective. Once the wort is cooled to at least 90° (80° is better) pour it into the sanitized fermenting bucket. Add cold water to bring to the desired volume. Most extract kits make 5 gallons of beer (48-50 12oz bottles). Be sure to let the wort splash as you pour to help oxygenate the wort.

 

8. If you have dry yeast, open the yeast packet and sprinkle on the top of the wort. There is no need to rehydrate the yeast or to stir. The yeast will rehydrate as it sinks into wort. If you have a liquid yeast, gently shake the package and open carefully. Pour intot he wort. There is no need to stir.

 
9. Place the lid on the fermenting bucket and fill the airlock halfway with water and insert it into the grommet on the lid. You should start seeing activity in you airlock with 12 to 48 hours. This lets you know that your beer has started fermenting. Be sure to ferment at the recommended temperature. Ales typically ferment at room temerature while lagers need to be fermented much cooler, between 45°-55°F. As the beer continues to ferment, the airlock will start showing less and less activity, indicating that the yeast is nearing completion of the fermentation process. The beer is usually finished fermenting in about a week.
 
10. Once the airlock shows no activity, take a hydrometer reading. Notate the results and take another reading in 3-4 days. If the readings are still changing do no move to the bottling phase. Once you have gone three days without any changes then you are ready to bottle. You will need to sanitize your bottling bucket, racking tube, tubing. bottle filler and bottles. The bottles are easiest to sanitize in the dishwasher using the heated dry cycle. If you do not want to use the dishwasher, a bottle tree is recommended to allow the bottle to drain and dry.
 

11. At bottling time, a small amount of corn sugar (also called bottling or priming sugar) is added to the beer in order to give the yeast enough food to carbonate your beer in the bottle. For a 5 gallon batch you will need to dissolve 3/4 cup of corn sugar in about a cup of water on the stove. Let it boil for a few minutes to kill any bacteria that may be present. Cool 5 minutes and pour the corn sugar into the bottling bucket.

12. Using the auto-siphon and tubing, transfer the beer from the fermenting bucket to the bottling bucket. The bottling sugar will mix with the beer as it is transferred. 13. Remove the tubing from the racking cane and place it on the spigot that is on the bottling bucket. Attach the bottle filler to the other end of the tubing. The bottle filler has a valve that allows you to fill your bottles without having to stop the flow of beer from bottle to bottle. Open the spigot and place the bottle filler in the beer bottle. Press the filler on the bottom of the bottle to start the flow of beer. Fill the bottles till the beer is about to overflow. When you remove the filler, the amount of volume that is displaced is the proper amount that you need to ensure your beer will carbonate properly.

13. Cap the beer with bottle caps that have been boiled for a few minutes on the stove.

 

That's all there is to it! Keep your beer stored in a dark space at room temperature for 2 weeks. Before placing all of them in the fridge, cool one down and make sure that the carbonation is satisfactory. If it is, start drinking! If not, let sit another week or so and test again.

Beer will continue to improve for several weeks so if you can muster the willpower, wait a month or two and you will be rewarded.

 

In order to make homebrew, you need equipment. There are basic pieces of homebrew equipment needed regardless of what brewing method you decided to use.

Single Stage Fermentation

The following is a list of what is typically used for a single stage fermentation. Single stage fermentation simply means that you are allowing the beer to completely ferment in a single vessel, referred to as a primary fermenter, and then the beer is transferred to a bottling bucket to be bottled.
 
Fermenter - Bucket 6.5 GallonLid - 6.5 Gallon Bucket (Grommetted)

Many brewers use a food grade plastic bucket with at least a 6.5 gallon capacity as the primary fermenter to ferment the wort (unfermented beer). This is a perfect size when brewing 5 gallon batches of beer and the large opening of the bucket makes the initial transferring of the wort much easier than transferring to a glass carboy (Glass water bottle). A lid with a grommetted hole and airlock is used to seal the fermenting bucket. An airlock is filled halfway with water to allow CO2 to escape while keeping bacteria and oxygen away from the beer.
 
Bottling Bucket - 6.5 Gallon

The bottling Bucket has a spigot and is used for bottling your beer once it has finished fermenting. On bottling day, priming sugar (also called corn sugar and dextrose) is mixed with a small amount of water, dissolved on the stove and then is added to the bottling bucket. The beer is then siphoned into the the bottling bucket, allowing the priming sugar to mix with the beer.
 
