• 5-7 Gallon kettle - Stainless steel kettles are preferred but enamel coated iron kettles are also okay provided the enamel is not chipped. Aluminum kettles work well too but they can be damaged by caustic cleansers or excessive heat.

• 1 or 2 glass carboys (5-7 Gallon) - Starter kits often include a plastic food-grade bucket for the primary fermenter. Since the plastic is relatively soft it can far too easily be scratched. Such scratches are notorious for harboring beer spoiling bacteria and are often difficult to clean and sanitize. I recommend saving yourself the headache and just biting the bullet and purchase glass carboys in the first place. You could get by with just one carboy but if you do any kind of secondary fermentation you will need another carboy to transfer into. Furthermore, a bottling time you will need some sort of bottling bucket. Often a plastic bucket is used for this purpose but the same argument regarding scratching and the potential for contamination also applies.

  Having said this, keep in mind that one can still brew good beer using plastic fermenters and bottling buckets. I know people that have done so for years. However, most of them say that they would like to eventually replace the plastic with glass but "inertia" prevents them from making the switch until contamination strikes. I suggest spending the extra money from the start and go with glass fermenters instead of intending on one day upgrading to them

• Thermometer - There are several varieties on the market. Floating thermometers are pretty versatile but they can break fairly easily. Dial-type thermometers are much less fragile but they do not float so they may need to be attached to the brew kettle in some way.

• Large plastic, glass (Pyrex) or stainless steel funnel

• Large metal spoon or other implement to stir boiling wort (stainless steel or aluminum) - For years I used a large spatula that came with a grilling setup for this purpose.

• 2 Airlocks (3 piece "dancing hat" type or S-shaped) - I prefer the 3 piece variety because it is easier to clean should the fermentation be vigorous enough to force wort up into the airlock. I suggest having at least two airlocks so that you can keep an airlock on the fermenter prior to a transfer while the other airlock is soaking in sanitizer.

• 2 Bungs, Universal Headlocks (orange caps with two holes) or Rubber Hoods (amusing caps) - These three items are all for attaching the airlock to the carboy. All of them work quite well. I particularly like using the amusing caps but that is just my personal preference. Note that not all carboys are created equal so you will need to pick out which bungs will fit your particular carboy. As was the case with the airlocks I suggest having at least two of these items whichever you decide to use so one can be in use while the other is being sanitized.

• Wire mesh strainer with handle - This item is of use for straining out whole hops from cooled wort and is also of use for removing steeped specialty grains from the wort prior to boiling. Note that a strainer is not essential if you will be only using hop pellets or if whole hops or any specialty grains that are used are placed in muslin bags for easy removal.

• Racking cane - This is not an absolutely required but it is fairly inexpensive and allows one to transfer beer without also transferring a great deal of trub and/or yeast.

• Bottle filler - This is not really required but makes bottling easier and helps prevent splashing which may result in oxidation. During bottling bottle fillers allow you to easily stop the flow of beer when going from one bottle to the next.

• ~6 feet of plastic food-grade tubing - This should fit the racking cane and bottle filler (most are 3/8" O.D.) for use in transfers and bottling.

• Bottle capper - I particularly like the butterfly-type cappers because of the ease and speed at which one can bottle widely varying bottle heights.

• At least 53, non-screwtop, 12-oz. bottles or 29, non-screwtop, 22-oz. bottles along with an equal number of bottle caps (things can go wrong while bottling so it is always best to have more than the bare minimum number of bottles and caps) - Most of the bottles should be made of brown glass.

Why brown bottles?

If beer is exposed to light for very long, hop compounds present in beer can react with blue/UV-light (wavelengths of 400-500 nm) resulting in a "skunky" aroma and taste. The harmful wavelengths of light reaching the beer can be filtered out to a more or lesser extent depending upon the color of the glass. Of the common beer bottle colors brown is most effective at filtering out the harmful wavelengths. This is why most beer bottles are made from brown glass. Green glass will also filter out some of harmful light though not as well as brown glass will. Clear, colorless glass does not filter much out the offending wavelengths of light.

Beer can be bottled in clear, colorless bottles. It just needs to be stored in a dark place. Note that although Miller Genuine Draft is packaged in clear, colorless bottles it does not become skunky. This is simply because the hop compounds which react to light have been chemically altered such that they are no longer photoreactive.

The beer need not be completely fermented to succumb to the harmful affects of light. Prolonged light exposure of fermenting wort in a glass carboy can also result in skunky beer.

Note that brown bottles are not completely effective at filtering out the harmful wavelengths of light. Complete protection from light would require the bottles to be opaque.

To become familiar with what is meant by skunky beer simply place a two clear or green bottles of a fairly hoppy beer in a sunny window sill for an hour or two. One bottle should be wrapped tightly in aluminum foil to prevent exposure to the light. In this way for the purpose of comparison both bottles would be exposed to the higher temperatures associated with being in direct sunlight but only one should also be skunky or light-struck.