The Best Beer Making Kits of 2024

What's included: 5-gallon stainless kettle, 6.5-gallon bucket fermenter, airlock, bottling bucket with spigot, bottle filler, tubing, auto siphon, siphon holder, stainless spoon, bottle brush, bottle capper, bottle caps, oxygen wash

What's not included: Sanitizer, hydrometer, test tube, thermometer, bottles

Recipe kit: Block Party Amber Ale

Northern Brewer's Brew. Share. Enjoy. kit covers nearly all the bases. Not only does it include a stainless-steel kettle, a fermenter, a bottling bucket, and the siphon and tubing you need to move beer between the three, but it also comes with a tasty amber ale kit. Extras include a long stainless spoon to stir your wort, a bottle brush to clean reusable glass, and bottle caps—something some kits inexplicably leave out.

Another big plus is Northern Brewer's customer service. The company, which is owned by multinational beverage conglomerate Anheuser-Busch InBev, is quick to respond to questions from rookie brewers via chat or email. There's even an automated text message system that sends timed instructions to your phone throughout the weeks-long brewing process. On top of that, Northern Brewer's Beer Kit Guarantee promises that if you're less than satisfied with their recipe kits, they'll replace them—no questions asked.

However, while the Brew. Share. Enjoy. kit includes everything you'd strictly need to brew a batch of beer, it doesn't include everything you'd want. Most notably, you don't get a hydrometer, so you can't determine your ABV and might leave yourself open to nasty bottle bombs. Also missing are sanitizer, a thermometer, and bottles.

What's included: 6.5-gallon fermenter, airlock, bottling bucket, no-rinse cleaner, auto-siphon, bottling wand, bottle capper, hydrometer, test tube, bottle brush, stick-on thermometer, illustrated guide to homebrewing

What's not included: Kettle (optional add-on), sanitizer, spoon, bottles, bottle caps

Recipe kit: Your choice of Amber Ale, Blonde Ale, Chocolate Stout, and Hefeweizen

The Beginner Homebrew Kit from Austin Homebrew Supply is a fantastic value, especially if you already own a large kettle. Even if you don't, it's still a good deal, and you can tack on a basic 20-liter (5-gallon) kettle for an extra $20. Kettle aside, this kit provides nearly everything you need to get going right away. Like many other starter kits, it comes with a simple 6.5-gallon plastic bucket for fermentation, plus another with an included spigot for bottling. We were pleased to see that it comes with a hydrometer and test tube—something missing from competitors like Northern Brewer's Brew. Share. Enjoy.

AHS also gives you four different 5-gallon recipe kits to choose from, which is a nice touch. Most other kits come with a specific kit, which may not suit your tastes, but the choices on offer here should appeal to a broad variety of drinkers.

What's included: 1-gallon glass fermenter, fermenter cap, airlock, thermometer, mini auto-siphon, transfer tubing, bottle filler, bottle capper, bottle caps, cleaner

What's not included: Kettle, spoon, sanitizer, hydrometer, test tube, bottles, bottle brush

Recipe kit: IPA

The Micro Bru 1-gallon homebrew kit strikes a nice balance between Northern Brewer's full-featured Go Pro Small Batch kit and bargain basement options like the Brooklyn Brew Shop kits below. This one gives you a simple 1-gallon glass jug fermenter—the kind grocery store apple cider comes in—plus a cap and an airlock. Also in the mix are a thermometer, an auto-siphon and tubing for transferring beer from the fermenter to the bottling bucket, and a bottle filler and tubing to get it into bottles. The bottles themselves you'll have to get elsewhere.

Besides bottles, this kit assumes you'll have a lot of other stuff: a kettle to brew in, a metal spoon to stir your wort, and perhaps a funnel to get the wort into the tiny neck of the fermenter. (You can use the included auto-siphon to do so, if you don't mind adding a few cleaning steps to your brew day.) You'll also want to pick up some sanitizer, since the included cleaner won't get the job done when it comes to keeping bad bugs out of your beer. If you've got that kind of stuff in your arsenal already, the Micro Bru kit is a great bargain; if not, get the NB Go Pro kit.

What's included: 1-gallon glass fermenter, cap, airlock, thermometer, racking cane, tubing, cleanser

What's not included: Kettle, spoon, sanitizer, hydrometer, test tube, bottling bucket, bottles, bottle brush, bottle capper, bottle caps

Recipe kit: Many choices available

These simple 1-gallon kits give only the barest essentials, providing a taste of what it's like to brew your own beer without the hangover of being stuck with a ton of gear if you decide it's not for you.

That might sound like a great sales pitch, but the kits also don't come with everything you really need to get going. Brooklyn's kits assume you already have quite a few crucial items: a kettle or two, a spoon, a bucket or pot to bottle from, and a way to seal your bottles. And since Brooklyn Brew Shop kits come with all-grain recipes, rather than extract, you'll also need a strainer to remove the grains from your wort after mashing.

In short, this kit is a lot more DIY than some of the other options we've discussed, which will suit some brewers and drive others mad. Caveat emptor.