The Best Home-Brewing Kits You Can Buy Online

Best Overall

Northern Brewer Brew. Share. Enjoy. Homebrew Starter Kit

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This system is a great introduction to the world of home-brewing and includes the components our experts recommend. According to Manglitz, "Most serious homebrewing kits will have a 6.5-gallon fermentation bucket, a bottling bucket, a siphon, a bottle filler and capper, an airlock, and a few odds and ends. The only other equipment you need to make a malt extract-based beer is a pot for boiling the wort. The bigger the pot, the better." While we would have liked to see a larger boiling pot (Manglitz recommends a 7- or 8-gallon pot), we still chose this as our top pick because of the included components, the easy-to-use instructions, and positive customer reviews.

Price at time of publish: $130

• Included in Kit: Hank's Hefeweizen Recipe Kit, hydrometer, test jar, lab thermometer, 6.5-gallon fermenter w/ spigot, lid and bubbler airlock, bottling bucket with spigot assembly, bottle biller, 5-gallon stainless brew kettle, 21-inch stainless spoon, 5-ft. clear tubing, Fermenter's Favorites Oxygen Wash, bottle brush, bottle capper with 60 caps
• Capacity: 5 gallons

Best Value

Home Brew Ohio Complete Beer Equipment Kit

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While advanced brewing systems can get quite pricey, you don't need a big budget to make beer. Greska urges homebrewers to remember that "if your brewing budget is small, then please understand that with your main components being a stock pot and a plastic bucket, you can still brew a recipe that you want to brew and end up with your own beer. Homebrewing is for everyone." We chose this brewing system because it gives you the basic components you need to make a batch of beer, without any extra bells and whistles that might drive up the price. Many of the other affordable systems we looked at had a smaller capacity and cheaper materials.

Unlike some of our other recommendations, this is a brewing system, not a recipe kit. That means that you can either buy a recipe kit separately, buy grains and hops and use a recipe in a home-brewing book or online guide, or experiment with building your own recipe. The versatility of this system and the quality glass carboy (rather than the plastic fermenters on many value models) made it a clear winner for us.

Price at time of publish: $119

• Included in Kit: True Brew Handbook and kit Instructions, 7.8-gallon fermenting bucket, one lid drilled with grommet, True Brew Rack and Fill Kit, 5-gallon glass carboy, fermentation thermometer, small Buon Vino drilled stopper, hydrometer, bottling spigot, bottle capper, 3-piece airlock, bottle brush, C-Brite sanitizer 8-pack
• Capacity: 5 gallons

Best Beer Style Options

Craft-A-Brew Beer Making Kit

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Home-brew recipe kits can include ingredients to make wort from malted grains or can bypass this step using malt extract. Manglitz notes that many people start with extract-based recipes for simplicity's sake, but urges homebrewers to avoid all-in-one cans with pre-added hops. Instead, "The ingredient kit should have about 6 pounds of liquid or dry malt extract, 2- to 4 ounces of pelletized hops and a package of yeast."

This kit is similar to our Best for Beginners pick, below, except that it uses dry malt extract rather than grains. In researching kits that use malt extract, we were especially interested in ease of use as well as the flavor of the final product. It is uncommon to find an affordable recipe kit that offers variety. Most of the kits we researched only had a few flavors available. The Craft-a-Brew Kits are available in 12 different flavors, and customer reviews about these flavors were overwhelmingly positive. One expert tip from Manglitz for choosing a flavor: "Big flavors, like IPAs with lots of hops or stouts or browns with a bold malt character, will serve to mask any less-than-perfect aspects of your first attempts. Most people are very surprised how good their very first batch is."

Price at time of publish: $50

• Included in Kit: 1-gallon carboy, funnel, racking cane, rubber stopper, transfer tubing and thumb clamp, airlock, thermometer, Guide to Craft Brewing, sanitizer, and recipe kit
• Capacity: 1 gallon

Best for Beginners

Brooklyn Brew Shop Beer Making Kit Everyday IPA Beer Making Mix

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We were determined to find a simple and high-quality brewing kit after one of our experts referred to many beginner kits as "gimmicky," citing poor-quality materials as a major concern. This kit stood out to us because it uses a glass fermenter rather than plastic, but also because of the quality of its ingredients. While many beginners start to ferment with extracts, this kit made our list because it's easy to use and shows beginners how simple it is to brew with grains rather than extracts, so they have the skills to do both.

Like many home-brewing kits, this one does not include a pot or brew kettle for boiling, so you'll need to purchase one separately. Manglitz says the type of pot you get is important: "Kettles should ideally be stainless steel or enamel-coated because the wort is acidic, which does not play well with aluminum." A big stock pot can be used in place of a brew kettle, too, and has plenty of uses beyond brewing.

