Equipment for Home Brewing Barley Wine

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Mark Emiley on behalf of Expert Village. In this segment we are going to talk about the equipment you are going to need to brew. First we are going to start with the most basic equipment that you are going to need that should be around in your house already. You are going to need a large pot; up to five gallons is good, but bigger than two gallons is definitely recommended. The larger of a pot you are going to get, the lower your chances of having a boil-over. Next you are going to need some sort of a spoon to stir up your mash. You can do plastic, you can do wood, but if you are going to do wood, just make sure you don't leave it in the brew. It can also be metal, obviously. And finally, you should have some sort of measuring cup for doing some different measurements. Now we are going to talk about the equipment that you are going to need to purchase from your brewing supply store. First, you are going to need a fermenter. This is the most basic one you can get, which is a seven gallon bucket with a lid that fits nice and tightly. On that lid there is going to be a hole that is drilled in it. You are going to need a stopper (a rubber stopper) that will fit in that hole and an air lock to go into that stopper. You're also going to need a bottling bucket which is roughly the same thing except it has a spigot at the bottom. You're going to need to get roughly sixty bottles of the twelve-ounce bottles or forty sixteen-ounce bottles to bottle your beer in. You are going to need to focus on that they need to be pop-off tops, not screw-off tops. You are also going to need to purchase some bottle caps, and a bottle capper. You're also going to need to pick up a muslin sack or several of these depending on how many hop additions you are going to have in the grains that you are going to use. You are going to need some kind of a sterilizer or sanitizer and we'll talk more about this later. Along with your bottling bucket, you are going to need a bottle filler. This can also be used to take samples from your beer. You are going to need a notebook to write down your recipes and different measurements that you take during the process. You are going to need a racking cane as well as about six feet of hose as well to do your siphoning operations. Most basic packages can run about fifty bucks. If you are willing to spend a little bit more, they may be up to a hundred bucks. And next we are going to talk about some of the different equipment you can spend a little more money on. "