Brewing
Brewing is the process of creating potions and splash potions by adding various ingredients to water bottles in a brewing stand.
Contents |
[edit] Brewing Potions
[edit] General Guide
By placing bottles in the lower three slots of the brewing interface and an ingredient in the upper slot, you can distill the ingredient into the bottles and brew potions which may be consumed to grant an effect to the player.
Every Potion starts with a water bottle, made by filling a glass bottle at a water source or filled cauldron. The next step is to add a primary ingredient to create a base potion, which itself has no effect. By brewing a second ingredient into a base potion in the same manner as you would a water bottle, you can create a potion with a working effect. A third ingredient may be added to make the effect more intense or last longer, or turn the effect harmful. Finally, gunpowder can be added to a potion at any stage to convert it to a splash potion, which can be thrown to disperse its effect in a radius. Each brewing step takes 20 seconds.
Brewing is a very helpful asset in Minecraft, and many potions will assist you in combat while others just help you see at night. Apart from being quite hard to get them started because of the blaze rod and nether wart they are generally quite easy to craft and a very helpful thing to have at all times.
[edit] Tips
- Start by gathering Nether Wart. As seen in the chart on the right, Awkward Potions can be brewed into every possible potion, while all other base potions can only be used to make a Potion of Weakness. Thus you should always start with an Awkward Potion unless you intend to make a Potion of Weakness, in which case it's more efficient to brew Fermented Spider Eye into water right off the bat and save yourself a Nether Wart.
- As a rule of thumb, there are four modifier ingredients: Redstone makes it last longer, Glowstone Dust makes it stronger (but shorter-lasting), Fermented Spider Eye turns it harmful (the exception being night vision, which makes it into a potion of invisibility, which is helpful), and gunpowder converts it to a splash potion.
- Brewing stands have three slots for bottles and can brew three potions at once. A single ingredient is enough to brew into all three bottles, so an efficient potion-maker should always brew in batches of three. For even more efficiency, keep in mind this works even if the potions are of different types; you can brew an ingredient into three different types of potions, and each will result just as if you had brewed them individually. There are lots of potions you can brew.
[edit] Video
[edit] Brewing Equipment
| Name | Icon | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Brewing Stand | Used to add ingredients into water bottles. | |
| Cauldron | Each one can hold a bucket of water (after placement). Will fill 3 glass bottles. |
|
| Glass Bottle | Container for all kinds of potions. | |
| Water Bottle | The starting base for all potions. Made by filling a glass bottle from a cauldron or water source. |
[edit] Ingredients
[edit] Base Ingredients
Base ingredients are the starting point of all potions. Nether Wart is the primary ingredient added to water bottles at this stage, as it is required to make most of the potions. All other base ingredients will only allow the creation of variations of "Potion of Weakness".
| Name | Icon | When added makes |
|---|---|---|
| Nether Wart | Awkward Potion | |
| Glowstone Dust | Thick Potion | |
| Redstone | Mundane Potion (extended) |
|
| Fermented Spider Eye | Potion of Weakness |
[edit] Secondary Ingredients
Secondary ingredients imbue an Awkward Potion with a particular effect but do not alter potion duration or intensity. When added directly to a water bottle, any of these ingredients will produce a Mundane Potion (with the exception of fermented spider eye, which results in a potion of weakness and the golden carrot, which can't be used to a water bottle to make a potion).
| Name | Icon | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Magma Cream | Fire Resistance | |
| Sugar | Speed | |
| Glistering Melon | Instant Health | |
| Spider Eye | Poison | |
| Ghast Tear | Regeneration | |
| Blaze Powder | Strength | |
| Fermented Spider Eye | Weakness | |
| Golden Carrot | Night Vision |
[edit] Modifiers
Modifiers change the potion's properties. The "longer duration" and "more potent" versions of a potion can be forever interchanged.
| Name | Icon | When added |
|---|---|---|
| Redstone | Increases duration | |
| Glowstone Dust | Increases potency | |
| Fermented Spider Eye |
Corrupts effect (see below) | |
| Gunpowder | Makes potion throwable (splash potion) |
"Corrupts": Fermented Spider Eyes will change a potion's basic effect, often reversing it or producing a negative potion. Also used to brew potions of invisibility - invisibility potions are considered "corrupted" night vision potions.
