The 5 Best Homebrewing Starter Kits for Beginners [2022]

Are you interested in brewing your own beer, but not sure where to start? You’ve come to the right place! The BrewTogether Community is here to help you get started on your homebrewing journey so that you can take the first step to making the best beer possible. Joining is free, and give you access to an awesome community of homebrewers around the world.

Choosing equipment when you’re getting started with homebrewing can be a challenge. There are almost as many ways to brew beer as there are people who brew it. Homebrewing includes everything from making one gallon malt extract batches on a kitchen stove to massive three-vessel electric brewing systems that wouldn’t look out of place in a small brewery, and all of these methods can be used to make great beer.

Because of the differences in brewing approaches, equipment, and processes, it can be intimidating for new homebrewers to decide what equipment is needed to get started. Luckily, several starter kits for homebrewing are available on the market, and they are the easiest way to get everything you need all at once. They all claim to have everything you need, but they are all a bit different. So, how do you know which one to buy? Here are our picks for the best homebrewing starter kits available now and what each one is best for!

First we’ll talk about some of the best home brewing kits for brewing one gallon batches with ingredients for brand new brewers, and then we’ll review a few of our top picks for the best five gallon homebrewing starter kits with all of the equipment needed to start brewing five gallon batches.

By the way, homebrewing starter kits are a good idea for gifts for beer lovers who are interested in making homemade beer! They include clear instructions, basic beer ingredients, and all of the equipment needed for first time brewers. The best part? If you buy one for your favorite beer lover, they’ll almost certainly share their first beer with you, and if you’re lucky, they’ll keep providing you with great beer for years to come!

The Best One Gallon Homebrewing Starter Kits with Ingredients

If you are planning on brewing your very first batch of beer ever, and you aren’t sure that this is the hobby for you, we recommend starting with a 1-gallon homebrew kit. This will give you an idea of the overall process, detailed instructions, the basic equipment you need, and the ingredients to brew your favorite style of beer. Many home brewers, myself included, started with one of these beginner kits. Here are our favorite ones!

MoreBeer One Gallon Starter Kits

MoreBeer’s One Gallon Starter Kits are a great way to get started with homebrewing. They include a wide-mouth one gallon reusable glass fermenter jar, an airlock, a mini auto siphon, tubing, a spring tip bottle filler wand, a capper, and sanitizer. Additionally, you have the option of three recipe kits (Irish Red Ale, American IPA, or Summer Wheat) for your first brew. Once you’re done, you can still use the equipment to brew more one gallon recipes. Our favorite thing about this kit is the wide-mouth fermenter, which is much easier to clean than a standard carboy. 

Brooklyn Brew Shop One Gallon Kits

Like the MoreBeer kit, Brooklyn Brew Shop’s One Gallon Beer Kit comes with all of the equipment and ingredients you need to brew your first gallon of homebrew. It includes a fermenter (this one uses a standard glass carboy), a thermometer, a racking cane, transfer tubing, and an airlock. What makes the Brooklyn Brew Shop kits stand out is the variety of recipes to choose from. While the MoreBeer kit has three options, the Brooklyn Brew Shop Beer Making Kit gives you a choice from almost 30 recipes, including some popular recipes like Black is Beautiful and BrewDog Elvis Juice. When you’ve finished your first batch, you can brew additional beers using Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Mix Kits, which provide all of the ingredients you need for another one gallon batch of beer at a substantially reduced price from the full kit. 

Beer Making Kits from Brooklyn Brew Shop

Click here for the full list of Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Making Equipment Kits 

Click here for the full list of Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Mix Ingredient Kits

One Gallon Not Enough?

If you’re just getting started, but a 1-gallon kit seems like it won’t make quite enough beer, check out these starter kits from our friends at Pickled Peppers Hop Shop! They include everything you need to brew 1.5 gallons of homebrewed beer and are a great way to get started!

Tired of small batches and want to brew even more beer? Keep reading to see the best homebrewing starter kits for brewing five gallons of beer!


