It doesn’t take much to start making your own beer at home: a large pot, some fermenting buckets, and you’re pretty much good to go. There are a few pieces of equipment though that make a world of difference in terms of ease and time. These are a few of the home brewing gadgets that I don’t brew without – each for $40 or less:
- The Auto Siphon
– The standard racking cane/siphoning hose setup will get the job done, but it’s hard to get a good flow going – if you’ve used them you know what I’m talking about. But with a pretty minor investment, the auto siphon will make racking beer from primary to secondary a piece of cake. We carry the auto siphon in both 3/8” and 1/2” hose sizes. Either will allow you to start a siphon flow by slowly pumping the auto siphon one time. It’s a home brew gadget that I’ll keep at the top of my list!
The Funnel Set – Sure, you can get by without a funnel, but anytime you’re pouring liquid or dry ingredients from one container to another, these handy gadgets help make sure that they don’t end up all over the floor. Our funnel set lets you fill containers large and small without a hassle, plus it comes with screens for straining. As you can see will have an assortment of sizes with strain screens that snap into the two largest sizes.
The Digital Scale – If you like to tweak and develop your own beer recipes, a digital scale is a home brewing gadget that is a “must”. It’s perfect for weighing out hops, grains, sugars, and other additions, and it helps ensure consistancy from brew to brew. Our Escali digital scale measures in ounces, grams, and pounds, has a capacity of 11 pounds or 5 kilograms, is accurate to the .05 oz., and it gives the homebrewer much more control over their craft.
The Complete Brush Set – Sound cleaning and sanitation are key to making good beer. The complete brush set includes five different brushes so you can make sure your bottles, carboys, and even airlocks are free of debris that could contaminate your beer. This brush set includes two different sized bottle brushes, a gallon jug brush, a carboy brush, and a smaller brush that’s perfect for scrubbing on the inside of airlocks and spigots. Buying the whole set saves about 20% over buying each brush individually. Anything that makes cleaning and sanitizing easier is money well spent in my book.
The Carboy and Bottle Washer – Again: cleaning and sanitation is essential. This home brewing gadget makes rinsing carboys and bottles a breeze. Pressing the carboy or bottle down on the lever releases a jet of water, a high pressure blast that’s much more effective than a regular rinse. We carry the washer in both stainless steel and brass. The thread fits standard outdoor and utility faucets, so get the Kitchen Faucet Thread Adapter to make it work in the kitchen.
What home brewing gadgets do you find essential? Let us know in the comments section!
Til next time…Cheers!
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David Ackley is a beer writer, brewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder of the Local Beer Blog.