[edit] Potions
- Main article: Potions
[edit] Primary
All primary potions are created by brewing a single ingredient with a water bottle. Mundane Potions and Potions of Weakness (along with their variants) can be combined with gunpowder to create their throwable (splash potion) counterparts.
| Potion | Base | Reagent | Effect | Precursor to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Awkward Potion |
Water Bottle |
Nether Wart |
None | Potion of Healing Potion of Fire Resistance Potion of Poison Potion of Regeneration Potion of Strength Potion of Swiftness |
Mundane Potion (extended) |
Water Bottle |
Redstone |
None | Potion of Weakness (extended) |
Mundane Potion |
Water Bottle |
Ghast Tear, Glistering Melon, Blaze Powder, Magma Cream, Sugar, or Spider Eye |
None | Potion of Weakness |
Thick Potion |
Water Bottle |
Glowstone Dust |
None | Potion of Weakness |
Potion of Weakness |
Water Bottle |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Reduces all melee attacks by |
Potion of Weakness (extended) |
[edit] Secondary
Secondary potions are created by brewing an ingredient with a primary potion and can be combined with Gunpowder to create their throwable splash potion counterparts.
[edit] Positive
| Potion | Base | Reagent | Effect | Duration (minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Potion of Healing |
Awkward Potion |
Glistering Melon |
Restores |
Instant |
Potion of Fire Resistance |
Awkward Potion |
Magma Cream |
Gives immunity to damage from fire, lava, and ranged Blaze attacks. | 3:00 |
Potion of Regeneration |
Awkward Potion |
Ghast Tear |
Restores health over time by approximately |
0:45 |
Potion of Strength |
Awkward Potion |
Blaze Powder |
Adds |
3:00 |
Potion of Swiftness |
Awkward Potion |
Sugar |
Increases player's movement speed, sprinting speed, and jumping length by approximately 20%. | 3:00 |
Potion of Night Vision |
Awkward Potion |
Golden Carrot |
Makes everything appear to be at max light level, including underwater areas. | 3:00 |
[edit] Negative
| Potion | Base | Reagent | Effect | Duration (minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Potion of Poison |
Awkward Potion |
Spider Eye |
Poisons the player for the given time, reducing the health to |
0:45 |
Potion of Weakness |
Awkward Potion, Thick Potion, or Mundane Potion |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Reduces all melee attacks by |
1:30 |
Potion of Weakness (extended) |
Mundane Potion (extended) |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Reduces all melee attacks by |
4:00 |
[edit] Tertiary
Tertiary potions are created by brewing an ingredient with a secondary potion or another tertiary potion and can be combined with Gunpowder to create their throwable splash potion counterparts.
