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Guide

How to brew beer at home (extract, step by step)

How to brew beer at home with an extract kit: sanitize, steep, boil, chill, pitch yeast, ferment and bottle, with timings, safety notes and gear lists.

Updated November 2026 · 9 min read

Wort at a rolling boil in a stainless pot on a gas hob
Photo: PierreSelim, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The short version
  • Extract brewing skips the mash: you steep a little grain, dissolve malt extract, boil with hops, chill, add yeast and wait.
  • Plan on about 3 hours of brew day, about 2 weeks of fermentation and about 2 weeks of bottle conditioning before the first cold one.
  • Sanitation decides more first batches than any recipe. Clean first, then sanitize everything that touches cooled wort.
  • Bottle only when the hydrometer reads the same 2–3 days in a row, and weigh priming sugar with a calculator.
  • Brew for adults 21+ only. Homebrew is often stronger than store beer, so count standard drinks and never drink and drive.

If you want to learn how to brew beer at home, an extract kit is the shortest path from zero to a beer you are proud of. The brewery has already turned malted barley into concentrated malt extract, so your job is the part that shapes flavor: a short steep of specialty grain, a hop boil, fast chilling, healthy yeast and a clean, steady fermentation.

This guide walks a standard 5 gal (19 L) extract kit from the box to the bottle, with the same steps you would follow for a 1 gal (3.8 L) kit at a smaller scale. It follows the process taught in John Palmer’s How to Brew and the American Homebrewers Association’s beginner material, and it points to the calculators and data on this site wherever a number matters.

What you need for your first extract batch

Most 5 gal starter kits bundle the fermenting gear but leave two big items to you: a kettle and about 50 bottles. Read the “you still need” line on the kit before brew day. A 1 gal kit usually includes a small glass jug and fits a normal stockpot, which is why it suits apartments.

Crushed specialty grain in a red colander on a kitchen table
Specialty grain ready for steeping.Photo: PierreSelim, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

First-batch gear by job

JobItemNotes
BoilKettle, 5 gal (19 L) or larger~ Partial boil of 2.5–3 gal works on a stove; a full 5 gal boil needs 7.5 gal+ and more heat
FermentBucket or carboy with airlock✓ Usually in the kit; leave headspace for foam (krausen)
MeasureHydrometer and test jar✓ Needed to know when fermentation is done
Clean and sanitizeUnscented cleaner plus a no-rinse sanitizer✓ Star San is EPA-registered as a no-rinse sanitizer at label dilution
ChillIce bath or immersion chiller~ An ice bath works for partial boils; a chiller saves time for full boils
PackageAbout 50 × 12 oz bottles, caps, capper, priming sugar✗ Often not in the kit; check the listing
RecordBrew log✓ Free printable log on this site

Source: Northern Brewer and Brewer’s Best kit listings; Palmer, How to Brew

Kits differ in how much they leave out. The Northern Brewer starter kit with kettle adds the boil pot and testing gear, the Brewer’s Best deluxe kit includes a kettle and a PET carboy but still needs bottles, the Craft A Brew 1 gal kit runs on a stockpot, and Mr. Beer ships its own small keg fermenter and reusable bottles. Our homebrew equipment checklist lists every item by stage.

How do you brew beer at home, step by step?

Read the kit instructions once from start to finish before you light anything. Kit recipes give their own steep temperatures, hop times and yeast, and those beat any general guide. The steps below are the standard sequence that nearly every extract kit follows.

A mesh bag of crushed grain being lifted out of a kettle on the stove
Steeping specialty grain in a bag before adding extract.Photo: PierreSelim, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  1. Clean, then sanitize

    Wash the fermenter, lid, airlock, spoon, thermometer and hydrometer with an unscented cleaner and rinse. Then sanitize anything that will touch wort after the boil, mixing the sanitizer exactly at the label dilution. See cleaning vs sanitizing for the difference.

    Five Star Star San Acid Sanitizer, 32 ozFive Star PBW Alkaline Cleaner, 1 lb
  2. Heat the water and steep the grains

    Heat 2.5–3 gal (9.5–11 L) of water for a partial boil. Most kits steep crushed specialty grain in a mesh bag at about 150–165°F (66–74°C) for 20–30 minutes. Lift the bag out and let it drain; don’t squeeze it hard, which can pull harsh tannins.

