The Brewer's Apprentice - New Jersey's Premiere Homebrew Supply Shop & Brew On Premise!

Interested in making your own beer, wine, cider, or Mead???

Great!

First, decide if you're doing beer, wine, or Mead.
Next, if you're doing a beer or wine, check out our styles from our main menu.
Pick a date. Use our quarterly calendar to find a convenient date.
Okay, now that you know what you want to do, and when, give us a call, and we'll set up an appointment. This isn't absolutely necessary, but it's a good idea to call first to make sure (especially with Mead or wine, or beers that require special yeast) we have everything in stock. It's important to note that, while we carry a tremendous inventory, we don't always have everything in stock every day. This is especially true during our busiest seasons.
You're all set, but you wonder how to get here? Check out our directions, or use Mapquest to get door-to-door directions.
Wow! I just finished making my beer or wine...what's next? Well, with beer, it's fairly standard to plan on a bottling date exactly 2 weeks from the brew date, except in cases of high fruit- or alcohol-content beers, which can affect the fermentation time. How do you know? We will let you know when we talk about your bottling date, and we'll take it from there. With wine and mead, fermentation times vary, but you can usually count on about 6 weeks.
Also, during your first visit, you'll need to consider labels for your creation. There's lots of options, and you can check the labels page from our main menu for more info.
Finally! Bottling day! If you're re-using bottles, remember to have them clean! (Also, remember you save $5 per case when you re-use) When bottling, we have you send your used bottles through our bottle-washer, but you should wash them right after they're emptied! (See our Bottle Cleaning Instructions!) No dish soap, please! It ruins the head for the beer.
With labels and bottles in hand, you're on your way home. Remember to dry the bottles before putting on the labels. (With beer or Mead, there'll be some condensation to consider, since the beer is colder)
For bottle-conditioned beer (we'll let you know if you're not sure if you have one of these), you should wait 2 weeks to allow proper carbonation before drinking. (A staff member will afix a label with instructions to one of your cases)
For white and blush wines, you'll find them quite nice the day of bottling, but some aging will help them.
For red wines and Mead, more aging is highly recommended.
That's it! Thank you for your business, and we look forward to seeing you again!
One last thing...to be sure you're up to date on special events, discounts, and the latest news, Subscribe to our Email list from the Contact Us page.
And of course, you'll want to know the pricing!