Brewing

Brewing is the process of creating potions, splash potions, and lingering potions by adding various ingredients to water bottles in a brewing stand. In Minecraft Education, brewing can also create medicine.

Brewing equipment[edit | edit source]

Name	Icon	Use
Brewing stand		Used to brew potions using ingredients and water.
Water		A water source block can be used to fill infinite glass bottles.
Blaze powder		Fuels the brewing stand. Holds 20 charges.
Water bottle		The starting base for all potions, made by filling a glass bottle from a cauldron or a water source block.

Ingredients[edit | edit source]

Unlike crafting, smelting, smoking, blasting, and stonecutting, there is no in-game recipe book for brewing.

Base ingredients and modifiers[edit | edit source]

Base ingredients are ingredients that can be added directly to a water bottle and are the starting point of all potions. Nether wart is the most fundamental of the base ingredients, as it is required to make the vast majority of potions.

Modifiers are ingredients used to alter the properties of a potion or to change a potion effect into a different one. The fermented spider eye is unique in that it is the only modifier that can convert a water bottle directly into an effective potion.

Name	When added to water bottle	When added as a modifier
Nether wart	Awkward potion	—
Redstone dust	Mundane potion	Extends the duration of a potion.
Glowstone dust	Thick potion	Increases the level of a potion.
Fermented spider eye	Potion of Weakness	Changes the effect of a potion.
Gunpowder	Splash water bottle	Turns a potion into a splash potion.
Dragon's breath	Lingering water bottle (from splash water bottle)	Turns a splash potion into a lingering potion.

Enhancement[edit | edit source]

Generally, upgrading a potion involves a trade-off between duration and potency. A potion with an enhanced effect has shorter duration, and a potion with extended duration cannot have an enhanced effect. However:

Upgrading the effect of a potion that has no time parameter (e.g. Instant Health) with glowstone dust involves no trade-off.
Increasing the time of a potion that has no effects with different levels (e.g. Fire Resistance) with redstone dust involves no trade-off.

Corrupting effect[edit | edit source]

A fermented spider eye changes a potion's base effect, often reversing it or producing a negative potion.

A corrupted potion usually does the opposite of the original effect.
Corrupting an enhanced or extended potion into an effect that supports the modifier results in a potion with the same modifier applied.
Corrupting an enhanced potion of Poison/Healing results in a basic potion of Harming.‌^{[JE only]} Enhanced potions of Leaping or Swiftness cannot be corrupted.
A potion of Invisibility is considered the "corrupted" version of a potion of Night Vision.

Splash and lingering potions[edit | edit source]

By adding gunpowder, a drinking potion can be turned into a splash potion, which can be thrown to coat entities within the place of impact with a status effect. Subsequently, adding dragon's breath to a splash potion makes a lingering potion, creating a cloud that inflicts effects on entities that enter its area.

Splash potions and lingering potions can be modified in the same manner as their normal counterparts. For instance, a splash water bottle can be brewed with any of the base ingredients; the result remains a splash potion.
Some extended/enhanced splash and lingering potions cannot be brewed from their extended/enhanced potion/splash potion counterparts, respectively (e.g. Regeneration + → Splash Potion of Regeneration +).‌^{[BE only]}
In Bedrock Edition, splash potions' effects have only three-fourths of the duration of the drinkable form. For example, a drinkable potion effect of 8:00 is reduced to 6:00 as a splash potion.‌^{[until BE 1.21.0]}. In Java Edition, splash and drinkable forms have the same duration.
Lingering potions have only one-fourth of the duration of the drinkable form. For instance, a drinkable potion effect of 8:00 is reduced to 2:00 as a lingering potion.

Effect ingredients[edit | edit source]

Effect ingredients imbue an awkward potion with a particular effect but do not alter potion duration or intensity. When added directly to a water bottle, most of these ingredients produce a mundane potion. The exceptions to this are the golden carrot, pufferfish, turtle shell, and phantom membrane, which cannot be added directly to a water bottle.