[edit] Positive
| Potion | Base | Reagent | Effect | Duration (minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Potion of Fire Resistance (extended) |
Potion of Fire Resistance (base or reverted) |
Redstone |
Gives immunity to damage from fire, lava, and ranged Blaze attacks. | 8:00 |
Potion of Healing II |
Potion of Healing (base or reverted) |
Glowstone Dust |
Restores |
Instant |
Potion of Regeneration (extended) |
Potion of Regeneration tier I or II |
Redstone |
Restores health over time by approximately |
2:00 |
Potion of Regeneration II |
Potion of Regeneration (base or extended) |
Glowstone Dust |
Restores health over time by approximately |
0:22 |
Potion of Strength (extended) |
Potion of Strength tier I or II |
Redstone |
Adds |
8:00 |
Potion of Strength II |
Potion of Strength (base or extended) |
Glowstone Dust |
Adds |
1:30 |
Potion of Swiftness (extended) |
Potion of Swiftness tier I or II |
Redstone |
Increases player's movement, sprinting speed, and jumping length by approximately 20%. | 8:00 |
Potion of Swiftness II |
Potion of Swiftness (base or extended) |
Glowstone Dust |
Increases player's movement, sprinting speed, and jumping length by approximately 40%. | 1:30 |
Potion of Night Vision (extended) |
Potion of Night Vision |
Redstone |
Makes everything appear to be at max light level, including underwater areas. | 8:00 |
Potion of Invisibility |
Potion of Night Vision |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Renders the player invisible. Equipped/wielded items are still visible. | 3:00 |
Potion of Invisibility (extended) |
Potion of Night Vision (extended) |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Renders the player invisible. Equipped/wielded items are still visible. | 8:00 |
Potion of Invisibility (extended) |
Potion of Invisibility |
Redstone |
Renders the player invisible. Equipped/wielded items are still visible. | 8:00 |
[edit] Negative
| Potion | Base | Reagent | Effect | Duration (minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Potion of Harming |
Potion of Healing or Potion of Poison |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Inflicts |
Instant |
Potion of Harming II |
Potion of Healing II or Potion of Poison II |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Inflicts |
Instant |
Potion of Harming II |
Potion of Harming (base or reverted) |
Glowstone Dust |
Inflicts |
Instant |
Potion of Poison (extended) |
Potion of Poison tier I or II |
Redstone |
Poisons the player for the given time, reducing the health to a minimum of |
2:00 |
Potion of Poison II |
Potion of Poison (base or extended) |
Glowstone Dust |
Poisons the player for the given time, reducing the health to a minimum of |
0:22 |
Potion of Slowness |
Potion of Fire Resistance or Potion of Swiftness |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Player's movement is slowed to a crouch for the given time. | 1:30 |
Potion of Slowness (extended) |
Potion of Slowness (base or reverted) |
Redstone |
Player's movement is slowed to a crouch for the given time. | 3:00 |
Potion of Slowness (extended) |
Potion of Fire Resistance (extended) or Potion of Swiftness (extended) |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Player's movement is slowed to a crouch for the given time. | 3:00 |
Potion of Weakness |
Potion of Strength or Potion of Regeneration |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Reduces all melee attacks by |
1:30 |
Potion of Weakness (extended) |
Potion of Strength (extended) or Potion of Regeneration (extended) |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Reduces all melee attacks by |
4:00 |
Potion of Weakness (extended) |
Potion of Weakness (base or reverted) |
Redstone |
Reduces all melee attacks by |
4:00 |
[edit] Reverted
There are two general methods to create reverted potions, one of which involve the addition of fermented spider eyes. Reversion, in general, references changing a longer, upgraded potion into a its original weaker potion (for example, changing from a potion of poison (extended) into a potion of harming (reverted) by adding fermented spider eye).
The first method involves adding glowstone (typically) to an already upgraded tertiary potion (seen in Section 5.3.1 or 5.3.2 above). Since these tertiary potions have already been modified with redstone (typically), they can change to their original (revert) unmodified states depending on which modifier was added previously. Not all potions will revert (or react, for that matter) when glowstone powder or redstone dust is added to an upgraded tertiary potion (for example, adding redstone to an already redstone-extended potion will not yield a new potion).
The second method involves the addition of fermented spider eyes, followed by glowstone (usually). Method two works by adding fermented spider eye to an extended positive potion (i.e. an extended tertiary potion). In almost all cases, this will corrupt the potion (corruption is described in Section 4.3 above) and produce a negative potion of equal strength (in this case, extended). Then, glowstone (depending on the recipe) is added to the extended negative potion. Since these negative tertiary potions (regardless of origin) have already been modified with redstone, the addition of glowstone will revert the potion to a potion of lesser duration.
A good example of this process in work is the reversion of the potion of weakness. A potion of weakness can be made two ways. The first method is by adding fermented spider eye to a mundane potion (water bottle + netherwart), then adding redstone to produce potion of weakness (extended). The second method is by adding (again) fermented spider eye to either a potion of strength or a potion of regeneration. Potions of strength and regen, in their base or extended forms, will produce potions of weakness with equal magnitude (for the sake of this example, fermented spider eye is added to potion of strength (extended) to produce potion of weakness (extended)).
