2torial #0726:
Learn2 Brew Your Own Beer (continued)

Gather your supplies

Many home brew stores sell all-inclusive startup kits, or you can improvise much of the necessary equipment by using household items you already own. Here's a rundown of what you need:

A brew pot. Use a stainless-steel or enamel-coated metal pot with a lid and at least a 4-gallon (15-liter) capacity.

A brew spoon. Use a stainless steel or plastic spoon with a handle that's at least 18 inches (45 centimeters) long.

A fermentation vessel with airlock. This is a 7-gallon (26-liter) plastic bucket with a spigot and an airlock (this "fermentation lock" is crucial, as it allows carbon dioxide bubbles to escape during fermentation). You'll most likely have to buy one from a home brew specialty store.

Bottles. For this recipe, you'll need 54 twelve-ounce (355-milliliter) bottles. Either buy them new from your home brew supplier, find a local recycling bin and pick them up for free, or buy nine six-packs and empty out the beer (if you decide to drink the contents, please don't do it all at once!).

Note: Plastic is oxygen-permeable, and oxygen is bad for your developing brew, so don't substitute plastic bottles for glass ones. Also, while some brewers recommend green or dark brown bottles to help filter light during the fermentation process, they're really only necessary with more advanced brewing techniques than those described in this 2torial.

A bottle brush. A narrow, soft-bristle brush will help you clean inside the bottles before filling them.

Crowns. Also called bottle caps, crowns are usually sold in batches of 60.

A bottle capper. This affixes the crowns to the bottles. It's possible to rent one, although you can purchase a bottle capper for only about $20 (U.S.).

A bottling bucket. Use a 5-gallon (19-liter) food-grade bucket. It doesn't need a lid, but it does need a spigot at the bottom.

A bottling tube. This is a hard plastic tube used to transport beer from the bottling bucket into the bottles. It should be long enough to reach from your work table almost to the floor and should fit inside a bottle's mouth.

A flexible plastic hose. Used to transfer beer from the fermentation vessel to the bottling bucket, this hose needs to fit the spigots on both those receptacles and reach from your work table to the floor.