Effect ingredients
Name	Effect	Effect when corrupted
Sugar	Speed	Slowness
Rabbit's foot	Jump Boost	Slowness
Glistering melon slice	Instant Health	Instant Damage
Spider eye	Poison	Instant Damage
Pufferfish	Water Breathing	None
Magma cream	Fire Resistance	None
Golden carrot	Night Vision	Invisibility
Blaze powder	Strength	None‌^{[Java Edition only]} Weakness‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
Ghast tear	Regeneration	None
Turtle shell	Slowness + Resistance
Phantom membrane	Slow Falling
Breeze rod	Wind Charged
Stone	Infested
Cobweb	Weaving
Slime block	Oozing

Brewing recipes[edit | edit source]

Base potions[edit | edit source]

Base potions are potions without effects, brewed by adding a single base ingredient to a water bottle. Of these, only the awkward potion can be imbued with an effect ingredient to produce a potion effect.

Base potions
Potion	Reagent, base	Precursor to
Awkward potion		Effect potions
Mundane potion		None
Thick potion		None

Effect potions[edit | edit source]

Effect potions are primarily created by adding an effect ingredient to an awkward potion, which is created by adding nether wart to a water bottle. Certain effects require a potion to be corrupted by a fermented spider eye. The potion of Weakness can additionally be created by simply adding a fermented spider eye to a water bottle, and it is the only potion that can be brewed without nether wart.

Undead mobs react differently to effects than other mobs. They take damage from potions of Healing, gain health from potions of Harming, and are unaffected by potions of Poison and Regeneration.

Positive effects[edit | edit source]

Potion	Extended	Enhanced	Effects
Potion of Healing	—	Potion of Healing	Instant Health: Restores health by 4. Enhanced: Instant Health II: Restores health by 8.
Potion of Fire Resistance ( 3:00)	Potion of Fire Resistance ( 8:00)	—	Fire Resistance: Gives immunity to damage from fire, lava, magma blocks, campfires, and blazes' fireballs.
Potion of Regeneration ( 0:45)	Potion of Regeneration ( 1:30‌^{[JE only]} 2:00‌^{[BE only]})	Potion of Regeneration ( 0:22)	Regeneration: Restores health by every 2.5 seconds. Enhanced: Regeneration II: Restores health by every 1.25 seconds.
Potion of Strength ( 3:00)	Potion of Strength ( 8:00)	Potion of Strength ( 1:30)	Strength: Increases player's melee attack damage by 3. Enhanced: Strength II: Increases player's melee attack damage by 6.
Potion of Swiftness ( 3:00)	Potion of Swiftness ( 8:00)	Potion of Swiftness ( 1:30)	Speed: Increases movement speed, sprinting speed, and jumping length by 20%. Enhanced: Speed II: Increases movement speed, sprinting speed, and jumping length by 40%.
Potion of Night Vision ( 3:00)	Potion of Night Vision ( 8:00)	—	Night Vision: Makes everything appear to be at the maximum light level, including underwater areas.
Potion of Invisibility ( 3:00)	Potion of Invisibility ( 8:00)	—	Invisibility: Renders the player invisible. Equipped items are still visible.
Potion of Water Breathing ( 3:00)	Potion of Water Breathing ( 8:00)	—	Water Breathing: Prevents the oxygen bar from depleting when underwater.
Potion of Leaping ( 3:00)	Potion of Leaping ( 8:00)	Potion of Leaping ( 1:30)	Jump Boost: Increases jump height by 50%. Enhanced: Jump Boost II: Doubles jump height.
Potion of Slow Falling ( 1:30)	Potion of Slow Falling ( 4:00)	—	Slow Falling: Fall speed and acceleration is significantly reduced and fall damage is completely negated.

