Required Equipment:
You are going to need (for a 5-gallon batch):
• A 6-gallon or larger food-grade plastic bucket (NEVER use non-food-grade) or 6 gallon or larger glass or better bottle carboy for your primary fermenter
• A five-gallon secondary glass or better bottle carboy
• A triple scale hydrometer
• A racking cane or auto siphon
• six feet of food-grade 3/8 inch plastic tubing
• A bottle filler
• A floating or long probe thermometer
• An airlock and rubber stopper for both the primary and secondary fermenter
• Star-San or Iodophor sanitizer
• A long handle spoon
• A stick-on LCD thermometer for the primary fermenter
• Wine corker to install corks into wine bottles (some homebrew shops will also rent you a corker). Or a beer bottle capper if putting into beer bottles.
You can get all of these items in a Mead Starter Kit, which gives you a package discount. I recommend this starter kit for beginners.
Taking it to the next level:
When you find you really like this hobby, some things to consider for an upgrade would be:
• A quality pH Meter
• A small digital scale (scales are much more accurate than using volumes for measurement)
• A pure oxygenation system or aquarium pump airation system.
• A large stainless conical fermenter from Blichmann Engineering or MoreBeer
• A kegging system is very nice as well; ah yes, Mead on tap!
