Brewing

Template:Future

Standard 1 into 3 brewing grid

Brewing is the method by which potions and splash 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 and 4), possibly pushing it to the full release of Minecraft.

The brewing process

To brew, a Brewing Stand must be crafted, which can be right clicked to prompt the brewing interface, where at the top an ingredient can be placed, and on the bottom there are 3 slots, for 3 different Water Bottles or pre-made Potions that can serve as potion bases, so 3 different potion bases can use the same one ingredient. After placing an ingredient and at least one potion base the brewing progress will start, indicated by the moving bubbles bar at the left. On the right a downwards-facing-arrow-shaped bar will start filling up, as long as it fills up, potion bases can be added or removed, as long as one base is still in a slot, but when all bases are removed, or the ingredient is removed, the process cancels and nothing happens. When the bar is full, the brewing process is complete, the ingredient is consumed, and the potion bases turn into new potions, depending on the inserted ingredient.

Alchemical Components

Alchemical Components are essential or useful supplies used to make potions.

Name	Icon	Use
Brewing Stand	Template:Grid	Distills reagents into glass bottles.
Cauldron	Template:Grid	Stores water from a bucket. Each cauldron of water can fill 3 bottles. Note: Water blocks provide unlimited water for bottles
Glass Bottle	Template:Grid	Container for all kinds of potions.
Water Bottle	Template:Grid	The starting base for all potions.

Reagents

Reagents are used in conjunction with the above components to produce a whole array of potions and splash potions.

Base (Affecting) Reagents

Base Reagents are necessary to create Primary and Tertiary Potions and affect the duration and intensity of a tertiary potion's effects. In the case of Gunpowder, it affects the application of the potion when used (thrown vs. being consumed by the player).

Name	Icon	Characteristic(s)
Fermented Spider Eye	Template:Grid	Base ingredient of a Potion of Weakness Lessens positive effects Induces negative effects
Glowstone Dust	Template:Grid	Base ingredient of a Thick Potion Increases effects Decreases potion duration
Nether Wart	Template:Grid	Base ingredient of an Awkward Potion
Redstone Dust	Template:Grid	Base ingredient of a Mundane Potion Decreases effects Increases potion duration
Gunpowder	Template:Grid	Creates a Splash Potion when brewed with any potion.

Semi-Affecting Reagents

Semi-Affecting Reagents are secondary reagents that can also be used like a primary reagent as a base reagent, but does not affect potion duration or intensity.

Name	Icon	Characteristic(s)
Glistering Melon	Template:Grid	Base ingredient for Mundane Potion
Blaze Powder	Template:Grid	Base ingredient for Mundane Potion
Spider Eye	Template:Grid	Base ingredient for Mundane Potion

Affecting Reagents

Effecting Reagents are brewed with Primary Potions to create Secondary Potions. They determine the effect a potion will have when the player drinks the final product.

Glistering Melon can be used as either a primary or secondary reagent and does not affect potion duration or intensity.

Name	Icon	Potion Effect
Blaze Powder	Template:Grid	Strength
Ghast Tear	Template:Grid	Regeneration
Glistering Melon	Template:Grid	Instant Health
Magma Cream	Template:Grid	Fire Resistance
Spider Eye	Template:Grid	Poisoning
Sugar	Template:Grid	Speed

Secondary Effecting Reagents

Secondary Effecting Reagents are combinations of reagents that create tertiary potions with new effects.

Name	Icon	Potion Effect
Spider Eye + Fermented Spider Eye	Template:Grid Template:Grid	Harm
Glistering Melon + Fermented Spider Eye	Template:Grid Template:Grid	Harm
Magma Cream + Fermented Spider Eye	Template:Grid Template:Grid	Slowness
Sugar + Fermented Spider Eye	Template:Grid Template:Grid	Slowness

Potions

Primary

All primary potions are created by brewing a single reagent with a Water Bottle and can be combined with Gunpowder to create their throwable Splash Potion counterparts. This Video covers the basics for brewing a few examples of different kinds of potions.

