Each one of us has started off brewing with malt extracts or “beer kits”. It doesn’t take long before the benefits of all-grain brewing become very apparent. The freedom to brew and fine-tune whatever style of beer one desires along with a better knowledge of the shelf-life of the ingredients and the specific strains/brands/varieties of yeasts, malts, and hops are major advantages of all-grain brewing over extract brewing techniques.
Total control over every step in the brewing process not only makes the hobby more enjoyable, it also leads to nearly 100% reproducibility between batches. Through trial and error, we have figured out what equipment best suits our needs (and space requirements). To save others time, effort and expense, we have compiled a list of the essential pieces of all-grain brewing equipment. Note, there are a few items on this list which you could get away without, but the time saved by having each and every one of these is worth every penny.
All-Grain Brewing Essentials:
- Brew kettle
- 2nd kettle for sparge water
- Gas stove or propane burner
- Mash tun
- Wort chiller
- Grain mill
- Fermentation vessel and airlock
- Thermometer
- Stirring spoon (plastic or stainless steel)
- Auto-siphon
- Kitchen scale
- Sanitizer (StarSan, bleach, or similar)
and if bottling…
- Bottle capper
- Bottle caps
- Bottle filler
- Brown glass, pop-top bottles
The brewers’ coalition purchases all of its equipment from OBK (OntarioBeerKegs).