  3. Turn off the heat and stir in the extract

    Take the pot off the burner before adding liquid or dry malt extract so it can’t scorch on the bottom. Stir until fully dissolved, then return to heat.

    Briess Golden Light Dry Malt Extract, 1 lbBriess Golden Light Liquid Malt Extract, 3.3 lb
  4. Boil and add hops on schedule

    Bring the wort to a rolling boil, uncovered, and start a 60-minute timer. Watch the first few minutes closely: the foam (hot break) can boil over in seconds. Add hops at the times the recipe lists, counting down from 60.

  5. Chill fast

    Cool the wort to yeast-pitching temperature as fast as you can, in an ice bath in the sink or with an immersion chiller. Fast chilling reduces the time the wort is exposed and helps limit DMS (a cooked-corn flavor).

    NY Brew Supply Copper Immersion Wort Chiller, 3/8 in. x 25 ftStainless Immersion Wort Chiller, 25 ft
  6. Transfer, top up and take a reading

    Pour or siphon the cooled wort into the sanitized fermenter and top up with clean, cool water to the batch volume. Mix well, then take an original gravity (OG) reading with the hydrometer and write it down.

    SOLIGT Triple Scale Hydrometer & Glass Test Jar KitFastRack Triple Scale Hydrometer
  7. Aerate and pitch the yeast

    Shake or stir the wort hard for a minute to dissolve air, since yeast needs oxygen to grow. Pitch the yeast the way the maker’s sheet says; Fermentis and Lallemand both allow direct pitching of their dry ale yeasts.

    Fermentis SafAle US-05 Dry Ale Yeast, 11.5 gLallemand LalBrew Nottingham Ale Yeast, 11 g
  8. Ferment somewhere steady

    Seal the lid, fit the airlock half-filled with sanitizer and keep the fermenter in a dark spot at the low end of the yeast’s range. Fermenting beer runs several degrees warmer than the room in the first days.

  9. Confirm it is done

    After about 2 weeks, take readings 2–3 days apart. When the final gravity (FG) stays the same, fermentation is finished. Bubbling in the airlock is not a reliable signal.

  10. Bottle and condition

    Weigh priming sugar with the calculator, mix it into the beer in a bottling bucket, fill and cap. Leave the bottles at room temperature for about 2 weeks, then chill.

    FastRack 12 oz Amber Longneck Beer Bottles, 24-PackFastRack Red Baron Bottle Capper
Printable brew-day log and recipe sheetPrint a blank log before you start and fill in volumes, temperatures and gravity readings as you go.

Yeast choice and fermentation temperature

Yeast makes the beer, so the temperature you ferment at matters more than most first-timers expect. Each maker publishes a range on its technical sheet. Clean American ales ferment best at the lower end of the range; warm fermentation drives fruity esters and harsh fusel alcohols.

A thick tan krausen foam on top of fermenting beer in a bucket
A healthy krausen a day or two after pitching.Photo: Phillie Casablanca, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

Dry yeast by the maker’s numbers

YeastUseFermentation tempDoseAttenuation / toleranceRehydration
SafAle US-05
Fermentis		Ale (American)18–26°C (64.4–78.8°F)50–80 g/hL78–82%; not listed on the product pageOptional: ≥10× its weight of sterile water or boiled, hopped wort at 25–29°C (77–84°F), 15–30 min; or direct pitch at or above fermentation temperature
SafAle S-04
Fermentis		Ale (English)18–26°C (64.4–78.8°F)50–80 g/hL74–82%; 9–11% ABVOptional: ≥10× its weight of sterile water or boiled, hopped wort at 25–29°C (77–84°F), 15–30 min; or direct pitch at or above fermentation temperature
SafLager W-34/70
Fermentis		Lager12–18°C (53.6–64.4°F)80–120 g/hL80–84%; 9–11% ABVOptional: ≥10× its weight of sterile water or boiled, hopped wort at 15–25°C (59–77°F), 15–30 min; or direct pitch at or above fermentation temperature
LalBrew Nottingham
Lallemand		Ale (English)10–25°C (50–77°F)50–100 g/hL78–84%; 14% ABVDry pitching is the maker's preferred method (no significant difference vs rehydration, per Lallemand)
LalBrew Voss (kveik)
Lallemand		Ale (kveik)25–40°C (77–104°F)
Optimum 35–40°C (95–104°F) per Lallemand		50–100 g/hL76–82%; 12% ABVPer the sachet
Lalvin EC-1118
Lallemand		Wine, cider, mead10–30°C (50–86°F)25 g/hLFerments dry; 18% v/v (subject to conditions)35–40°C (95–104°F) water for 20 min with Go-Ferm Protect Evolution (30 g/hL), then temper to within 5–10°C of the must