Negative effects[edit | edit source]

Potion	Extended	Enhanced	Effects	Notes
Potion of Poison ( 0:45)	Potion of Poison ( 1:30‌^{[JE only]} 2:00‌^{[BE only]})	Potion of Poison ( 0:21‌^{[JE only]} 0:22‌^{[BE only]}))	Poison: Depletes health by 1 every 1.25 seconds. Enhanced: Poison II: Depletes health by 1 every 0.6 seconds.	—
Potion of Weakness ( 1:30)	Potion of Weakness ( 4:00)	—	Weakness: Reduces player's melee attack damage by 4.	Can also be brewed with a fermented spider eye and a potion of Strength or a mundane potion‌^{[BE only]}
Potion of Harming	—	Potion of Harming	Instant Damage: Inflicts 6 damage. Enhanced: Instant Damage II: Inflicts 12 × 6 damage.	—
Potion of Slowness ( 1:30)	Potion of Slowness ( 4:00)	Potion of Slowness ( 0:20)	Slowness: Reduces movement speed by 15%. Enhanced: Slowness IV: Reduces movement speed by 60%.	—
Potion of Oozing ( 3:00)	—	—	Oozing: Spawns two size 2 slimes nearby when killed	—
Potion of Weaving ( 3:00)	—	—	Weaving: Spawns 2-3 cobwebs nearby when killed	—
Potion of Infestation ( 3:00)	—	—	Infested: Has a 10% chance to spawn 1-2 silverfish nearby when hit	—
Potion of Wind Charging ( 3:00)	—	—	Wind Charged: Emits a wind burst when killed	—

Mixed effects[edit | edit source]

Potion	Reagent, base	Extended	Enhanced	Effects
Potion of the Turtle Master (0:20)		Potion of the Turtle Master (0:40)	Potion of the Turtle Master (0:20)	Slowness IV, Resistance III: Reduces movement speed by 60% and reduces incoming damage by 60%. Enhanced: Slowness VI, Resistance IV: Reduces movement speed by 90% and reduces incoming damage by 80%.

Cures[edit | edit source]

This section describes an education-related feature.

This feature is available only in Minecraft Education or when enabling the "Education" option in Bedrock Edition.

Cures are brewed from awkward potions using different elements.‌^{[BE & edu only]} Drinking these removes the specified bad effect. They cannot be modified into splash, lingering, extended, or enhanced versions.

Potion	Reagent, base	Effect
Antidote		Cures Poison
Elixir		Cures Weakness
Eye drops		Cures Blindness
Tonic		Cures Nausea

Unbrewable potions[edit | edit source]

The potion of Luck‌^{[JE only]} and the potion of Decay‌^{[BE only]} cannot be brewed, and can be obtained only through commands or the Creative inventory. Potions of Decay can be obtained from witch huts‌^{[BE only]}.

History[edit | edit source]

