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- Brewing yeast. NOT bread yeast. Really.
- Something with fermentable sugars in it: apple juice, honey, etc.
- Pasteurised/sterile water.
- Campden tablets.
That's basically it.
You can just boil tapwater, but depending on where you live it may contain trace amounts of eg. chlorine, which although not harmful could impart a chemical flavour to your brew. This can be mitigated by leaving it to off-gas for a while. Consider using mineral water if possible, since it's already clean and sterile in the bottle.
- Yeast nutrient. This provides the yeast with the essential vitamins and minerals it needs to properly process sugar into alcohol.
- Potassium Sorbate. Campden tablets can be used to kill off the yeast at the end of fermentation, but you'll need to use quite a lot. Potassium Sorbate stops it reproducing instead. Using both together is fairly typical.
- Pectinase. If you're brewing cider or wine from fresh juice, this may help clear it or bring out new flavours by breaking down the pectins.
- If your brew is too hazy or rough-looking even after gravity's had a chance to pull the solids out, you may need to use finings. There are various types, and which one works best will depend upon what you are brewing and the composition of the haze. Some are mineral- or plant-based, others are made from animal proteins. I focus on the former since some of my friends are vegan.
- Bentonite is a type of very fine volcanic clay. This is my staple fining for cider and mead. It won't always get everything, though.
- I found a vegetarian fining on Amazon a while back which contains bentonite, seaweed, and some other things. It doesn't seem to be available any more but it worked extremely well when used together with my usual bentonite dose.
- You could also use a filter, but those tend to be expensive if they're any good. Gravity is cheaper.
- Different yeasts give different flavours and/or alcohol content.
- Different fermentable ingredients (obviously).
- Spices, herbs, fruit.
- On the Making of Metheglin