Sources: Fermentis: SafAle US-05 product page; Fermentis: SafAle S-04 product page; Fermentis: SafLager W-34/70 product page; Lallemand: LalBrew Nottingham technical data sheet; Lallemand Brewing: LalBrew Voss Kveik Ale Yeast product page; Lallemand: Lalvin EC-1118 technical data sheet. 1 hL = 26.4 US gal, so 50 g/hL ≈ 1.9 g per gallon. Follow the sachet you buy; makers update their sheets.

In practice, a basement or interior closet that sits in the mid-60s °F (about 18°C) suits most ale kits. A garage that swings 20 degrees between day and night does not. If your space runs warm, a tub of water with a frozen bottle swapped daily (a swamp cooler) buys several degrees; a fridge with a controller solves the problem for good. Our fermentation temperature guide covers both.

First styles that forgive mistakes

Your first kit should be a style that tolerates small temperature swings and doesn’t depend on perfect hop aroma. Amber ales, blonde ales, American pale ales and Irish stouts all fit. The numbers below are the BJCP 2021 ranges, which give you a target for your hydrometer readings.

Beer styles by the numbers (BJCP 2021 vital statistics)

StyleOGFGIBUColor (SRM)ABV
18A Blonde Ale1.038–1.0541.008–1.01315–283–63.8–5.5%
18B American Pale Ale1.045–1.0601.010–1.01530–505–104.5–6.2%
19A American Amber Ale1.045–1.0601.010–1.01525–4010–174.5–6.2%
15B Irish Stout1.036–1.0441.007–1.01125–4525–403.8–5.0%

Source: BJCP 2021 Beer Style Guidelines. Ranges are for judging; your recipe can sit anywhere inside them. Color swatches are an on-screen approximation.

Skip lagers and very strong beers on batch one. Lagers need 48–55°F (9–13°C) fermentation for weeks, and high-gravity beers need more yeast and oxygen. Our beginner beer styles guide goes deeper.

Safety on brew day

A 5 gal kettle of boiling wort weighs about 40 lb (18 kg). Use a stable burner, keep handles turned in and wear closed shoes. Stovetop partial boils are the right call indoors. If you move to a full boil on propane, the burner goes outside in open air, never in the garage, even with the door up.

Propane burners: outdoors onlyRun jet burners in open air, away from the house. CPSC says to keep fryer-style propane burners out of the garage, off the deck and away from the house; a garage, porch or carport with the door open is still not outdoors. Burning propane makes carbon monoxide. Leak-check fittings with soapy water and never leave a boil unattended.Source: CPSC holiday cooking safety
Chemicals: label directions onlyUse sanitizers, cleaners, acids and salts only at the dilution and contact time on the label. Wear eye protection with acids and powders, add acid to water, keep them away from children and food prep. Star San is EPA-registered (Reg. No. 65001-1) as a no-rinse sanitizer at label dilution.Source: EPA Star San label

Glass jugs and carboys break when you pour hot wort into them or carry them by the neck. Pour only cooled wort into glass, and carry full glass by the base.

Mistakes to avoid on your first batch

  • Sanitizing before cleaning. Sanitizer can’t reach microbes hidden under residue. Clean first.
  • Pitching yeast into warm wort. Wait until the wort is inside the yeast’s range; very hot wort can kill yeast and warm starts produce off-flavors.
  • Trusting the airlock. A quiet airlock can mean a leaky lid, not a finished beer. Use the hydrometer.
  • Bottling early. Unfinished beer keeps fermenting in the bottle and can over-carbonate or burst bottles.
  • Guessing priming sugar. Use the priming sugar calculator with the warmest temperature the beer reached.
  • Opening the fermenter to look. Every peek risks oxygen and infection. Leave it closed.
  • Fermenting in a warm room. 75°F air can mean 80°F beer at peak fermentation.

