Immersion wort chiller ($48.95, morebeer.com) Simple and most practical wort chiller.

Swing-top bottles ($19.95, morebeer.com) Sixteen-ounce Grolsch-type bottles that eliminate the need for caps and a capper.

Diffusion stone ($13.50, morebeer.com) Can be used to efficiently carbonate a keg and flood your wort with critical oxygen.

Auto siphon ($9.95, www.midwestsupplies.com) Starts your racking siphon with a simple piston action.

6.5-gallon carboy ($23.00, www.midwestsupplies.com) Scratch-resistant glass is useful for primary and large batch secondary fermentation.

15-gallon demi-john ($49.95, www.midwestsupplies.com) Massive glass fermenter that’s just the right size for a full kettle of wort.

16.5-gallon plastic fermenter ($38.95, www.midwestsupplies.com) Economical, transportable fermentor for a kettle full o’ wort.

Aeration wand ($33.90, www.williamsbrewing.com) Solid metal tube for aerating and carbonating, that can be boiled to sanitize.

24-inch plastic stirring paddle ($3.50, www.midwestsupplies.com) An inexpensive, handy paddle that’s indispensable around the brew house.

Double-tap jockey box ($310.00, www.micromatic.com) The breweries use ‘em, why not you? No need to chill your kegs of homebrew with a jockey box.

1-litre Erlenmeyer flask ($12.90, www.williamsbrewing.com) A key piece of equipment for making yeast starters: boil, sterilize and grow yeast in one vessel.

Brew British Real Ale ($16.75, www.amazon.com) From ale expert Graham Wheeler, English brewing art at its finest.

Classic Style Series books ($11.95-$14.95, www.breworganic.com) For the exacting brewer and history buff, these are a must.

Brew Your Own Magazine ($24.95, www.byo.com) Get a year’s worth of homebrewing suggestions and expert advice delivered to your mailbox.

Brew Like A Monk ($21.29, www.thegrape.net) Love Trappist beer? Make your own easily with this book by noted beer aficionado Stan Hieronymus.

Designing Great Beers ($19.95, www.beerbooks.com) The most comprehensive stylistic brewing book on the market, hands down. By Ray Daniels

Farmhouse Ales ($18.39, www.thegrape.net) If the secular, earthy, farmhouse Belgian brews are your thing, then this book is too. By Phil Markowski.

Radical Brewing ($19.95, www.thegrape.net) Take your homebrew to another level with help from the mad scientist/artist himself, Randy Mosher.

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing ($13.45, www.beerbooks.com) The original guide from the guru himself, Charlie Papazian, it is still an ultra-practical but whimsical classic.

The Homebrewer’s Garden ($14.95, www.thegrape.net) Grow hops, use herbs and spices, and otherwise make your brew even more personal with this treatise.

Wine thief ($8.09, www.thegrape.net) Swipe beer from your fermenter for gravity reading and samples to monitor its progress.

Bulk pellet hops (www.hopsdirect.com) Hops by the pound, save $$$ on your favorite varieties.

Dual gauge CO2 regulator ($59.95, www.midwestsupplies.com) A necessity for draft systems.

Dial thermometer ($9.95, www.midwestsupplies.com) Instantaneous readings for wort or mash. Has a handy clamp, too.

Dip tube brush ($4.50, www.williamsbrewing.com) Clean those siphon and dip tubes, where the bugs hide.

Ferrari floor corker ($109.90, www.williamsbrewing.com) Universal corker for both elegant cork-and-cage Belgian beers and wine.

Floating thermometer ($5.95, www.midwestsupplies.com) The standard dairy thermometer with a C and F scale.

Winemaker Magazine ($22.00, www.winemakermag.com) Excellent source of information for the home winemaker.

Basic bottle capper ($14.29, www.homebrewadventures.com) Simple, economical capper that stores easily and lasts forever.

Counter pressure bottle filler ($49.95, www.homebrewadventures.com) Bottle beer directly from your keg for crystal clear beer. Handy for take-out or competitions.

Full must wine kits: pinot grigio, riesling, merlot ($89.69-$103.09, www.ebrew.com) Wine fixin’ ready to use, no diluting necessary.

Flip top growler ($12.95, www.breworganic.com) Handsome 2-litre growler that brings elegance to your brew.

Fermometer strip thermometer ($2.35, www.homebrewadventures.com) Just stick it on the side of your fermenter to monitor your fermentation temperature.

Triple scale hydrometer ($5.95, www.midwestsupplies.com) No matter what your level, this is perhaps your most important gadget.

