Brewing guides

Brewing beer at home: the methods for your equipment

You can brew a good beer with a bucket and a beer kit tin, with a big pot and a bag, or with a programmable electric brewing system. What changes is where the sugar comes from, the time it takes and how free you are with the recipe. Start from what you already have, or compare the methods.

Updated on 18 October 2026

What you already have

Pick the equipment you own: each card leads to the method that uses it. All methods are also compared below.

A hopped beer kit tin (Coopers, Brewferm, Muntons…)Hopped beer kit A fermenting bucket, no potHopped beer kit A 15 to 20 litre pot and a hobMalt extract Packs of dry or liquid malt extractMalt extract A large pot of 35 litres or more and a filter bagBIAB (brew in a bag) An electric preserving pan or an urn with a heating elementBIAB (brew in a bag) A 5 litre all-grain brewing kit received as a giftBIAB (brew in a bag) An electric system with a malt pipe (Grainfather, Brewzilla, Brewmonk, Braumeister…)All-in-one system A cooler or a mash tun with a false bottomTwo or three vessels Two or three vessels and a gas burnerTwo or three vessels Nothing yetCompare the methods

The methods side by side

Method	Equipment	Brew day	Space	Recipe	Starting budget
Hopped beer kit	Fermenter, hydrometer, sanitiser, kettle	30 to 45 minutes	A corner of the kitchen	The kit's own, with a few variations	€50 to €100 with the starter kit
Malt extract	15 to 20 L pot, fermenter, hydrometer, thermometer	2 to 3 hours	A kitchen	Free for the hops and the specialty malts	€80 to €150 including the pot
BIAB (brew in a bag)	35 to 50 L pot, filter bag, heat source, wort chiller	4 to 6 hours	A kitchen or a garage	Free: any malt, any hop	€150 to €300 for the pot, the bag and the heating
All-in-one system	30 to 40 L all-in-one system, wort chiller, a way to heat the sparge water	4 to 6 hours	A kitchen with a 16 A socket, or a garage	Free, within the capacity of the malt pipe	€350 to €1,200 depending on the model
Two or three vessels	Insulated mash tun, boil kettle, hot liquor tank or pot, burner, wort chiller	5 to 7 hours	A garage, a cellar or outdoors	Free, with no grain limit	€200 to €1,000 depending on how much you build yourself

Indicative budgets for new equipment, ingredients not included.

What changes from one method to another

Every beer starts as wort: water sweetened by malt and flavoured by hops, which yeast turns into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The methods differ in how that wort is obtained.

With a hopped kit, the wort is already made: it is concentrated in a tin, and you dilute it.
With malt extract, the malt sugar comes as a syrup or a powder, and you boil the hops yourself.
In all grain (BIAB, all-in-one system, three vessels), you extract the sugar from crushed malt yourself by mashing, then boil it with the hops.

The closer you get to the grain, the longer the day and the freer the recipe. A kit beer takes half an hour to prepare; an all-grain beer takes five to seven hours of brewing. Both make good beer: the result depends above all on hygiene and on controlling the fermentation.

What does not change

Whatever the method, the last steps are the same:

Everything that touches the cooled wort must be cleaned, then sanitised. This is the first cause of a failed beer, well ahead of the recipe. The doses of common sanitisers are in the cleaner and sanitiser dosage.
Fermentation lasts one to three weeks, at a stable temperature suited to the yeast.
Bottling with priming sugar, then two weeks of conditioning, gives a sparkling beer.

Equipment common to all methods

A 25 to 30 litre fermenter for a 20 litre batch (food-grade bucket with lid, or a fermenter with a tap), with an airlock.
A hydrometer and its trial jar, to measure the gravity before and after fermentation: it tells you when fermentation is finished and what the alcohol content is.
A thermometer.
A no-rinse sanitiser and a brush.
A racking cane or a tube, bottles for crown caps and a capper, or a keg.

The rest depends on the method: a pot, a bag, an electric system, a mash tun, a wort chiller. Each guide details it.

The shared steps

These steps are done the same way whatever the method; each one says what changes with your equipment.

MashingTurning malt starch into sugars: at what temperature, for how long, with what volume of water, depending on your equipment.FermentationPitching, holding the temperature, following the gravity and knowing when fermentation is finished, whatever the method.Bottling and primingWhen to bottle, how much sugar to add, how to fill and how long to wait before drinking.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to make beer at home?

Allow three to six weeks between brew day and the first bottle: one to three weeks of fermentation, then two weeks of conditioning in the bottle for carbonation. Brew day itself lasts from 30 minutes with a hopped kit to 5 to 7 hours in all grain.

How many bottles does a batch make?

A 20 litre batch fills 59 bottles of 33 cl once the yeast sediment is left at the bottom of the fermenter. The number of bottles calculator works it out for other volumes and sizes.

Can you start with kitchen equipment?

Partly, yes: a large saucepan or stockpot, a kitchen thermometer and a colander are enough for a small extract or BIAB batch. The fermenter with an airlock, the hydrometer and the sanitiser remain essential.

Do you need a grain mill?

No. Homebrew shops sell malt already crushed. A mill is only useful to buy whole grain, which keeps longer, or to set the fineness of the crush yourself.

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