Best Homebrew Kits in 2022

How We Chose Our Selection Of Best Beer Brewing Kits

Quality - In the process of trying to determine the best brew kit quality is obviously important. But the quality we’re focused on is primarily the quality of the finished product. Not so much the quality of the brewing items that produce the finished product. For instance, if the brew kit supplies a plastic tub for fermentation rather than a deluxe stainless steel fermenter but the final product is a robust, flavorful brew you’ll be proud to serve to your guests, we’ll overlook the cheap plastic tub. At least to some extent. On the other hand, if the kit provides you with little more than second-rate equipment and ingredients and the final product is nothing to write home about that home brewing kit is not going to make our list no matter how many times it says pretty please.

Reviews - There was a saying circulating in the halls of diplomacy during the Cold War that went something like this “Trust, but verify”. That meant the US government was willing to believe the Soviets were eliminating nuclear warheads as promised as long as they allowed US inspectors to verify that destruction was taking place. We operate pretty much the same way. We read what people are saying about this or that product, whether it’s running shoes or homebrew kits. But at the end of the day we want to see, smell, taste and try for ourselves then make up our own minds. Because, like high-level diplomats, we’re just naturally skeptical.

Brand - Homebrew kits, even the best homebrew kits, are not Gucci bags or Armani suits. In other words, the entire homebrew kit industry is so new that there aren’t really any established “gold standards” to judge others by. In fact, some of these kits seem like they were slapped together in some guy’s garage after he got home from working his day job. And maybe they were. The important thing in this case though is not the brand name but whether they provide you with what you need to brew and whether the finished product is of sufficient quality to warrant the initial investment.

Price - Some homebrew kits are remarkably affordable while others are going to surprise you a bit with their price tag. But how much is too much with regard to something like this is entirely a personal decision. Something like the BeerDroid is going to set you back a pretty penny, but it’s something you can proudly display on your kitchen counter. On the other hand, the Maestro Home Brew kit costs about the same as a pair of jeans but you’re not going to want to set it up on the granite countertop in your kitchen. The fact is we’re not so concerned about the price. We’re concerned about the finished product. And both of the just-mentioned kits pass the finish product test.

Features To Look For In The Best Home Beer Brewing Kit

Ease of use - Of course, you’re buying a homebrew kit instead of starting your own home brewery because you want the convenience and ease of use. If a homebrew kit is a nightmare to learn and/or use then what’s the point of the kit? That said some kits are definitely easier to use than others because some don’t supply things like the kettle for boiling or hoses or the siphon to migrate the wort to the fermenter. But then there is the PicoBrew, which essentially reduces the entire process to a few button clicks and a week’s worth of waiting.

Cleaning tools - For the sake of convenience some home brew kits include a minimal complement of cleaning tools like bottle brushes, sanitizers and the like. But these are the exception. In most cases, you’ll need to provide your own cleaning materials. (Although even kits that don’t supply the cleaning materials for you will likely provide instructions for how to best clean the equipment.) To save you a bit of time we’ll provide you with some basic tips.

First, make sure to buy yourself a top-notch cleaner. Oxiclean is widely considered to be one of the best but there are others as well like PBW. Once you’ve got your cleaner to make sure to clean all of these on brewing day:

• The fermenter
• The airlock, funnel and mesh colander
• The thermometer
• The stirring spoon

In addition, when it comes time to bottle your brew you’ll need to clean all of the following:

• The hoses
• Bottling bucket
• Siphon
• Bottles
• And anything else that is going to come in contact with your beer.

When it comes to home brewing sanitation is everything. So make sure you don’t skip these crucial steps in the brewing process.

• Does it require additional equipment - Some home brew kits require you to supply the kettle. While some require a whole lot more and some are completely self-contained. Whether or not a kit that requires you to come up with some of the equipment is a problem only you can decide. But for us, this goes back to the question of whether or not a kit is easy to use. Because if you need to spend days searching for the remaining beer brewing equipment in order to complete the brew you may wonder, and rightfully so, what’s so great about this kit?