After fermentation: bottles or kegs, and measuring strength

Once the readings are stable, use the ABV calculator with your OG and FG. A typical amber kit lands in the 4.5–6% range, which is already stronger than many light lagers. The calculator also shows standard drinks per serving, using the NIAAA definition of 14 g of pure alcohol.

Most people bottle the first few batches; how to bottle homebrew has the full routine and the bottle-bomb rules. Kegging comes later, when washing 50 bottles every batch starts to feel like work. See how to keg homebrew.

Brew and drink responsibly (21+)Homebrewing is legal for adults in all 50 states within federal household limits, and selling homebrew is not allowed. Homebrew is often stronger than store beer. Count standard drinks, and never drink and drive.Source: NIAAA: What is a standard drink?

Who should start with which kit

  • Apartment, small kitchen or a gift for an adult 21+: a 1 gal kit (Craft A Brew, Northern Brewer 1 gal) or Mr. Beer. Everything fits on a stove and in a closet.
  • You already know you like the hobby: a 5 gal starter kit with a kettle, so you aren’t shopping for a pot on brew day.
  • You want to grow into all-grain later: buy a kettle of 8 gal (30 L) or more now. It handles full boils today and brew-in-a-bag tomorrow. See how to brew all-grain.

Gear picks for this guide: best beer making kits for beginners and best homebrew kits.

VerdictExtract brewing is real brewing: you control the hops, the yeast, the fermentation and the packaging, which is where most of a beer’s quality is decided. Clean and sanitize carefully, ferment cool and steady, confirm the final gravity before bottling, and your first batch has every chance of being good.
ABV calculatorWork out ABV from OG and FG with the standard and high-gravity formulas, hydrometer temperature correction,…Priming sugar calculatorHow much corn sugar, table sugar or DME to prime homebrew: CO2 volumes by style, residual CO2 from the…Printable brew-day log and recipe sheetFree brew-day log: record recipe, water and salts, mash, gravities, yeast, fermentation temperatures,…

Questions

How long does it take to brew beer at home?
Brew day takes about 3 hours for an extract kit. Fermentation usually needs about 2 weeks, and bottle conditioning another 2 weeks, so plan on roughly 4–6 weeks from brew day to a carbonated beer. Mr. Beer lists 10–14 days fermenting plus 7–14 days conditioning for its 2 gal kits.
Is it hard to brew beer at home?
No. An extract kit asks you to follow a recipe, keep things sanitized and control temperature. The skills are closer to careful cooking than to chemistry. Most first-batch problems come from poor sanitation, warm fermentation or bottling too early.
What do I need to brew beer at home?
A kettle, a fermenter with an airlock, a hydrometer, a cleaner and a no-rinse sanitizer, a way to chill the wort, and bottles with caps and a capper. Many 5 gal kits include everything except the kettle and bottles; check the listing.
Can you brew beer in an apartment?
Yes. A 1 gal kit or a partial-boil 5 gal extract batch works on a kitchen stove. Never use a propane burner indoors; if you want a full boil inside, use an electric system on a suitable GFCI-protected circuit.
Is homebrewing cheaper than buying beer?
It depends on your gear and recipes. Equipment is a one-time cost and ingredients repeat. Our budget builder lets you enter your own prices for each path and compare.
How do I know when fermentation is finished?
Take hydrometer readings 2–3 days apart. When the gravity stays the same and sits near the recipe’s expected final gravity, it is done. Airlock activity alone is not a reliable sign.
Do I have to boil for 60 minutes with extract?
Most extract kits call for a 60-minute boil because hop bitterness depends on boil time. Follow the kit’s hop schedule; shortening the boil lowers bitterness.

Sources

  1. John Palmer, How to Brew (4th ed., Brewers Publications; online edition)
  2. American Homebrewers Association: How to brew
  3. AHA: How to take an accurate hydrometer reading
  4. BJCP 2021 Beer Style Guidelines
  5. Fermentis: SafAle US-05 product page
  6. BYO: Carbonation priming chart
  7. Penn State Extension: Beer, hard cider and distilled spirits production
  8. NIAAA: What is a standard drink?