Extract brewing or brewing using beer kits is a great way to get started making beer.
It’s fairly inexpensive and you will probably have some of the equipment you will need at home already.
However if you don’t, have no fear there are many kits you can pick up that are priced reasonably and include everything you need to get started making some great beer. (equipment and ingredients). 
Most brewers do start with the beer kits and move up from there. Some of the beer kits do not even require that you boil any of the ingredients, simply pour them into the fermenter add some water and yeast and off you go.
In this post we are going to review two kits we recommend to get you started…
Getting Started
So your first step is you have to decide if you want to go really basic and not have to boil any of your ingredients or do you want to up your game just slightly and brew some beer that will require you to boil some of the ingredients.
Both are simple and easy to do, it is just a matter of deciding where you want to start.
Taste wise I do not find much difference between the two methods, however Boiling your ingredients does takes you one step closer to learning how to do all grain brewing.
So if your end goal is to become an all grain brewer you may wish to start there. The choice is yours.
No Boil Required Equipment:
One of my favorite kits to start with is the Coopers DIY kit.
I love this kit for many reasons, but here are my top 3:
1) It has all of the equipment you need to get started. (fermenter, mash paddle, bottles, sanitizer, hydrometer, thermometer, carbonation drops, and ingredients to make a great tasting brew)
2) The fermenter it comes with is one of my all-time favorite fermenters, I still use it to this day.
3) Coopers makes some of the best tasting beer kits by far.
I did a review of this kit here: Coopers Homebrew Kit Review
Coopers DIY Kit:
Order from Adventures in Homebrewing by Clicking Here
Order from Amazon.com by Clicking Here
(Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
Boil Required Equipment:
If you are going to start out making beer with extract kits that require you to boil some of the ingredients you will require the following equipment:
- A fermenter preferably plastic and at least capable of holding 7 gallons.
- An airlock for the fermenter
- A large stainless steel kettle, preferably at least 8.5 gallons.
- A mash paddle, which is basically a long handled spoon used for stirring
- A thermometer
- A racking cane used for transferring your wort (unfermented beer), with 5/16” food grade vinyl hose
- Beer bottles
- No-rinse sanitizer such as StarSan
Any of the following kits are really good to get you started ad come with everything you need:
The Adventures in Homebrewing Beginning Homebrew Kit:
You can Click Here to order this kit
The Northern Brewer – Premium Craft Brewery in a Box:
You can Click Here to order this kit
(Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
Extra Equipment, Not Required But Makes Brewing Easier:
- Funnel
- Stainless strainer
- Wire bottle brush (to clean glass beer bottles)
- Hydrometer with cylinder
- Hop bags (Muslin)
- Glass carboys (if you prefer over a plastic fermenter)
- Wire carboy brush (if you fermenter in carboys, do not use on plastic fermenters)
- Auto siphon (makes siphoning much easier)
- Spring-loaded bottle filler
- Propane burner if you want to brew outside
Ingredients and Recipes
If you purchase any of the kits listed above they will come with all of the ingredients and recipes (instructions).
If you piece your own equipment together You are also going to need to order your ingredients and or ready made beer kits.
If you are doing the No Boil Beer Kits, then I recommend the Coopers Kits. Click Here for some of my favorite.
If you are doing the Boil Beer Kits, then I recommend Brewers Best. Click Here for my review of them.
If you have any questions at all about getting the equipment you need to get started do not hesitate to ask in the comments section below, I will be sure to reply to you.
For further resources on brewing beer with kits you can check out this post: Beer Kit Brewing Instructions:
Happy Brewing…
Cheers Big Robb is out!