The Best Five Gallon Homebrewing Starter Kits

When choosing a five gallon homebrewing starter kit, consider if you’re planning to brew with extract, all-grain using the brew-in-a-bag (BIAB) method, all-grain using a 3-vessel system, or all-grain using an electric all-in-one system (here’s a list of our favorites). We have included our top three choices for the best homebrewing starter kits in the chart below and corresponding descriptions. Each of these kits contain a different set of equipment tailored for the entire brewing process for each of the primary brewing methods.

Wondering how much beer five gallons is? A five-gallon batch of beer will fill about 48-52 bottles of beer depending on the style, meaning that a five gallon batch of beer yields about two cases of finished product. None of these kits include beer bottles, but don’t worry. Instead of buying new beer bottles, check out our guide to how to reuse craft beer bottles for homebrew.

MoreBeer Premium Home Brewing Kit

If you’re starting from scratch and want to make 5-gallon batches, our number one recommendation for the best homebrewing starter kit is MoreBeer’s Premium Home Brewing Kit. This kit includes a ton of equipment at a relatively low price, and includes everything you need to brew, including a 7 gallon Fermonster fermenter, an 8.5 gallon stainless steel brew kettle with a thermometer port and built-in ball valve, a wort chiller, a bottling bucket, a thermometer, a hydrometer, transfer tubing, bottling equipment, cleaner, sanitizer, and a recipe kit to brew your first batch. This is our choice for the overall best homebrewing starter kit because it is high-quality and has everything you need to start brewing at a very reasonable price. 

If you’re looking to get started but want to jump right into electric all grain brewing, MoreBeer even has a version of their Premium Home Brewing Kit that includes the equipment above PLUS a 9 Gallon DigiBoil Electric Kettle with digital controller and the DigiMash Upgrade Kit stainless steel malt pipe for all grain brewing!

AIH Beginning Homebrew All Grain Kit Upgrade #6

If you’re looking for the best homebrewing starter kit for jumping right into traditional all grain brewing using a separate mash tun, check out the Adventures in Homebrewing’s Beginning Homebrew All Grain Kit Upgrade #6. Of all of the all grain beer kits we’ve tried, this one had the most equipment for an affordable price. While the equipment and process is geared more toward an advanced brewer, this is a great option for switching to all grain brewing after brewing a few one-gallon batches.

This awesome home brew kit includes a fermenting bucket, a bottling bucket, a 10 gallon ported brew kettle, a 5-gallon insulated mash tun, a smaller kettle to serve as a hot liquor tank, a wort chiller, hydrometer, a bottle capper, bottle brush, and more additional equipment. Note, the only thing this kit does not include but really should is bottle caps, so you’ll need to order some separately.

With this kit, you will be ready to brew five gallon batches of beer using the traditional 3-vessel all grain brewing method. It even includes a copy of John Palmer’s excellent book How to Brew (if you’re looking for the best homebrewing books to read, check out this list of our favorites!). For anyone looking for a way to jump into 3-vessel all grain brewing, this is our pick for the best homebrewing starter kit! If you’re intimidated by all-grain brewing but want to learn more, check out our step by step instructions to all grain brewing to learn more and download our free brew day worksheet!

Northern Brewer – Premium Craft Brewery in a Box Beer Making Starter Kit (Fresh Squished)

One of the original homebrewing starter kits is still one of the best! Northern Brewer’s Premium Craft Brewery in a Box Beer Making Starter Kit includes everything needed to get started brewing. This kit includes a ported stainless steel kettle, a wort chiller, a ported Big Mouth Bubbler fermenter (which makes the fermentation process very easy), and bottling equipment. It also includes the recipe kit for Northern Brewer’s Fresh Squished IPA, which is one of the best recipe kits we have ever brewed! This is a solid homebrewing starter kit that has everything needed to get started in the hobby and make good beer right away, making it a good choice for beginner brewers.


Thanks for Reading!

Still have questions about choosing a beer brewing kit, or anything else beer and brewing related? Leave a comment below or post in the forums! The BrewTogether Community is made up of an awesome group of homebrewers around the world that are always supportive and happy to help answer your questions!

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Affiliate Disclosure: BrewTogether is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. BrewTogether is also a participant in an affiliate program with MoreBeer, our favorite online homebrewing equipment/ingredients retailer. Some of the links in this article are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase after clicking the link, I will earn a  small commission at no additional cost to you. Please feel free to reach out with questions. Thank you for your support!

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