To make	start with	and add	Effect	Precursor to
Template:Grid Awkward Potion	Template:Grid Water Bottle	Template:Grid Nether Wart	None	Instant Health Potion of Fire Resistance Potion of Poison Potion of Regeneration Potion of Strength Potion of Swiftness
Template:Grid Mundane Potion	Template:Grid Water Bottle	Template:Grid Redstone Dust	None	Potion of Weakness (Extended)
Template:Grid Mundane Potion	Template:Grid Water Bottle	Template:Grid Spider Eye	None	Potion of Weakness (Extended)
Template:Grid Mundane Potion	Template:Grid Water Bottle	Template:Grid Glistering Melon	None	Potion of Weakness (Extended)
Template:Grid Mundane Potion	Template:Grid Water Bottle	Template:Grid Blaze Powder	None	Potion of Weakness (Extended)
Template:Grid Thick Potion	Template:Grid Water Bottle	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	None	Potion of Weakness (Reduced)
Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (Reduced)	Template:Grid Water Bottle	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	The player cannot damage mobs without a weapon. Weapons' attack power is halved.	Potion of Weakness (Extended)

Secondary

Secondary potions are created by brewing a reagent with a primary potion and can be combined with Gunpowder to create their throwable Splash Potion counterparts.

Positive

To make	start with a(n)	and add	Effect	Duration (minutes)
Template:Grid Instant Health	Template:Grid Awkward Potion	Template:Grid Glistering Melon	Restores per potion.	Instant
Template:Grid Potion of Fire Resistance	Template:Grid Awkward Potion	Template:Grid Magma Cream	Player becomes immune to damage from fire and lava.	3:00
Template:Grid Potion of Regeneration	Template:Grid Awkward Potion	Template:Grid Ghast Tear	Restores health over time.	0:45
Template:Grid Potion of Strength	Template:Grid Awkward Potion	Template:Grid Blaze Powder	Adds damage to all attacks, with or without weapons.	3:00
Template:Grid Potion of Swiftness	Template:Grid Awkward Potion	Template:Grid Sugar	Increases player's movement, sprinting speed, and jumping length.	3:00

Negative

To make	start with a(n)	and add	Effect	Duration (minutes)
Template:Grid Potion of Poison	Template:Grid Awkward Potion	Template:Grid Spider Eye	Poisons the player for the given time, reducing the health to at most.	0:45
Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (Extended)	Template:Grid Mundane Potion	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	The player cannot damage mobs without a weapon. Weapons' attack power is halved.	4:00
Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (Reduced)	Template:Grid Thick Potion	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	The player cannot damage mobs without a weapon. Weapons' attack power is halved.	1:30
Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (Extended)	Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (Reduced)	Template:Grid Redstone Dust	The player cannot damage mobs without a weapon. Weapons' attack power is halved.	4:00

Tertiary

Tertiary potions are created by brewing a reagent with a secondary potion or another tertiary potion and can be combined with Gunpowder to create their throwable Splash Potion counterparts.

Positive

To make	start with a(n)	and add	Effect	Duration (minutes)
Template:Grid Potion of Fire Resistance (Extended)	Template:Grid Potion of Fire Resistance	Template:Grid Redstone Dust	Player becomes immune to damage from fire and lava.	8:00
Template:Grid Instant Health II	Template:Grid Instant Health	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	Restores per potion.	Instant
Template:Grid Potion of Regeneration (Extended)	Template:Grid Potion of Regeneration	Template:Grid Redstone Dust	Restores health over time.	2:00
Template:Grid Potion of Regeneration II	Template:Grid Potion of Regeneration	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	Restores health over time.	0:22
Template:Grid Potion of Strength (Extended)	Template:Grid Potion of Strength	Template:Grid Redstone Dust	Adds damage to all attacks, with or without weapons.	8:00
Template:Grid Potion of Strength II	Template:Grid Potion of Strength (Extended)	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	Adds damage to all attacks, with or without weapons.	1:30
Template:Grid Potion of Swiftness (Extended)	Template:Grid Potion of Swiftness	Template:Grid Redstone Dust	Increases player's movement, sprinting speed, and jumping length.	8:00
Template:Grid Potion of Swiftness II	Template:Grid Potion of Swiftness	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	Increases player's movement, sprinting speed, and jumping length.	1:30

