Potion Brewing: Every Recipe You Actually Need
Brew Nether Wart into a Water Bottle for an Awkward Potion, then add one ingredient. Redstone Dust extends it; Glowstone Dust strengthens it.
That one pattern covers 15 potions. Four more come from corrupting a potion with a Fermented Spider Eye, and one of those skips the Awkward Potion entirely. Gunpowder and Dragon's Breath then change how a potion is delivered, not what it does.
Gather these before your first brew
- Brewing Stand. One Blaze Rod above three Cobblestone, Blackstone or Cobbled Deepslate. The brewing stand recipe shows the grid.
- Blaze Powder for fuel. One Blaze Rod crafts into two Blaze Powder, and each powder runs 20 brews. Blazes drop 0–1 rod, and only when a player kills them, so a blaze farm pays off fast.
- Glass Bottles. Three Glass make three bottles. Fill them on any water source block, which is never used up, or from a cauldron, where each bottle takes a third of the water.
- Nether Wart. It grows in small Soul Sand gardens near Nether fortress stairwells, and about one fortress chest in five holds a stack of 3–7. It only grows on Soul Sand, so bring wart and Soul Sand home and start a nether wart farm before you run out.
How the brewing stand works
The stand has a fuel slot, one ingredient slot and three bottle slots. One ingredient is used per brew however many bottles are in, so always fill all three. A brew takes 20 seconds (400 game ticks) and spends one of the powder's 20 charges. Every stage counts as its own brew, including Redstone Dust, Glowstone Dust, a Fermented Spider Eye, Gunpowder and Dragon's Breath.
A batch of three Splash Potions of Strength II takes four brews: Nether Wart, Blaze Powder, Glowstone Dust, Gunpowder. That is 80 seconds and a fifth of one Blaze Powder's fuel, plus the Blaze Powder you add as the Strength ingredient. One powder of fuel covers five such batches.
A hopper pointing down into the top supplies ingredients, one pointing into a side supplies bottles and Blaze Powder, and one underneath pulls potions out. That lower hopper pulls bottles out even before they finish brewing, so lock it with a redstone signal until the brew is done.
Since 26.3, brewing recipes are stored as data, so a data pack can add or change them.
Brew your first potion
Fire Resistance is the best first target. It blocks damage from fire, lava, Magma Blocks and blaze fireballs.
- 1.Place the Brewing Stand and put Blaze Powder in the fuel slot.
- 2.Put three Water Bottles in the bottle slots.
- 3.Add one Nether Wart. After 20 seconds you have three Awkward Potions.
- 4.Add one Magma Cream (Blaze Powder plus a Slimeball, or a Magma Cube drop). You get three Potions of Fire Resistance lasting 3:00 each.
- 5.Add Redstone Dust to stretch all three to 8:00.
Every ingredient and what it makes
Add these to an Awkward Potion. "No" means the game has no recipe for that modifier.
| Ingredient | Potion | Base | Redstone Dust | Glowstone Dust |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar | Swiftness | 3:00 | 8:00 | 1:30 |
| Rabbit's Foot | Leaping | 3:00 | 8:00 | 1:30 |
| Blaze Powder | Strength | 3:00 | 8:00 | 1:30 |
| Glistering Melon Slice | Healing | instant | no | instant |
| Spider Eye | Poison | 0:45 | 1:30 | 0:21 |
| Ghast Tear | Regeneration | 0:45 | 1:30 | 0:22 |
| Magma Cream | Fire Resistance | 3:00 | 8:00 | no |
| Pufferfish | Water Breathing | 3:00 | 8:00 | no |
| Golden Carrot | Night Vision | 3:00 | 8:00 | no |
| Phantom Membrane | Slow Falling | 1:30 | 4:00 | no |
| Turtle Shell | Turtle Master | 0:20 | 0:40 | 0:20 |
| Breeze Rod | Wind Charging | 3:00 | no | no |
| Cobweb | Weaving | 3:00 | no | no |
| Slime Block | Oozing | 3:00 | no | no |
| Stone | Infestation | 3:00 | no | no |
Pick any potion in the potion brewing chart to see its full chain and which modifiers it accepts.