Bottle Filler - Spring Loaded

Once the beer has been transferred to the bottling bucket, it is immediately bottled using the bottle filler. The bottle filler attaches to the tubing that is attached to the spigot and has a valve on the tip. The valve releases the beer into the bottle when pressed on the bottom of the bottle. Fill the beer to the very top of the bottle and remove bottle filler. The filler displaces the exact amount of air space needed to carbonate your beer. It is a very handy tool.
 
Hydrometer - Beer/Wine Triple Scale

The hydrometer allows you to take gravity readings that help determine the alcohol level of your beer and more importantly, it allows you to follow the progress of your fermenting beer to ensure it is working and to let you know when it is ready to bottle.
 
Siphon Racking Cane - Auto-siphon 1/2

The racking cane allows you to transfer your wort from one vessel to another. It is made of hard plastic and is shaped like a cane. The end of the cane has an anti-sediment tip that draws liquid from above so that sediment can be avoided while transferring. Tubing attaches to the racking cane and should reach to the bottom of the vessel you are transferring to so that it dos not splash and introduce unwanted oxygen into the beer. Our basic starter kits includes an auto-siphon, making the transferring of your wort a breeze.
 


Sanitizer is used to to sanitize and your equipment. It is critical that anything that is coming in contact with the wort has been boiled is sanitized to prevent spoilage of the beer. There are several products available for sanitizing. We recommend o2 Power Cleanse, our peroxide based sanitizer/cleaner

 
Other helpful but not entirely critical pieces of equipment would be a bottle brush to clean bottles and adhesive thermometers that can be attached to the outside of the fermenting buckets to monitor the temperature of the fermenting beer.
 

2-Stage Fermentation

Many brewers do what is referred to as 2-stage fermentation. 
 
In a 2-stage fermentation setup, the wort is transferred to a second vessel after 4-7 days in the primary fermenter.
 
Carboy - Glass 6 Gallon

The secondary fermenter is usually a 5-6 gallon glass or plastic water bottle, referred to as a carboy.

Performing a 2-stage fermentation has two main benefits. First, it allows you to get your beer off the trub ( the material, along with hop debris and yeast that has fallen to the bottom of the primary fermenter). These materials can autolyze (breakdown) can and cause off-flavors. Second, transferring the beer into a secondary fermenter breaks the surface tension of the liquid. This allows the particulates that were in suspension to break lose and drop out much faster. This results in a clearer beer with less sediment in the conditioned bottle.
 

Acrospire

The beginnings of the plant shoot in germinating barley.

Adjunct

Any non-enzymatic fermentable. Adjuncts include: unmalted cereals such as flaked barley or corn grits, syrups, and sugars.

Aerate

To mix air into solution to provide oxygen for the yeast.

Aerobic

A process that utilizes oxygen.

Aldehyde

A chemical precursor to alcohol. In some cases, alcohol can be oxidized to aldehydes, creating off-flavors.

Ale

A beer brewed from a top-fermenting yeast with a relatively short, warm fermentation.

Aleurone Layer

The living sheath surrounding the endosperm of a barley corn, containing enzymes.

Alkalinity

The condition of pH between 7-14. The chief cause of alkalinity in brewing water is the bicarbonate ion (HCO3-1).

Alpha Acid Units (AAU)

A homebrewing measurement of hops. Equal to the weight in ounces multiplied by the percent of alpha acids.

Amino Acids

An essential building block of protein, being comprised of an organic acid containing an amine group (NH2).

Amylase

An enzyme group that converts starches to sugars, consisting primarily of alpha and beta amylase. Also referred to as the diastatic enzymes.

Amylopectin

A branched starch chain found in the endosperm of barley. It can be considered to be composed of amylose.

Amylose

A straight-chain starch molecule found in the endosperm of barley.

Anaerobic

A process that does not utilize oxygen or may require the absence of it.

Attenuation

The degree of conversion of sugar to alcohol and CO2.

Autolysis

When yeast run out of nutrients and die, they release their innards into the beer, producing off-flavors.

°Balling, °Brix, or °Plato

These three nearly identical units are the standard for the professional brewing industry for describing the amount of available extract as a weight percentage of cane sugar in solution, as opposed to specific gravity. Eg. 10 °Plato is equivalent to a specific gravity of 1.040.

Beer

Any beverage made by fermenting a wort made from malted barley and seasoned with hops.

Beerstone

A hard organo-metallic scale that deposits on fermentation equipment; chiefly composed of calcium oxalate.

Biotin

A colorless crystalline vitamin of the B complex, found especially in yeast, liver, and egg yolk.

Blow-off

A type of airlock arrangement consisting of a tube exiting from the fermenter, submerging into a bucket of water, that allows the release of carbon dioxide and removal of excess fermentation material.

