Equipment To Get Started

The first thing you will need is an Equipment Starter Kit for either wine, beer or cider. These kits contain all the necessary homebrew equipment (fermenting vessels etc). You may need to collect empty bottles (although we recommend the use of Coopers OxBar bottles). and in the colder months of the year, a heating belt (brewbelt) will be required to keep the temperature of your brew high enough for the yeast to work properly.

Next you will need a wine/beer/cider ingredient kit. These kits contain the raw ingredients (malt extract, grape juice etc) that you are going to ferment. They also contain yeast and any other ingredients you will need. The beer equipment starter kits usually come with a beer kit, but the wine starter kits usually do not have a wine kit included.

Some kits require the addition of sugar. You will get a better result if you use Brewing Sugar (Ingredients and Chemicals Section) instead. For beer, Malt Extract or Spraymalt (also in the Ingredients Section) can be used instead of sugar to give a maltier beer. However, beer kits are designed for the ingredients recommended by the manufacturer, and replacing sugar with malt extract may alter the manufacturer's intended taste and mouth feel of the beer. For this reason, we suggest using the ingredients suggested by the manufacturer. Coopers beer kits are among the best in the world, and we have a section which bundles the beer kits with the correct ingredients at discount prices: Coopers 40 Pint Beer Kits Bundled With The Ingredients Recommended By Coopers (Superb Value).

If you are going to make spirits and liqueur, you will also need to go to the Spirits and Liqueur Kits section and purchase a HBW Liqueur Starter Kit which contains all the equipment you will need to make 5 litres of liqueurs.

http://www.homebrewwest.ie Bringing real value to homebrewing in Ireland