Wind Charging, Weaving, Oozing and Infestation are usually made into Splash Potions to throw at mobs. The status effects guide covers what every effect does.
Where the harder ingredients come from
- Ghast Tear: Ghasts drop 0–1.
- Phantom Membrane: Phantoms drop 0–1, only when a player kills them.
- Rabbit's Foot: a 10% drop from Rabbits killed by a player.
- Pufferfish: 13% of the fish you catch.
- Breeze Rod: Breezes from Trial Chamber spawners drop 1–2 when a player kills them.
- Turtle Shell: five Turtle Scutes. A baby Turtle drops one Scute as it grows up, so breed Turtles with Seagrass.
- Glistering Melon Slice and Golden Carrot: a Melon Slice or Carrot ringed by eight Gold Nuggets.
- Cobweb: break it with Shears. A sword drops String instead.
Corrupting potions with a Fermented Spider Eye
Craft a Fermented Spider Eye from a Spider Eye, a Brown Mushroom and Sugar. Add it to one of these to get a different potion.
| Start with | Result | Redstone Dust | Glowstone Dust |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water Bottle | Weakness, 1:30 | 4:00 | no |
| Night Vision | Invisibility, 3:00 | 8:00 | no |
| Swiftness or Leaping | Slowness, 1:30 | 4:00 | Slowness IV, 0:20 |
| Healing or Poison | Harming, instant | no | Harming II |
Weakness is the only effect potion that needs no Nether Wart. Corrupting keeps the modifier: extended Night Vision becomes extended Invisibility (8:00), extended Swiftness or Leaping becomes extended Slowness (4:00), and Healing II or Poison II becomes Harming II. Two cases lose out: Swiftness II and Leaping II have no corrupted recipe, and extended Poison turns into plain Harming.
Healing and Harming swap on undead mobs, so throw Splash Potions of Healing, not Harming, at Zombies and Skeletons.
Modifiers: longer, stronger, thrown
- Redstone Dust extends the duration.
- Glowstone Dust makes the effect stronger (level II for most potions, Slowness IV for Slowness) and usually shortens it. A potion takes one or the other, never both.
- Gunpowder turns any brewable potion, even a Water Bottle, into a Splash Potion you throw. Splash Potions accept every effect ingredient and modifier too, so the order doesn't matter.
- Dragon's Breath turns a Splash Potion into a Lingering Potion, which leaves an effect cloud. It does nothing on a drinkable potion. Collect it with an empty Glass Bottle from the Ender Dragon's breath while it perches, or from the purple clouds its fireballs leave. Both need the living dragon, so bottle a stack during the fight or respawn it later, as the Ender Dragon guide explains. A Lingering Potion carries a quarter of the drinkable duration.
- Tipped Arrows: eight Arrows around one Lingering Potion make eight Tipped Arrows, each with an eighth of the drinkable duration.
Why a brew fails
- Glowstone Dust on an extended potion, or Redstone Dust on a level II one. No recipe exists, so nothing brews and nothing is used up. Pick duration or strength first.
- Using a Glowstone block instead of Glowstone Dust. The ingredient slot won't take it, because only the dust is a brewing ingredient. Break the block without Silk Touch for 2–4 Glowstone Dust.
- Skipping the Nether Wart. Most effect ingredients added to a plain Water Bottle brew a Mundane Potion, and Glowstone Dust brews a Thick Potion. Only Gunpowder and Dragon's Breath accept them, so they are dead ends.
What to brew for each job
- Nether trips and Ancient Debris: extended Fire Resistance.
- Ocean monuments: extended Water Breathing and Night Vision.
- Hard fights: Strength, Regeneration and Splash Potions of Healing II.
- End cities and tall builds: Slow Falling.