If you’re interested in making beer and wine, but you’re worried about how to start, you’re not alone. From the outside, it can seem very daunting. You might follow social media pages or forums and find nothing an endless stream of contrary information. What’s correct, who’s right and how do you know for sure? It’s not easy but, today you can hopefully take a deep breath and relax. Your solution is simple. If you are just starting out, start with ingredient and equipment kits.

Beer and winemaking are traditions that date back thousands of years. There are numerous varieties of grain, malts, grapes, yeasts, fermentation techniques and clearing processes that can all too easily overwhelm you if you have no experience. Then there is the wide array of equipment that can just make things even more confusing and intimidating. While complete setups for home brewing and winemaking can be expensive and difficult to understand, beer and winemaking kits, along with equipment kits are excellent for new brewers and winemakers to get started without large investments and a big learning curve.

Kits for beer and winemaking are formulated to remove the guesswork and they are a great way to learn how different raw materials and the processes associated with them achieve unique results. Beer and wine kits contain the necessary ingredients, as well as detailed instructions for making a finished product. For example, juices in wine kits are tuned with the proper pH and sugar to reach the desired ABV. If you have never made wine, the process alone of measuring and adjusting acidity requires tools and knowledge of the different acid compounds that constitute the overall acidity. Kits remove this challenge entirely along with many others. If you want to make a beer with a particular flavor profile, the kits include the right grains and malts to achieve it along with specific recipes, proper temperatures and hops schedules to give you the results you want.

Depending on the type of beer kit, ingredients include malt extract, hops, liquid yeast, and specialty grains. Wine kits include juice, sometimes skins, sulfites, clearing agents, oak and additives. Equipment kits will usually include a fermenter, carboy, airlock, cleaning supplies, hydrometer, bottling wand, siphons and hoses.

Kits are designed to make the process of beer and winemaking as simple and easy to follow as possible. Instructions will typically include a step-by-step guide on how to assemble the ingredients, how to ferment the beer or wine, and how long it will take to bottle the finished product. By following these instructions, brewers and winemakers can begin making quality beer and wine right out of the gate. They are also a great way to learn how different grapes, grains, hops and malts produce different results. Kits teach you about process and materials because you get to experience them as you go.

In addition to the convenience of ingredient and equipment kits, they are also a great value. Since all the necessary components are included, they are much more cost-effective than buying everything separately. They also alleviate the anxiety of having to know what to buy or how to get the flavor you want. You can experiment and learn at the same time.

In conclusion, beer, wine and equipment kits are an excellent way for new brewers and winemakers to embark upon a rewarding hobby. Don’t just make one or two either. Make a bunch so you can compare flavors with the experiential knowledge of having made them yourself. It won’t be just what you taste, you’ll know why you taste it, and you will do so with the experience of having done it on your own. Good luck! 

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