Brewing calculator ($7.95, morebeer.com) Simple slide rule device to help balance and formulate your recipes.

Budget refractometer ($42.95, www.midwestsupplies.com) Make quick gravity readings without the hefty price.

Four-gallon stainless steel pot ($32.95, www.midwestsupplies.com) Every mini-mash and extract brewer must have at least one of these.

Beer gun bottle filler ($69.95, www.williamsbrewing.com) Bottle crystal clear beer without the hassle of counter-pressure.

The Carbonator ($15.65, www.homebrewadventures.com) Use to pressurize standard soda bottles after filling with beer. Simply screw on and gas up.

The Compleat Meadmaker ($18.90, www.williamsbrewing.com) Ready to move on to mead? This book tells it all.

Winemaking starter kit ($69.95, www.homebrewery.com) Inexpensive, complete kit to turn you into a winemaker.

Bargain wine kits ($60.00, www.homebrewery.com) Each kit makes 30 high-quality bottles of wine at about 2 bucks a bottle.

The New Brewing Lager Beer ($16.95, www.midwestsupplies.com) From the lagermeister himself, Greg Noonan, to help you make those wunderbar German brews you love.

The Therminator wort chiller ($189.95, www.midwestsupplies.com) Chill your entire batch in 5 minutes with this bad boy.

Real cask ale supplier (variable, www.ukbrewing.com) How groovy is real ale? UK Brewing has everything you need to cask your own.

Fruit puree for beer and wine ($15.2-17.50, www.beer-wine.com) Make fruited lambic-style beers, fruit beers and wine with these ready-to-use all-natural purees.

American Homebrewers Association ($38.00, www.beertown.org)Join the most venerable of all the homebrewers organizations and get Zymurgy magazine plus other perks.

Complete ingredient kits ($26.00-$50.00, www.homebrewadventures.com) Dozens of kits that have everything you need to make an outta sight beer from scratch.

Extreme Brewing ($19.99, www.beerbooks.com) The Pied Piper of extreme brewing himself, Sam Calagione, shares his wisdom.

Safale US-56 brewing yeast ($1.90, www.breworganic.com) The most popular American ale yeast is now in dry form. No need to worry about yeast starters anymore

Top-notch homebrewing depends most critically on skill and knowledge, but a few well-designed and über-functional toys can’t hurt either. Next to making the best beer possible, homebrewing is also about tinkering, gadgetry and fun.

Convoluted Counter-flow Wort Chiller

One of the most critical variables in brewing is the lag time between boil knockout and yeast pitching. This unit cools hot wort in minutes, giving your yeast the decisive upper hand in the fermentation vessel. This might be the most important upgrade that a homebrew can make to take the worry out of fermentation. Compact, easy to clean and sturdy enough to last forever. $135. www.midwestsupplies.com

More Beer Brewing Sculpture

If you’re one of those hobbyists who needs to go whole hog and you have money to burn, then take a gander at this brewing sculpture. Of the many designs that exist, this one is the most ergonomic and makes up to 20 gallons at a time. All liquids are transferred via pump, it is fueled by a single propane tank, and the entire unit is designed with safety in mind. You’ll be able to concentrate more on the details of brewing rather than worrying about the mechanics. $2,550. morebeer.com

14.5 Gallon Conical Fermenter

Maximum utility for big batch brewers. Lots of great features, including a flawless inner surface to discourage uninvited bugs, two drains and a multipurpose, clamped lid. Add flavorings or hops, take samples, transfer only wort above the yeast cake, or harvest yeast, all done in a snap. It’s easy to flush and sanitize, and the large diameter lid facilitates scrubbing. $545. www.williamsbrewing.com

Brew Like a Pro—Sabco Universal Kettle

Sabco makes it almost too easy. This brand-new stainless steel kettle not only has an external and internal tri-clamp coupler to make it the most-easily adaptable unit on the market, but it also has a ‘no-thread’, thermometer well besides. The elimination of all coupling threads creates an easy-to-clean, sanitary environment. The use of modern, brewer-preferred tri-clamps makes it cutting-edge smart. It can be used as a mashtun, hot liquor tank, or boiling kettle. Use as a stand-alone device, or build your own brewing sculpture to use them in series. Tap into your own ingenuity to modify it yourself, or comb the site for the whole accessory package: adaptors for thermometers, drains, false bottoms and more are available. This is homebrew utility at its zenith. $500.

