Brewing beer at home is one of the hobbies that might provide you with a business opportunity in the future. You, however, need to make sure that you have the right products or equipment before you get started.
Starter kits might provide you with everything that you need. You can easily find them and even get a wide range of equipment and products to choose from. You can find hydrometers, thermometers, tubing, siphons, cappers, fermentation buckets, and bottles, among others.
When starting, you need to be prepared for all eventualities. You might find yourself in a situation where you have dived too deep into homebrewing that you want to commercialize it. You might need a different set for this, but your homebrewing products can also get the job done.
Before we discuss the cool products you need to buy if you want to brew your own beer at home, what about going further and starting your own brewery?
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Going Further and Starting Your Own Brewery
You have gone through the basics and successfully started brewing your own beer at home. You have even bought all or some of the equipment and products discussed below and people are loving your beers.
Due to this success, you decide to go commercial and start your own brewery. This is not a walk in the park and you need to make sure that everything is running well. One of the most important things to get is Ollie’s brewery management software.
This software application allows you to manage all processes in your brewery business, including brewery production, order processing, customer relationships, payments, reporting, and inventory, among others.
Before going commercial, here are some of the cool products to buy to successfully start brewing your own beer at home;
Refractometer
One of the most important things you need when brewing beer at home is a hydrometer. This is because it plays a crucial role when measuring your wort’s specific gravity or the sugar that you have.
Unfortunately, the process of using a hydrometer consumes a lot of time. This is because you need to make sure that your wort is cool before you can start using the hydrometer. This is where a refractometer comes in.
Using a refractometer, you can track the conversion of your starch when mashing. In addition, unlike hydrometers, you do not have to worry about high temperatures when using refractometers. Even when boiling your wort, a refractometer will give you everything that you need.
However, a refractometer will not give you the exact gravity. To get this, you need some calculations for detailed information. It is, however, a cool product to have when starting to brew beer at home.
Digital Timer
Timing is one of the most important things when brewing beer. It is crucial during the processes of wort preparation and boiling, adding hops, and fermentation. It can also help those who want to add spices or special grains to their wort.
It helps you avoid mistakes such as boil-overs. In case of a boil-over, you would be faced with things such as the overflow of wort and froth on the sides of your container and kettle. When this happens, you will find it difficult to clean up the mess.
A digital timer is important when it comes to ensuring that your brew process is streamlined. It also helps you to make sure that you hit your targets without any problems. There are different timers in the market, so make sure that you get the right one.
Grain Mill
A grain mill is an important piece of equipment for those who want to prepare their own malts instead of taking pre-crushed ones. It ensures that you can control the malts you want to make and come up with any kind of malt that you want.
For instance, you can control the flavor, sugar, and color of your malts, allowing you to experiment and come up with a variety of beers. However, this is just one of the pieces of equipment that you need for successful homebrewing.
After using a grain mill as well as buckets and carboys, you will also use other pieces of equipment such as conical fermenters. This is needed for those who want to brew standard beers.
The major advantage of grain mills is that they allow brewers to choose different styles for their malts and prepare different flavors for their beers. When shopping for one, ensure that the one you choose comes with all the features that you need as well as a hopper extension.
Oxygenation Kit
If you have done some research before starting to brew beer at home, you understand that most of your job will be preparing the wort. However, the yeast you use is responsible for making your beer.
This means that good quality and healthy yeast will be crucial in producing the best beer. The kind of beer you get will be dictated by the quality of yeast that you use. However, can you improve the quality of your yeast?
Yes, you can. You need an oxygenation kit to improve the quality of your yeast. You can also aerate your wort before the yeast is added to brew a beer that stands out from others. This kit is very important for those who want to prepare high-gravity beers.
Water Test Kit
A bigger percentage of beer – up to 90% – is made up of water. This means that the water you use when brewing your beer will determine the kind of beer that you produce. The most important ions in water that you need to look for include bicarbonates, chloride, calcium, sodium, sulfate, and magnesium.
The alkalinity of the water you use when brewing affects the pH of your mash and is crucial when making acid adjustments. The truth is that you can use laboratory means to test the water you use. However, this is not good especially when you have different sources of water.
This makes a water testing kit important to ensure that you get an accurate pH of your mash. Apart from making your brewing process convenient, a water testing kit improves the quality of your beers. Brewing water is one of the most important processes when brewing beer, making a water testing kit a very important component.
All Grain Brewing System
This is one of the best products for the perfect home brewing process. This is because you can easily shift to all-grain brewing from extract brewing. However, it is important to note that all-grain brewing consumes more time than extract brewing.
In addition, you have to get other sets of equipment for all-grain brewing. This might include a wort chiller, iodine, and pH meter, among others. With an all-grain brewing system, you will have full control over how you make your beers.
It also helps you spend a few ingredients, getting more beer for less. The system also helps you control the flavor, color, mouthfeel, and aroma of your beers. This means that you have complete control over how to make your beers.
Hop Spider
A hop spider is also an important product for you to get before you start brewing beer at home. You will need it to ensure that your hop matter does not clog the pump system. This means that you do not have to fish your mash tun or brew kettle for boiling hops.
In addition, you will need a hop spider to reduce any mess on your products and brewing equipment. This makes it easy for you to clean the products and equipment. It also helps reduce maintenance requirements on your pump system.
Unfortunately, you need to be careful when using hop spiders since they might change the aroma and taste of your beers.
Stir Plate
As discussed above, yeast is one of the most important things when it comes to the quality of your brew. You need to get a stir plate to help improve the quality of your yeast even more. A stir plate plays a crucial role in making yeast healthy and increasing its cell count.
This is crucial in the fermentation process, especially when fermenting sugars. If you want to brew high-gravity alcohol, you need to ensure that your yeast does not get stressed especially when fermenting a lot of sugar. This task is handled well with a stir plate.
With a stir plate, you can forget about yeast infections, brew better and high-quality beer, and spend less time during the fermentation process. You will not have any problem competing with some of the best mixes of 2023.
Auto Siphon
Some people might assume that an auto siphon is not an important product to have when brewing beer. However, most homebrewers understand how useful it is especially when they want to brew the best quality beers.
Auto siphons are easy to use and make it easy for you to transfer liquids from one place to another without any problems. In addition, you need to ensure that you have auto siphons to brew the best beers.
Auto siphons also play a role in ensuring that bacteria are kept away from your brewing process and beers. It also prevents oxygen from being exposed. Using a regular siphon might leave you and your brewing process exposed to risks.
Get Started Today
Other important products and equipment you might need to start brewing beer at home might include a bottle washer, carboy and keg washer, and other cleaning materials. These products are important for cleaning purposes.
Starting a home brewery might not be as easy or cheap as some people might think. This is because of all the equipment and products you might need to get started. This article has discussed some of the cool products to get you started without any problems.