Negative

To make	start with a(n)	and add	Effect	Duration (minutes)
Template:Grid Potion of Harming	Template:Grid Potion of Poison	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	Inflicts of damage.	Instant
Template:Grid Potion of Harming	Template:Grid Instant Health	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	Inflicts of damage.	Instant
Template:Grid Potion of Harming II	Template:Grid Potion of Harming	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	Inflicts of damage.	Instant
Template:Grid Potion of Harming II	Template:Grid Potion of Poison II	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	Inflicts of damage.	Instant
Template:Grid Potion of Poison (Extended)	Template:Grid Potion of Poison	Template:Grid Redstone Dust	Poisons the player for the given time, reducing the health to a minimum of .	2:00
Template:Grid Potion of Poison II	Template:Grid Potion of Poison	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	Poisons the player for the given time, reducing the health to a minimum of .	0:22
Template:Grid Potion of Slowness	Template:Grid Potion of Fire Resistance	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	Player's movement is slowed to a crouch for the given time.	1:30
Template:Grid Potion of Slowness (Reduced)	Template:Grid Potion of Swiftness	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	Player's movement is slowed to a crouch for the given time.	1:30
Template:Grid Potion of Slowness (Extended)	Template:Grid Potion of Slowness	Template:Grid Redstone Dust	Player's movement is slowed to a crouch for the given time.	4:00
Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (Reduced)	Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (Reduced)	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	The player cannot damage mobs without a weapon. Weapons' attack power is halved.	1:30
Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (Reduced)	Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (Reduced)	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	The player cannot damage mobs without a weapon. Weapons' attack power is halved.	1:30
Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (Reduced)	Template:Grid Potion of Strength	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	The player cannot damage mobs without a weapon. Weapons' attack power is halved.	1:30
Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (Reduced)	Template:Grid Potion of Regeneration	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	The player cannot damage mobs without a weapon. Weapons' attack power is halved.	1:30

History

Originally potions were to be brewed in Cauldrons. According to code found in the Beta 1.9 Pre-release 2, Potions were brewed by adding water to a Cauldron, and then combining it with reagents. Reagents in the correct combination would confer beneficial potion effects with no downside, or additional negative status effects if reagents where placed in a bad combination. The system was complicated, lacked a GUI, and formed many duplicate potions(i.e. two potions that where exactly the same could be made in many different ways), so Notch and Jeb came up with a different brewing method and potions are now made in Brewing Stands, the Cauldron on the other side was not taken out completely, and is now used to hold up water, which is useful for brewing. Doing so simplified potion making by adding a GUI and taking down most duplicate potions, so the total sum of different possible potions went down from 150 potions to an estimated 25 different potions, in 31 combinations. The new method caused some potion effects to become inaccessible, for example: Nausea, Blindness and Invisibility.

In Beta 1.9 Pre-release 4 the brewing of Splash Potions was introduced, allowing one to combine Gunpowder into any potion turning it to a kind of throwable grenade. In addition Glistering Melons were introduced as an alchemical reagent, taking over the role of Ghast Tears in giving the instant health effect, and the latter turned into a regeneration effect, adding 4 more brew-able potions. This version also introduced new base potions made out of the effecting reagents:Spider Eye, Glistering Melon and Blaze Powder all making a Mundane Potion, adding 3 more brew-able potions to a total of 28 different potions in 35 combinations.

Trivia

• Only 1 ingredient is needed to brew into up to 3 potions. These three potions do not necessarily have to be the same.
• 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.
• The mundane Potion made from redstone has a different metadata (64) than the mundane potion made from any other ingredient (8192). Unlike Mundane 64, Mundane 8192 can be made into a splash mundane potion by adding gunpowder.

Gallery

• 

  Potions brewing in multiple Cauldrons in 1.9 pre2.

• 2011-10-06 17.06.15.png

  Potions brewing in Brewing Stand.

• Brewing grid for template.png

  The Brewing grid.

• Awkward potion creation.png

  Awkward potion being created from Nether Wart and Water Bottle

• Potion flow chart.png

  Flow Chart for Potion making.

• Potion Flow.png

  The same chart, but with images.

• 

  Splash potion of weakness.

• Splash Potion Harming.png

  Splash Potion of Harming, Instant Damage II.

See also

• Crafting
• Enchanting
• Smelting

External links

• Minecraft Forum: All About Potions And Brewing - 1.9 Reference Guide
• Minecraft Potions - A Visual Guide