Java Edition
?							The brewing system was originally meant to be procedural, meaning that the recipes were meant to be different each time one generated a Minecraft world.^[1]
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2				Initially, the cauldron was where potions were brewed, though cauldrons were not assigned a block ID, rendering potions unobtainable except through modding the cauldron so that it would be obtainable. When the cauldron was obtained, potions could be 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 the same could be made in several different ways), so Notch and Jeb came up with a new brewing method using a brewing stand.^[2]
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3				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). Some status effects available in earlier 1.9 pre-releases as potions became inaccessible (e.g. Nausea, Blindness, and Invisibility).
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4				Throwable splash potions are introduced, brewed by placing gunpowder and any potion together in a brewing stand.
							Glistering melon slice was added to be the ingredient for the potion of Healing; the ghast tear, which previously served this purpose, is now used for the potion of Regeneration instead.
							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.
1.1			12w01a				The time to brew potions was decreased to 20 seconds.
1.4.2			12w34a				Brewing recipes for potions of Night Vision and Invisibility added.
1.5			13w01a				Hoppers added, which can move items in and out of brewing stands.
1.7.2			13w36a				Added potion of Water Breathing.
1.8			14w27a				Added potion of Leaping.
1.8.1			pre1				The potion of Leaping can now be extended using redstone.
1.9			15w31a				Redstone and glowstone dust can no longer be added to already extended or enhanced potions.
							Fermented spider eyes can no longer be added to enhanced potions of Speed or Leaping, but can still be added to extended potions of Poison.
							Potions of Weakness can no longer be made using a thick potion, mundane potion, awkward potion, potion of Regeneration, or potion of Strength.
							Potions of Slowness can no longer be made using a potion of Fire Resistance.
							Potions of Harming can no longer be made using a potion of Water Breathing.
							Removed reverted potions and "extended" mundane potion, as well as unused potion IDs. See Java Edition removed features § Potions for more information.
							Splash potions can now be created from all potions, including water bottles.
			15w33a				Added lingering potions.
			15w42a				Blaze powder is now required as fuel for brewing.
			15w43a				Blaze powder as fuel reduced from 30 points to 20.
1.13			18w07a				Added potion of Turtle Master.
1.13			18w14a				Added potion of Slow Falling.
1.19			Pre-release 1				Potions no longer have an enchantment glint.
1.19			Pre-release 3				Changed colors of following potions: Swiftness, Slowness, Strength, Harming, Leaping, Fire Resistance, Water Breathing, Invisibility, Night Vision, Poison, Turtle Master.
1.20.5 Experiment Update 1.21			24w13a				Added Potion of Infestation, Potion of Oozing, Potion of Weaving, and Potion of Wind Charging
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.12.1			build 1				Added potions and brewing.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0			alpha 0.17.0.1				Added lingering potions.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0			beta 1.2.0.2				Blaze powder is now required as fuel for brewing.
1.4.0			beta 1.2.20.1				Added four new potions known as cures: antidote, elixir, eye drops, and tonic.
1.5.0			beta 1.5.0.4				Potion of the Turtle Master added.
1.6.0			beta 1.6.0.5				Potion of Slow Falling added.
1.21.0			Preview 1.21.0.23				Splash potions now have the same duration as drinkable potions.
Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU7	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added potions and brewing.
TU14	CU1	1.04	1.00	1.00	Patch 1		Potions of Night Vision and Invisibility added.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Lingering potions added.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Blaze powder is now required as fuel for brewing.
TU57	CU49	1.57	1.56	1.56	Patch 27	1.0.7	Changed potion durations to match Bedrock Edition.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

Although Jeb said that in Java Edition Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3 there would be 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.
By modifying the item NBT using an editor or commands, it is possible to get a potion that cannot be upgraded into a splash potion.

Gallery[edit | edit source]

Textures[edit | edit source]

Texture file for the 1.9 brewing user interface

References[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]

Navigation[edit | edit source]

[1] "The Mundane Potion is a remnant of an abandoned procedural brewing system—meaning that the recipes were meant to be different each time you generated a Minecraft world. But this didn't turn out to be much fun for the player and the system was abandoned, leaving the Mundane Potion without a purpose. "It's sort of like an appendix," says Jens" – Tom Stone, February 21, 2017

[2] tweet:119710836469149697

[1]

v t e Gameplay
General mechanics	Add-ons Attribute Commands Chest loot Effect Explosion Game rules Inventory Creative inventory Saved Hotbars Materials Multiplayer Oxidation Rarity Redstone circuits Conductivity Renewability Renewable Non-renewable Snowlogging South-east rule Spawn protection Tiers Waterlogging
Survival	Advancements Achievements Archaeology Armor materials Bartering Breaking Instant mining Breeding Brewing Crafting 2×2 grid Recipe book Dual wield Difficulty Durability Enchanting Experience Farming Fishing Health Healing Hunger Item repair Ominous Event Ominous Trial Raid Patrol Raid captain Smelting Smithing Spawn Taming Trading Zombie siege
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User interface	Action bar Bossbar Chat Death messages Font Game mode switcher Heads-up display Language Narrator Scoreboard Toasts Tutorial hints Tooltip
Visuals	Color Emotes Resource pack Screen effects Skins Characters Skin pack Third-person view

Brewing

Contents

Brewing equipment[edit | edit source]

Ingredients[edit | edit source]