Brewing

Brewing is the method by which many potions are made in Minecraft. Jeb has said that it will probably not come out in 1.9 (It is implemented in 1.9 prerelease 3), possibly pushing the release to 1.10. Originally potions were to be brewed in Cauldrons but Jeb later tweeted that he and Notch had come up with a different brewing method and potions are now made in Brewing Stands.

History
According to code found in the Beta 1.9 Pre-release 2, Potions are brewed by adding water to a Cauldron, and then combining ingredients. Ingredients in the correct combination would confer beneficial potion effects with no downside, or additional negative status effects. In 1.9, there will be a Brewing Stand to brew potions in, while the Cauldron is now used to hold the water needed for brewing.

In the Beta 1.9 Pre-release 2 there were many ingredient combinations which resulted in many different potion effects. Currently the system is simplified from 150 different potions to an estimated 22. For example the potions Nausea, Blindness and Invisibility can no longer be created. Under the original Cauldron base system Jeb recommended certain "'clean' potions that don't require a lot of work." The Brewing Stand will brew a single ingredient for 30 seconds into the bottle(s)

Potion ingredients
Necessary to make potions: The following are the main bases and add special effects to regular potions:
 * Water Bottle: fill glass bottle with water
 * Fermented Spider Eye: gives negative effects and downgrade upgraded effects.
 * Glowstone (Dust): upgrades effects, but decreases their duration.
 * Nether Wart: neutral base for regular potions.
 * Redstone dust: increases the duration of effects, but downgrades upgraded effects.

The following are the main ingredients required to give the potions their special effect:
 * Blaze Powder: for strength.
 * Ghast Tear: for health.
 * Magma Cream: for fire resistance.
 * Spider Eye: for poisoning.
 * Sugar: for speed.

Base Potions
Base potions are required before advanced potions can be brewed.
 * Nether Warts + Water Bottle = Awkward potion (Awkward Potion is the base potion for all positive buffs)
 * Glowstone dust + Water Bottle = Thick Potion
 * Redstone dust + Water Bottle = Mundane Potion
 * Fermented Spider Eye + Water Bottle = Potion of Weakness 1:30
 * Potion of weakness weakens the attack power of the player
 * Normal attack + wood sword on sheep = 2 hits; weak potion attack + wood sword on sheep = 4 hits

Awkward Base

 * Awkward Potion + Ghast Tear = Instant Health
 * Recovers 3 hearts per potion
 * Instant Health + Glowstone Dust = Instant Health II
 * Recovers 6 hearts per potion
 * If Redstone Dust is added to this potion, it is reverted back to Instant Health.


 * Awkward Potion + Sugar = Potion of swiftness (3:00)
 * Potion of swiftness increases the movement speed of the user
 * Sprint speed and Jumping length is also increased
 * Normal jumps = 2blocks, Sprint Jumps = 3 blocks, Potion sprint jumps = 4 blocks
 * Potion of Swiftness + Redstone Dust = Potion of Swiftness (8:00)
 * Potion of Swiftness + Glowstone Dust = Potion of Swiftness II (1:30)
 * If Redstone Dust is added to this potion, it is reverted back to Potion of Swiftness.


 * Awkward Potion + Spider Eye = Potion of Poison (0:45)
 * Potion of Poison deals poison damage for the set given time
 * Just like the cave spider poison, The poison will only bring your health down to half a heart
 * Potion of poison + Fermented Spider Eye = Potion of Harming (deals 3 heart damage)
 * Potion of Poison + Redstone Dust = Potion of Poison (2:00)
 * Potion of Poison + Glowstone Dust = Potion of Poison II (0:22)
 * Potion of Poison II + Fermented Spider Eye = Potion of Harming II (deals 6 heart damage)


 * Awkward Potion + Blaze Powder = Potion of strength
 * Potion of strength +1.5 damage to all form of attacks.
 * Normal attack + hand = 0.5 damage; Potion attack + hand = 2 damage
 * Potion of Strength + Redstone Dust = Potion of Strength (8:00)
 * Potion of Strength (8:00) + Glowstone Dust = Potion of Strength II (1:30)
 * Str-2 attack + hand = 3.5 damage


 * Awkward Potion + Magma Cream = Potion of Fire Resistance (3:00)
 * Potion of Fire Resistance grants total immunity to fire damage
 * Normal Fire can put you into flames but no damage will be received
 * Capability to swim in lava when Potion of Fire Resistance is active
 * Potion of Fire Resistance + Redstone Dust = Potion of Fire Resistance (8:00)
 * Potion of Fire Resistance + Fermented Spider Eye = Potion of Slowness (1:30)
 * Potion of Slowness + Redstone Dust = Potion of Slowness (4:00)


 * Potion of Swiftness + Fermented Spider Eye = Potion of Slowness
 * Potion of Slowness decreases the movement speed of the user
 * Potion of Slowness + Redstone Dust = Potion of Slowness (4:00)

Mundane Base

 * Mundane Potion + Fermented Spider Eye = Potion of weakness 4:00
 * You can not hit mobs

Thick Base

 * Thick Potion + Fermented Spider Eye = Potion of weakness 1:30

Weak Base

 * Potion of Weakness (normal) + Red stone dust = Potion of weakness 4:00


 * Potion of Weakness (redstone) + Glowstone = Potion of weakness 1:30

Trivia

 * You only need 1 ingredient to create 3 potions.
 * Upgrading an Instant Health Potion (I) with glowstone dust has no downsides.
 * Upgrading a Fire Resistance Potion with redstone dust has no downsides.
 * Although it has been said by Jeb that in the 1.9 pre-release 3 there were 161 possible different potion combinations and there may be 2,653 in the future, in the 1.9 pre-release 3 it was only possible to make 22 different potions without the use of external programs. 19 of those 22 potions had effects, and 8 different attributes were available.