All-Grain Brewing Equipment List

Tier 1

Essential: you cannot brew all-grain without these

1. A mash vessel that holds temperature. An insulated cooler, a kettle wrapped in a blanket, or the mash function of an electric all-in-one. The requirement is holding a set temperature within a couple of degrees for 60 minutes.
2. A kettle at least 50 percent larger than the batch. 10 gallons for a 5 gallon batch. Pre-boil volume is around 7 gallons, and hot break foam needs freeboard above that.
3. A heat source matched to the kettle. A propane burner, a 240V element, or an induction hob with a clad-base kettle. A domestic gas ring will not boil 7 gallons properly.
4. Wort and grain separation. A false bottom, a stainless braid, a slotted manifold, or a grain bag for brew-in-a-bag. Something has to hold back the husks.
5. A wort chiller. You need to get 7 gallons from boiling to pitching temperature the same evening. An immersion coil is the simplest.
6. A fermenter with an airlock, sized 20 to 25 percent above the batch for krausen headroom.
7. A hydrometer and test jar. The only reliable way to know fermentation has finished. Not optional, and cheap.
8. No-rinse sanitizer. More of it than you think.
9. A thermometer you trust. Mash temperature is the one number that changes the beer, so a 5-degree error matters.

Tier 2

Worth buying soon: high return, modest cost

• A grain mill. The highest-return accessory in all-grain brewing. A shop crushes to one safe gap; setting your own commonly gains several efficiency points, and milling fresh preserves aroma. See best grain mills and gap settings.
• Fermentation temperature control. A dual-stage controller and any fridge or freezer. This changes how the beer tastes more than anything else on the page -- best temperature controllers.
• An auto-siphon. Transfers without aerating the beer or requiring you to start a siphon by mouth.
• A hop containment option. A hop spider or bags. Essential the moment you own a pump or plate chiller, optional before that.
• A pump. Required for recirculating and for counterflow or plate chilling. If you are on a single-vessel electric system, treat it as Tier 1.

Tier 3

Skip for now: things people buy too early

• A pH meter. Genuine value, but only once your process is stable enough that water chemistry is the limiting factor. Before then it is a number you do not know what to do with, and it needs calibration solutions and care.
• A conical fermenter. A real upgrade with real benefits, and the wrong first purchase. Temperature control first -- the reasoning is in conical vs bucket.
• A plate chiller. Fast and compact, and it will clog solid on your first heavily hopped beer without a filter upstream. Start with an immersion coil -- chiller types compared.
• Oxygenation kit. Useful on high-gravity worts and unnecessary below about 1.060, where shaking the fermenter aerates adequately.
• A second fermenter for secondary. Most styles do not need a secondary vessel, and the extra transfer is an extra oxygen-exposure and infection risk.