Best Home Brew Kits Review

You don’t have to be a masterbrewer to enjoy a good old glass of chilled homebrew. Home brew kits are perfect for an absolute beginner who is interested in brewing beer at home.

Even people with some homebrewing proficiency or experience will find these kits to be very useful and convenient.

What is a Home Brew Kit?

A home brew kit is exactly what it sounds like. It is a collection of brewing materials designed for making beer at home.

What is included in the kit varies greatly from one manufacturer to next. These kits are also targeted at different consumers including beginner, intermediate, and advanced brewers. It is always a good idea to match the brewing kit to your level of brewing proficiency.

The good news is that there is a wide enough selection on the market to satisfy your specific home brewing needs.

What Makes a Good Homebrewing Kit?

Aside from the quality of materials inside the kit, great home brew kits come with a good selection of brewing equipment. Ideally, the kit should include everything you need for the brewing process from start to finish.

Bottling & Transferring Equipment

Transfer tubing: Siphon tubing is extremely useful for transferring your brew from one container to another during the different brewing stages.

Bottling bucket: A bottling bucket is great for priming your beer before bottling. A bucket with a spigot makes easy work of pouring beer into your bottles.

Bottle filler: This is a little piece of plastic that attaches to one end of the transfer tubing. The bottle filler allows you to control the flow of the beer while bottling.

Funnel: A funnel is a great alternative for a siphon if you don’t have one.

Cleaning Materials

Brewing requires a lot of cleaning and sanitizing to avoid infecting or otherwise compromising the beer.

Sanitizer: Most sanitizers for brewing are made from acid-based or iodine-based concentrate. Most sanitizers are diluted in water before use.  

Carboy brush: This is a special brush specifically meant for cleaning carboys which can be notoriously difficult to clean . Keep in mind that a carboy brush is only good for glass carboys. These brushes can scratch the surface of plastic carboys and create hiding places for bacteria.

Fermentation Vessels

Bucket fermenter: This is typically a 5-6 gallon plastic food-grade bucket for fermenting beer. Some bucket lids come with a hole to place an airlock.

Carboy: This is a glass or plastic container typically used for fermentation.

Airlock: An airlock essentially releases excess pressure building in the brew during fermentation. The equipment also keeps air, bugs, and other undesirable elements from entering the beer from outside.

Ingredient Kit

Many homebrew kits come with ingredients including malt, hops, and yeast. The typical kit also comes with recipes and step by step instructions to help you make your first brew.

Measuring Equipment

Thermometer: Brewing relies heavily on temperature control so a thermometer is extremely useful.

Hydrometer: This equipment reads the sugar solution, usually in Gravity points.

Review of the Best Home Brew Kits

Homebrew kits are a dime a dozen on the market so we have done the difficult work of going through the options to come up with the 4 best home brewing kits.

Northern Brewer Deluxe Homebrew Starter Kit

The Northern Brewer Deluxe Homebrew Starter Kit is a perfect choice for intermediate to proficient brewers or if you see yourself making homebrew regularly.

This is a premium kit that comes with enough accessories for a lifetime of brewing. You get a 6-gallon glass carboy for primary fermenting and another 5-gallon glass carboy for secondary fermenting.

This kit includes a Chinook IPA Recipe Kit and an instructional DVD so you can get to brewing right out of the box.

The kit also includes a blow-off hose, bung and airlock, and adhesive thermometers to take care of every aspect of the brewing process. The auto-siphon and tubing make light work of moving your brew, and the bottling bucket complete with a spigot ensures you finish off the brewing process smoothly.

You also get bottle filler and tubing as well as bottle caps and capper. Finally, the Northern Brewer Deluxe includes brewery cleaner, bottle cleaning brush, carboy brush, and carboy dryer to keep your set up clean and sanitized for the next brew.

The Northern Brewer Deluxe Homebrew Starter Kit is the perfect companion for a serious brewer.

 Home Brew Ohio Gold (K7) Complete Beer Kit

The Home Brew Ohio Gold (K7) Complete Beer Kit is a good option for beginner to intermediate brewers and includes a great selection of high-quality brewing equipment.

This no-frills option is easy to wrap your head around especially if you are a novice with no prior brewing experience. The package includes most of what you need to get started. You get a 7.8-gallon fermenting bucket for primary fermentation and a 5-gallon carboy for secondary fermentation.

There are useful accessories worthy of any brewer’s set up including a bottling spigot, hydrometer, drilled stopper, fermentation thermometer, 3-piece airlock, and double-lever capper.

It is also obvious that Home Brew Ohio understands the importance of cleanliness and sanitizing during the brewing process. This package includes an 8-pack c-Brite sanitizer along with a bottle brush.

Additionally, the Home Brew Ohio Gold comes with kit instructions and a true brew handbook so even a novice can get to work soon after unboxing the kit.

Midwest Supplies, Simply Beer, Starter Kit

The Midwest Supplies, Simply Beer, Starter Kit is one of the best-value-for-money home brewing kits on the market. This kit comes with the bare minimum you need to brew beer, meaning that you don’t pay for any extra equipment that you will never use.

The kit comes with a bottling bucket with spigot, fermenting bucket, airlock, bottle filler, siphon and tubing, bottling tubing, bottle brush, and bottle caps. You also get an oxygen wash cleaner/sanitizer with the kit.

Putting the kit together is easy even for someone who has never set eyes on a home brewing set up before. In any case, the kit comes with detailed instructions to guide you every step of the way.

This kit is a great choice for novice brewers or for people who want a functional brewing kit on a tight budget.

Mr. Beer 2 Gallon Complete Starter Kit

A novice who feels intimidated by brewing his first batch of beer could hardly go wrong with the Mr. Beer 2 Gallon Complete Starter Kit. This is one of the easiest kits to use on the market.

You don’t have to worry about all the complex processes like measuring out ingredients, boiling the wort, making the mash, sparging and so on. This kit comes with all the ingredients you need to make your first batch.

Follow the included instructions to mix the ingredients, allow the brew to ferment for 3 weeks before adding the included carbonating pills. You should be ready to have your first beer in another 3 weeks.

This home brew kit is very affordable and a great way to get your foot in the door if you are interested in home brewing but have no idea if you are up to the challenge.

The craft beer is decent enough that your friends will have a hard time believing you made it yourself.

Final Thoughts

It is important to note that none of these kits come with a brewing kettle. You will need a brewing kettle to boil your wort but these are inexpensive and easy to get your hands on. You won’t need a kettle with the Mr. Beer 2 Gallon Starter Kit.

Home brew kits save you the hustle of buying separate brewing equipment. Furthermore, these kits work with all kinds of recipes and will function just as well if you decide to brew cider instead. Part of the fun of brewing your own beer, besides drinking it, is trying out new recipes. Feel free to be adventurous and experiment with recipes rather than sticking to ingredient kits.