Now, there should be two Potions of Weakness (4:00). Glowstone dust is added to the Potion of Weakness (Ext) which reverts the potion into a normal duration (1:30) Potion of Weakness. The act of reducing the duration from 4:00 to 1:30 is reversion. In the inventory, reverted potions will look identical to their base potion, much like mundane and mundane (extended). Their usage is also identical to their base potions, with the exception of turning into reverted potions rather than base potions.
[edit] Glowstone
| Potion | Base | Reagent | Effect | Duration (minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Potion of Fire Resistance (reverted) |
Potion of Fire Resistance (extended) |
Glowstone Dust |
Gives immunity to damage from fire, lava, and ranged Blaze attacks. | 3:00 |
Potion of Slowness (reverted) |
Potion of Slowness (extended) |
Glowstone Dust |
Player's movement is slowed to a crouch for the given time. | 1:30 |
Potion of Weakness (reverted) |
Potion of Weakness (extended) |
Glowstone Dust |
Reduces all melee attacks by |
1:30 |
[edit] Redstone
| Potion | Base | Reagent | Effect | Duration (minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Potion of Healing (reverted) |
Potion of Healing II |
Redstone |
Restores |
Instant |
Potion of Harming (reverted) |
Potion of Harming II |
Redstone |
Inflicts |
Instant |
[edit] Fermented Spider Eye
| Potion | Base | Reagent | Effect | Duration (minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Potion of Harming (reverted) |
Potion of Healing (reverted) or Potion of Poison (extended) |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Inflicts |
Instant |
Potion of Slowness (reverted) |
Potion of Fire Resistance (reverted) or Potion of Swiftness II |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Player's movement is slowed to a crouch for the given time. | 1:30 |
Potion of Weakness (reverted) |
Potion of Strength II or Potion of Regeneration II |
Fermented Spider Eye |
Reduces all melee attacks by |
1:30 |
[edit] Recipes
The following are the most efficient recipes to brew each potion. If two ingredients may be brewed in any order relative to each other, they are separated by a double arrow (↔).
- Weakness
Fermented Spider Eye- Weakness Ext
Fermented Spider Eye ↔
Redstone- Strength
Nether Wart →
Blaze Powder- Strength Ext
Nether Wart →
Blaze Powder →
Redstone- Strength II
Nether Wart →
Blaze Powder →
Glowstone Dust- Regeneration
Nether Wart →
Ghast Tear- Regeneration Ext
Nether Wart →
Ghast Tear →
Redstone- Regeneration II
Nether Wart →
Ghast Tear →
Glowstone Dust- Swiftness
Nether Wart →
Sugar- Swiftness Ext
Nether wart →
Sugar →
Redstone- Swiftness II
Nether Wart →
Sugar →
Glowstone Dust- Slowness
Nether Wart →
Sugar →
Fermented Spider Eye
Nether Wart →
Magma Cream →
Fermented Spider Eye- Slowness Ext
Nether Wart →
Sugar →
Fermented Spider Eye ↔
Redstone
Nether Wart →
Magma Cream →
Fermented Spider Eye ↔
Redstone Dust- Healing
Nether Wart →
Glistering Melon- Healing II
Nether Wart →
Glistering Melon →
Glowstone Dust- Harming
Nether Wart →
Glistering Melon →
Fermented Spider Eye
Nether Wart →
Spider Eye →
Fermented Spider Eye- Harming II
Nether Wart →
Glistering Melon →
Fermented Spider Eye ↔
Glowstone Dust
Nether Wart →
Spider Eye →
Fermented Spider Eye ↔
Glowstone Dust- Poison
Nether Wart →
Spider Eye- Poison Ext
Nether Wart →
Spider Eye →
Redstone- Poison II
Nether Wart →
Spider Eye →
Glowstone Dust- Fire Resistance
Nether Wart →
Magma Cream- Fire Resistance Ext
Nether Wart →
Magma Cream →
Redstone- Night Vision
Nether Wart →
Golden Carrot- Night Vision ext
Nether Wart →
Golden Carrot →
Redstone- Invisibility
Nether Wart →
Golden Carrot →
Fermented Spider Eye- Invisibility ext
Nether Wart →
Golden Carrot →
Fermented Spider Eye ↔
Redstone
[edit] History
Initially, the cauldron was where potions were brewed. Code in Beta 1.9 pre2 revealed that potions were brewed by adding water to the cauldron followed by certain ingredients. Correctly combined ingredients would confer purely beneficial potion effects, and incorrect combinations added negative effects. The system was complicated, lacked a GUI, and formed many duplicate potions (i.e. two potions that were exactly the same could be made in several different ways), so Notch and Jeb came up with a new brewing method using a brewing stand.[1] Brewing was greatly streamlined and simplified when a brewing GUI was added and most duplicate potions were removed (the total possible potions went down from 150 combinations to only 25 different potions in 31 combinations). However, this new system made some potion effects available in earlier 1.9 pre-releases inaccessible (e.g. Nausea, Blindness and Invisibility).