Home Brew Kit FAQ

Q: What is a Home Brew Kit?

A: A homebrew kit allows people who think they may want to brew beer at home to get a feel for the process without having to set up a full brewery of their own in the garage or basement. The homebrew kit typically comes with all the homebrew supplies you’ll need to brew your own beer along with a comprehensive list of instructions to ensure you wind up with a satisfying product. They allow you to avoid the hassle of having to track down the individual ingredients and home brewing equipment yourself and they remove the guesswork and much of the labor from the actual brewing process. Many people use a home brew kit as their first step into the world of home brewing and wind up sometime down the road with their own microbrewery producing their own proprietary ale or lager or stout.

Q: Is it safe to home brew alcohol?

A: Using a beer brewing kit to produce a couple of gallons of beer is not the same as setting up a still in the woods to create your own moonshine. The fact is the process of creating an alcoholic beverage is well-known and not terribly complex and the biggest potential hazard comes in the form of making sure all the equipment is properly sanitized. If you take adequate precautions when sanitizing the home brewing equipment and you follow the established procedures when brewing your beer any alcoholic beverage that results should be perfectly safe to drink. Which is why the government allows people in all 50 states to brew beer in their home.

Q: Is it legal to home brew beer?

A: We just answered this question but we’ll go into a bit more detail anyway. Mississippi and Alabama were the last two states that held out on the right to brew beer at home. But in 2013 they both passed legislation lifting the ban on home brewing and so today it is perfectly legal to create homebrew in all 50 states. The ban itself dated back to the days of prohibition. But even after the 18th amendment was repealed many states kept laws on their books prohibiting the brewing of alcoholic beverages at home. They were encouraged to retain these laws by large commercial breweries who profited from their existence. In 1978 however, the federal government officially legalized the brewing of beer at home and the individual states began the process of rescinding their own laws. A process that was completed in 2013.

Q: How long does it take to brew beer?

A: There is a number of factors that weigh on the amount of time it takes to brew beer. If you have your own brewery in the garage and do everything yourself you can expect the process to last anywhere from a couple of weeks to two months. Actually preparing the ingredients, boiling the wort and transferring it to the fermenter doesn’t take more than a few hours. But once in the fermenter, the process becomes one of waiting. Modern home brewing kits have streamlined the process somewhat but you’ll still need to wait at least a week for your batch to ferment properly.

Q: Is it ok to open the fermenter during fermentation?

A: Sure, as long as you don’t contaminate the brew in the process. Key to keeping things sanitary is to minimize the amount of time you leave the fermenter open. During fermentation, CO2 will move out of the fermenter when you open it and this will repel outside contaminants. But this process will only last for a short while so you can’t just leave the fermenter open while you go eat lunch. Also, you need to be sure that anything you bring into contact with the fermenting brew has been thoroughly sanitized.

Q: Can I reuse my home brewing kit?

A: A homebrew kit wouldn’t be much good if it were disposable. You’d have to buy a new one every time you wanted to brew a new batch and the amount of waste would be incredible. So yes, you can use your beer making kit more than once. In fact, almost all companies who make these kits also sell refill kits or, as in the case of the PicoPak, additional ready-made brewing paks you can slip into the brewing mechanism to create different types of beer. The “must” here is that you must clean all the components of the kit thoroughly before reusing them.

Q: How do I find out the exact alcohol content of my homebrew?

A: Probably the easiest way is by using a hydrometer. Most of the above-profiled home brew kits supply one and they’re pretty easy to use. The hydrometer measures what is called the “gravity” of the brew. Gravity is a measure of the density of a given liquid when compared to the density of water. As the yeast in the fermenting brew gradually consumes the sugars the brew itself becomes less dense. To obtain the alcohol content of your brew use the hydrometer to measure the gravity at the beginning of the fermentation process (called the Original Gravity or OG) and then measure it again at the end of the process (called the Final Gravity or FG). Then plug both numbers into this equation to get the alcohol content:  (FG - OG) x 131.25 = ABV %.