Price at time of publish: $48

• Included in Kit: Everyday IPA making mix (grain, hops, and yeast), 1-gallon reusable glass fermenter, glass spirit-filled thermometer, vinyl tubing, racking cane and tip, chambered airlock, Brooklyn Brew Shop cleanser, and screw-cap stopper
• Capacity: 1 gallon

Best High End

Unibrau All In One Electric Brew System

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Are you brewing-obsessed and ready to take your hobby to the next level? If you're ready to brew with grains rather than extracts, you'll want a brew system that allows you to boil and quickly chill your wort. Working with grains rather than extracts gives you the flexibility to customize your recipe, and this also allows you to experiment with different yeasts and other additives to get the flavor you want and to make beers that pair well with food. For dedicated homebrewers who can afford a premium brewing system, we like the Unibräu All in One Electric Brew System, which works for bigger batches and includes temperature control plus a chiller. This highly-rated system has almost unanimous positive customer reviews, and it's available in several sizes.

The standard system includes a kettle, grain basket and lid, controller, power element, pump, fittings, plate chiller, and tubing to run your beer through the chiller. The premium system uses a coil counterflow wort chiller. "A clean and efficient chilling method" is the main feature Greska recommends when searching for a home-brewing system, adding that "counterflow chillers can be connected in line with your pump and can chill right into the fermenter pretty efficiently." The premium system includes other extras, like a double-element whirlpool arm kit to circulate your wort around your post-boil hops, helping you extract big hoppy flavors.

We like this system because it's well-made and offers options for customization and add-ons to support different beer styles. Make sure to check that your brewing space meets the system's power requirements: The larger 240V model requires a standard 4-wire 4/30 dryer outlet, while the smaller 120V model can be plugged into a standard household outlet. The kit does not include a fermentation vessel or large brew spoon, both of which you'll need to purchase separately.

Price at time of publish: $1,300

Included in system:

• Standard: 10-gallon kettle and grain basket including grain basket lid, SV1 controller, 1650-watt element and power cord, BR-19 pump, Unibräu standard fitting kit, stainless steel plate chiller,8-ft. of supply and discharge tubing, clamps, and faucet adapter
• Premium: 10-gallon kettle and grain basket including both kettle and grain basket lid, SV1 controller, 1650-watt element and power cord, BR-19 pump, Unibräu butterfly valve fitting kit, coil in coil counterflow wort chiller with quick disconnect kit, 8-ft. of supply and discharge tubing for the chiller along with a faucet adapter, 1650-watt element upgrade kit for a total of 3300 watts of power, hopBlock filter and dip tube double element whirlpool arm kit sparge arm kit and extra 3 piece tri-clamp ball valve and mash vorlauf kit.
• Brew capacity: 10-20 gallons

Our Favorite

Home-brewing kits vary in complexity and price, and some, like our top pick from Northern Brewer, include the ingredients you need to make a specific beer recipe at home. Make sure to choose a system or recipe kit based on your interests as well as your budget.

Factors to Consider

Completeness of Kit

Not all home-brewing kits we looked at have every component you need to get started. Make sure to check what is included in your home-brewing kit first, and to gather any additional supplies (like pots or fermentation vessels) before you get started.

Extracts versus Grains

Some recipe kits come with malt extracts, which save you a step in the brewing process. While they simplify the process, our experts noted that beer made with extracts is best for beginners, and can help you jump into brewing more easily. The downside to extracts, though, is a loss of control, and many homebrewers are eager to move on from extracts as they become more confident. Greska notes, " All grain brewing just produces better beer in my opinion and you'll have more control over the process and final product. There are also all grain recipe kits available, but I do recommend making it a goal to create your own recipes and buy the separate ingredients."

Capacity and Ease of Use

Get a kit that is enjoyable to use and brews the capacity of beer you want. What are your goals with your homebrewing kit? How much beer do you want to make? Do you want a straightforward brewing process using a recipe kit, or would you rather brew from scratch? What features are important for the styles of beer you want to make?

The Research

To find the best home-brewing kits, we used our own fermentation experience and input from home-brewing experts, and we also scoured customer reviews and product specifications. We focused our research on what would be easy to use at a range of price points and skill levels.

What Didn't Make the List

Mr. Beer 2 Gallon Starter Kits

The Mr. Beer recipe kit is a popular beginner's kit, and the box includes ingredients to brew two batches of beer rather than the usual one. However, it didn't make our list because its use is more limited than other systems: The system is designed to work with extracts, so if you move over to brewing with grains you may not have great results.