°Brix, °Balling, or °Plato

These three nearly identical units are the standard for the professional brewing industry for describing the amount of available extract as a weight percentage of cane sugar in solution, as opposed to specific gravity. Eg. 10 °Plato is equivalent to a specific gravity of 1.040.

Buffer

A chemical species, such as a salt, that by disassociation or re-association stabilizes the pH of a solution.

Cellulose

Similar to a starch, but organized in a mirror aspect; cellulose cannot be broken down by starch enzymes, and vice versa.

Cold Break

Proteins that coagulate and fall out of solution when the wort is rapidly cooled prior to pitching the yeast.

Conditioning

An aspect of secondary fermentation in which the yeast refine the flavors of the final beer. Conditioning continues in the bottle.

Decoction

A method of mashing wherein temperature rests are achieved by boiling a part of the mash and returning it to the mash tun.

Dextrin

A complex sugar molecule, left over from diastatic enzyme action on starch.

Dextrose

Equivalent to Glucose, but with a mirror-image molecular structure.

Diastatic Power

The amount of diastatic enzyme potential that a malt contains.

Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS)

A background flavor compound that is desirable in low amounts in lagers, but that at high concentrations tastes of cooked vegetables.

Endosperm

The nutritive tissue of a seed, consisting of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids.

Enzymes

Protein-based catalysts that effect specific biochemical reactions.

Esters

Aromatic compounds formed from alcohols by yeast action. Typically smell fruity.

Ethanol

The type of alcohol in beer formed by yeast from malt sugars.

Extraction

The soluble material derived from barley malt and adjuncts. Not necessarily fermentable.

Fatty Acid

Any of numerous saturated or unsaturated aliphatic monocarboxylic acids, including many that occur in the form of esters or glycerides, in fats, waxes, and essential oils.

Fermentation

The total conversion of malt sugars to beer, defined here as three parts, adaptation, primary, and secondary.

Finings

Ingredients such as isinglass, bentonite, Irish moss, etc, that act to help the yeast to flocculate and settle out of finished beer.

Flocculation

To cause to group together. In the case of yeast, it is the clumping and settling of the yeast out of solution.

Fructose

Commonly known as fruit sugar, fructose differs from glucose by have a ketone group rather than an aldehydic carbonyl group attachment.

Fusel Alcohol

A group of higher molecular weight alcohols that esterify under normal conditions. When present after fermentation, fusels have sharp solvent-like flavors and are thought to be partly responsible for hangovers.

Gelatinization

The process of rendering starches soluble in water by heat, or by a combination of heat and enzyme action, is called gelatinization.

Germination

Part of the malting process where the acrospire grows and begins to erupt from the hull.

Glucanase

An enzyme that act on beta glucans, a type of gum found in the endosperm of unmalted barley, oatmeal, and wheat.

Glucose

The most basic unit of sugar. A single sugar molecule.

Gravity

Like density, gravity describes the concentration of malt sugar in the wort. The specific gravity of water is 1.000 at 59F. Typical beer worts range from 1.035- 1.055 before fermentation (Original Gravity).

Grist

The term for crushed malt before mashing.

Hardness

The hardness of water is equal to the concentration of dissolved calcium and magnesium ions. Usually expressed as ppm of (CaCO3).

Hopback

A vessel that is filled with hops to act as a filter for removing the break material from the finished wort.

Hops

Hop vines are grown in cool climates and brewers make use of the cone-like flowers. The dried cones are available in pellets, plugs, or whole.

Hot Break

Proteins that coagulate and fall out of solution during the wort boil.

Hot Water Extract

The international unit for the total soluble extract of a malt, based on specific gravity. HWE is measured as liter*degrees per kilogram, and is equivalent to points/pound/gallon (PPG) when you apply metric conversion factors for volume and weight. The combined conversion factor is 8.3454 X PPG = HWE.

Hydrolysis

The process of dissolution or decomposition of a chemical structure in water by chemical or biochemical means.

Infusion

A mashing process where heating is accomplished via additions of boiling water.

International Bittering Units (IBU)

A more precise unit for measuring hops. Equal to the AAU multiplied by factors for percent utilization, wort volume and wort gravity.

Invert Sugar

A mixture of dextrose and fructose found in fruits or produced artificially by the inversion of sucrose (e.g. hydrolyzed cane sugar).

Irish Moss

An emulsifying agent, Irish moss promotes break material formation and precipitation during the boil and upon cooling.

Isinglass

The clear swim bladders of a small fish, consisting mainly of the structural protein collagen, acts to absorb and precipitate yeast cells, via electrostatic binding.