High-performance propane burner

Propane burners are a dime a dozen, but this one was made with the homebrewer in mind: 70,000 BTU where it’s needed, precision regulator and height allows easier gravity-flow transfer to the fermenter. $90. morebeer.com

Forty-quart brew pot with valve and thermometer

This versatile brew pot—40 quarts, offset drain, ready for adaptation with the included ball valve—will keep you brewing for years. $249. www.williamsbrewing.com

Oxygenation kit

Flood your wort with oxygen to kick-start your fermentation and help insure that it works to completion. The stone is easy to sanitize and the entire system is a breeze to use. $45. www.midwestsupplies.com

Refractometer

Refractometers allow brewers to take instantaneous specific gravity readings. Hit your target gravity and assess your mash efficiency in a jiffy without compensating for temperature. $45. www.williamsbrewing.com

Refrigerator thermostat control

Turn that spare refrigerator into a lagering unit with this thermostat control. The control goes up to 80 degrees, so fermenting ales in summer is an option also. $55. www.midwestsupplies.com

Schmidling malt mill

A precise crush of malted barley is essential. The preset gap of the Schmidling malt mill provides the perfect crush. Motorize or mount to make milling even simpler. $130. www.midwestsupplies.com

Serve Like a Pro—Cornelius Keg System

If bottling is the bane of your hobby, kegging puts that ordeal in the rearview mirror. Rack to the keg, no priming necessary, and with a little more investment you can even turn your fridge into a kegerator with your own beer on draft. You can still bottle for competitions with a counter-pressure bottle filler or prepare fresh beer to go with a carbonator. Pick up a $30 Sankey coupler, and you’re ready to serve commercial products without one of those silly hand pumps. It’s portable enough to drag the whole works—plus a keg—to a party, where you will be the talk of the event. $165. www.midwestsupplies.com

Auto-adjust bottle capper

Take the fuss out of bottling with this self-adjusting capper. $37 www.williamsbrewing.com

How To Brew by John Palmer

The new darling among the homebrewing bibles, this book by John Palmer deserved its accolades.  An all-encompassing digest; your most indispensable brewing partner. $17 www.howtobrew.com

Promash Brewing Software

The most comprehensive brewing software available, and an excellent educational vehicle. $24  www.williamsbrewing.com

Start as an Amateur—Complete Homebrew Kit

To get started in homebrewing, you’ve got to have a basic kit. This one is a simple, one-step fermentation and bottling kit, complete with a basic brewing book and the ingredients for your first beer. All you need is a pot. If you make the decision to go to all-grain, you’ve already got the equipment. Even supplemental equipment won’t diminish the usefulness, sensibility, or exhilaration of your first kit. (You can tailor your beers to your tastes by downloading the free “Hop Data Book” from Hop Union. www.hopunion.com) $80 www.williamsbrewing.com

For at least a couple of millennia, wooden barrels served to ferment, transport and serve beer, as well as other beverages. One could even argue that without wooden barrels, beer might not be the omnipresent beverage of European history. The barrel’s a clever invention: oak or chestnut logs transformed into complex curved staves, which, when bound by willow or metal hoops, could hold liquid and even a bit of pressure. This must have been a dramatic, even magical breakthrough. No wonder songs were written about it.

The invention of the barrel is variously attributed to Bronze Age Celts, Vikings, or similar hairy-cloaked tribes. By Roman times, barrels were in use across a wide area of northern Europe. Barrels served admirably in a pre-industrial world, but the difficulty of cleaning and maintaining the ornery beasts led to their near-total demise by about 1950. Stainless steel perfectly suits the squeaky-clean nature of international lager, but for those of us who love the funky depths of a truly handmade beer, wood can offer that extra dimension.

Woody Characteristics

There are a number of reasons for this. First, wood is not flavorless. Wood contains chemicals that dissolve in the beer over time, adding woody, oaky or even musty flavors in some cases. Temperature swings cause the liquid to pump in and out of the wood, accelerating the process. Over a period of months or years, one of these substances—lignin—actually transforms chemically into vanillin, which is why vanilla notes are often found in whisky and other barrel-aged spirits.

Barrel wood is porous, which means the contents are exposed to air, creating the potential for oxidized flavors. These are generally regarded as defects in beer, but oxidized compounds give sherry and similar wines their wonderfully distinctive aromas. Porosity also means that there are lots of little nooks and crannies for microorganisms to hide, a fact that may be used to the brewer’s advantage or mitigated if necessary. Lambic and other sour beer brewers have developed a finely tuned method for shepherding the little critters to make beer for them, but there is such inconsistency that blending becomes a major part of the system. These sour beers are a complex subject that deserves a whole book, and, indeed, one is forthcoming from Brewers Publications. For the present, we are simply considering beers finished off in whisky barrels.