The four ingredients behind every beer
Beer is a simple thing at heart, made from just four ingredients, malt, hops, yeast and water. Get good ones and handle them well and you can brew something you are proud of at home. This is the full beer making ingredients range, sorted by type so you can top up what you are short of or stock a whole recipe in one go, whether you brew from a kit or all-grain.
What each one does
The malt provides the fermentable sugars that give beer its body, colour and backbone, whether you use ready-made malt extract or crushed grain in a mash. The hops add the bitterness, flavour and aroma that balance all that sweetness. The yeast does the actual work, turning the sugary wort into beer and shaping its final character. And a little priming sugar at bottling gives the beer its fizz.
Extract or all-grain
There are two ways to get your sugars. Extract brewing uses malt extract, a concentrated syrup or powder that skips the mash, which makes it the easy route for beginners and small kitchens. All-grain brewing starts from crushed malted grain and gives you full control over the recipe, at the cost of more time and gear. Both use the same hops, yeast and priming sugar, so you can start with extract and move to grain when you are ready.
Buy fresh, store well
Ingredients reward a little care. Hops and yeast are perishable, so buy what you need and keep them cold, hops in the freezer and yeast in the fridge. Malt extract and grain keep longer but do best sealed and dry. Freshness shows up in the glass, so check dates and store everything properly between brews.
New to this?
If you have not brewed before, the easiest start is a complete beer making kit, which bundles the ingredients and instructions together. Once you know the ropes, come back here to buy each ingredient on its own and build your own recipes. For gift ideas around brewing, see our beer gift guides.