Krausen (kroy-zen)

Used to refer to the foamy head that builds on top of the beer during fermentation. Also an advanced method of priming.

Lactose

A nonfermentable sugar, lactose comes from milk and has historically been added to Stout, hence Milk Stout.

Lag Phase

The period of adaptation and rapid aerobic growth of yeast upon pitching to the wort. The lag time typically lasts from 2-12 hours.

Lager

A beer brewed from a bottom-fermenting yeast and given a long cool fermentation.

Lauter

To strain or separate. Lautering acts to separate the wort from grain via filtering and sparging.

Lipid

Any of various substances that are soluble in nonpolar organic solvents, and that include fats, waxes, phosphatides, cerebrosides, and related and derived compounds. Lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates compose the principal structural components of living cells.

Liquefaction

As alpha amylase breaks up the branched amylopectin molecules in the mash, the mash becomes less viscous and more fluid; hence the term liquefaction of the mash and alpha amylase being referred to as the liquefying enzyme.

Lupulin Glands

Small bright yellow nodes at the base of each of the hop petals, which contain the resins utilized by brewers.

Maillard Reaction

A browning reaction caused by external heat wherein a sugar (glucose) and an amino acid form a complex, and this product has a role in various subsequent reactions that yield pigments and melanoidins.

Maltose

The preferred food of brewing yeast. Maltose consists of two glucose molecules joined by a 1-4 carbon bond.

Maltotriose

A sugar molecule made of three glucoses joined by 1-4 carbon bonds.

Mash

The hot water steeping process that promotes enzymatic breakdown of the grist into soluble, fermentable sugars.

Melanoidins

h2 flavor compounds produced by browning (Maillard) reactions.

Methanol

Also known as wood alcohol, methanol is poisonous and cannot be produced in any significant quantity by the beer making process.

Modification

An inclusive term for the degree of degradation and simplification of the endosperm and the carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids that comprise it.

Peptidase

A proteolytic enzyme which breaks up small proteins in the endosperm to form amino acids.

pH

A negative logarithmic scale (1-14) that measures the degree of acidity or alkalinity of a solution for which a value of 7 represents neutrality. A value of 1 is most acidic, a value of 14 is most alkaline.

Phenol, Polyphenol

A hydroxyl derivative of an aromatic hydrocarbon that causes medicinal flavors and is involved in staling reactions.

Pitching

Term for adding the yeast to the fermenter.

°Plato, °Brix, or °Balling

These three nearly identical units are the standard for the professional brewing industry for describing the amount of available extract as a weight percentage of cane sugar in solution, as opposed to specific gravity. Eg. 10 °Plato is equivalent to a specific gravity of 1.040.

Points per Pound per Gallon (PPG)

The US homebrewers unit for total soluble extract of a malt, based on specific gravity. The unit describes the change in specific gravity (points) per pound of malt, when dissolved in a known volume of water (gallons). Can also be written as gallon*degrees per pound.

ppm

The abbreviation for parts per million and equivalent to milligrams per liter (mg/l). Most commonly used to express dissolved mineral concentrations in water.

Primary Fermentation

The initial fermentation activity marked by the evolution of carbon dioxide and Krausen. Most of the total attenuation occurs during this phase.

Priming

The method of adding a small amount of fermentable sugar prior to bottling to give the beer carbonation.

Protease

A proteolytic enzyme which breaks up large proteins in the endosperm that would cause haze in the beer.

Proteolysis

The degradation of proteins by proteolytic enzymes e.g. protease and peptidase.

Racking

The careful siphoning of the beer away from the trub.

Saccharification

The conversion of soluble starches to sugars via enzymatic action.

Sanitize

To reduce microbial contaminants to insignificant levels.

Secondary Fermentation

A period of settling and conditioning of the beer after primary fermentation and before bottling.

Sparge

To sprinkle. To rinse the grainbed during lautering.

Sterilize

To eliminate all forms of life, especially microorganisms, either by chemical or physical means.

Sterols

Any of various solid steroid alcohols widely distributed in plant and animal lipids.

Sucrose

This disaccharide consists of a fructose molecule joined with a glucose molecule. It is most readily available as cane sugar.

Tannins

Astringent polyphenol compounds that can cause haze and/or join with large proteins to precipitate them from solution. Tannins are most commonly found in the grain husks and hop cone material.

Trub (trub or troob)

The sediment at the bottom of the fermenter consisting of hot and cold break material, hop bits, and dead yeast.

Wort (wart or wert)

The malt-sugar solution that is boiled prior to fermentation.

Zymurgy

The science of brewing and fermentation.

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