Throwable splash potions were introduced in Beta 1.9 Pre4 and brewed by placing gunpowder and any potion together in a brewing stand. This pre-release also introduced Glistering Melon as an ingredient to replace the instant health effect conferred by the Ghast Tear, which then added the effect of regeneration instead. This version also converted certain ingredients into base-secondary ingredients (the Spider Eye, Glistering Melon and Blaze Powder made Mundane Potion when brewed into a water bottle in addition to their previous functions), bringing the potion total to 28 different potions in 35 combinations.
In Minecraft 1.1, the time to brew potions was decreased to 20 seconds.
[edit] Potion type history
Based on information found in minecraft.jar/lang/en_US.lang, the current potion types are listed below:
- Potion of Swiftness
- Potion of Slowness
- Potion of Strength
- Potion of Weakness
- Potion of Healing
- Potion of Harming
- Potion of Regeneration
- Potion of Fire Resistance
- Potion of Poison
- Potion of Night Vision
- Potion of Invisibility
- Potion of Resistance
Due to changes in the brewing system, the following potions are currently not accessible:
- Potion of Haste
- Potion of Dullness
- Potion of Leaping
- Potion of Nausea
- Potion of Water Breathing
- Potion of Blindness
- Potion of Hunger
- Potion of Decay
[edit] Trivia
- As long as at least one of the three bottom spaces is filled, the brewing will continue, and additional bottles of water or potion can be added. However, if the ingredient is removed, or the bottom 3 slots are emptied at any time during the process, the process will stop and nothing will have been brewed.
- The three potions do not necessarily have to be the same.
- Upgrading effect of potion that has no time parameter (i.e. Instant Health, Harming) with glowstone dust has no downsides.
- Upgrading one of the above's level II effect using glowstone will seemingly revert it to the original (metadata-wise, this is not the case).
- Upgrading a potion that has no level II effect (i.e. Fire Resistance, Slowness, Weakness) with redstone has no downsides.
- Upgrading one of the above's extended potion using redstone will seemingly revert it to the original (metadata-wise, this is not the case).
- Although Jeb said that in the 1.9 pre-release 3 there were 161 possible different potion combinations with 2,653 in the future, in the actual third pre-release only 22 different potions could be made without the use of external programs. Of those, 19 potions had one of 8 different effects.
- 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 that is, like its base potion, without any effect.
- There are many Potions that were left behind from 1.9 pre-releases that fill up different metadatas that otherwise cannot be brewed or obtained without a SMP server command or inventory editor. These potions include but are not limited to: Bungling Potion, Buttering Potion, Debonair Potion, Refined Potion.
- Splash potions can be fired by dispensers.
- More water can be taken to the Nether in one trip by filling water buckets, carrying a stack of glass bottles, and using a cauldron. This is because stackable glass bottles do not stack once they have been filled with water.
- Undead mobs (zombies, skeletons, zombie pigmen, and Withers) are unaffected by splash potions of poison and regeneration, take damage from instant health splash potions, and gain health from instant damage.

