Equipment & Tools
You need very little to make mead, and you may already own some of it. This is a quick reference in three tiers: what to buy now, what to add after your first batch, and what experienced makers eventually want. Each item links to the guide that covers it in detail. Tier 1 costs under £40 / $50 from any homebrew shop.
A few buying notes
Food-grade only
Anything that touches your mead must be rated for food contact. Buckets sold as fermenters are food-grade; general hardware buckets are not.
Glass vs plastic
Plastic is light and cheap but scratches, and scratches harbour bacteria. A plastic bucket is fine for primary; for long secondary and ageing, glass is worth it.
Where to skimp and where not to
A basic £3 hydrometer is perfectly accurate. Litmus paper or a cheap pH meter with no calibration solution and a dead battery is worse than no pH readings. Spend on precision (pH meter with calibration kit, accurate scale); save on the rest (spoon, hydrometer, bucket).
Homebrew shop vs online
A local shop lets you ask questions and see things before you buy. Online is cheaper for consumables you reorder, such as sanitiser and nutrients. Buy your Tier 1 kit in person, then consumables online.
Tier 1: Start here
Everything you need to take your first batch from pitch to glass. Your First Mead walks through using it step by step.
Primary fermentation vessel
A food-grade bucket with a lid, at least twice your batch volume (a 20-litre bucket for a 10-litre batch). Active fermentation foams up and needs the headroom.
Airlock and bung
Lets CO₂ out without letting air in. Fill it with diluted sanitiser rather than water, in case it is ever sucked back into the mead.
Racking cane and tubing
For moving mead between vessels (racking) without disturbing the sediment. Standard 10 mm (3/8 inch) tubing fits most kit. Start the flow by filling the tube, never by mouth.
Hydrometer and trial jar
Measures gravity, so you know your starting point and when fermentation has finished. Airlock bubbles alone are not a reliable sign.
Long spoon or whisk
For dissolving honey, aerating the must, and degassing before each nutrient addition.
Sanitiser
Everything that touches your mead must be sanitised. Acid-based no-rinse sanitiser is the quickest; sodium metabisulphite and oxygen-based cleaners also work. Keep a spray bottle to hand on brew day.
Thermometer
Yeast stall when too cold and make off-flavours when too warm. A basic digital thermometer is enough, for rehydrating yeast and checking the fermenter.
Bottles and closures
Standard wine bottles suit still meads. Carbonated meads need pressure-rated bottles; see the Carbonated Meads guide before you buy.
Tier 2: After your first batch
Not essential to start, but each one makes the process easier.
Narrow-neck carboy or demijohn
The ideal secondary and ageing vessel: the narrow neck keeps headspace and oxygen exposure low. Glass is classic; PET is lighter but scratches.
Auto-siphon
Starts a siphon with one pump. Cleaner and faster than a plain racking cane, and the first upgrade most makers buy. Fits standard 10 mm tubing.
Wine thief
Draws a sample from a carboy for a gravity reading or a taste, without racking.
pH meter
Low pH can stall fermentation, and fruit and some honeys shift it a lot. A meter with calibration solution is far more reliable than strips.
Digital scale (0.1 g)
Nutrients and stabilisers are dosed by weight, and teaspoon measures are not accurate enough. Needed for nutrient schedules and stabilisation doses.
Bottle capper or corker
A capper for crown caps, a corker for corks. Swing-top bottles need neither.
Tier 3: The well-provisioned maker
Worth having at larger scale or for particular styles.
Refractometer
Reads sugar from a single drop, handy for quick starting-gravity checks. Alcohol distorts the reading once fermentation starts, so you still need a hydrometer.
Drill-mounted wine whip
Makes aeration and degassing fast on batches above about 10 litres. Keep the speed moderate to avoid foaming over.
Fining agents
Bentonite, Sparkolloid, or kieselsol and chitosan, for clearing haze when time and cold crashing are not enough.
Conical fermenter
A valve at the base lets you drain off sediment without racking, with less oxygen exposure. Worthwhile if you make several batches a year.
Keg and CO₂ regulator
For force carbonation, the only way to carbonate a sweet mead that has been stabilised with sorbate.