Minecraft: Build an Automatic Glass Production – Step-by-Step Guide

Glass is probably one of the first building blocks you encounter in Minecraft. No construction project in Minecraft is complete without glass, as the transparent block is extremely useful for many great ideas! Like in real life, glass is made from sand. But with glass, you can do a lot more than just make conventional glass. We will go into more detail on this and more in this article. Additionally, we will provide you with a great guide on how to set up an automatic glass production. This way, you won’t have to lift a finger!

Why Glass is Essential in Minecraft

You obtain glass by mining sand with a shovel and then smelting it in a furnace. Similarly, glass is produced in real life. As a resource, glass is one of the coolest blocks in Minecraft and has a long tradition. It is one of the few blocks that has been in the game from the beginning! However, over the years, it has changed significantly, although its basic function has remained the same.

Glass and Glass Panes in Minecraft: Variants and Applications

When you smelt a sand block in a furnace, you get a full glass block. However, this is just one variation. It is versatile and was the only option for players for a long time, giving it a nostalgic value. Thanks to its transparent texture, the full block is also extremely practical for many construction projects.

A variation is the glass panes that you craft from six blocks. You receive 16 glass panes, which are thinner and more versatile. They allow you to create much more depth for buildings and windows, diversifying your construction projects.

Both glass blocks and glass panes can be dyed in all 16 colours (+ transparent). This gives you virtually endless possibilities to use the blocks for cool projects and to make your creations stand out from those of other players. Many even forget that this mechanic exists!

Finally, there is tinted glass, which you can craft from a glass block and four amethyst shards. It does not let light through and is, for example, good for monster traps.

By the way, you can also mine glass of any type and colour again, but you will need a pickaxe with the “Silk Touch” enchantment. Otherwise, the glass will break, and you will lose the block. So always have such a tool with you!

Important Minecraft Recipes with Glass: From Glass Bottles to Beacons

Glass is not only good for building but is also required in many other recipes. This makes it probably one of the most important blocks and integrates into other Minecraft mechanics. From brewing, to Redstone, to using a beacon – glass can be found in every facet of the game! We will also look at the remaining recipes to give you a good overview.

• Glass Bottles: Used to make potions. Without glass bottles, you can’t use a brewing stand, so glass is very important for this process.
• Beacon: One of the coolest helpers in all of Minecraft! The beacon can give you powerful effects within a certain radius, and glass is also needed for the recipe.
• Daylight Sensor: Allows you to control Redstone machines based on the time of day. In certain situations, the sensor is very practical!
• End Crystal: You will probably first encounter these on the obsidian pillars in the End. To resummon the Ender Dragon, you need to place four end crystals around the end portal. This unlocks more portals to the distant end islands. Be careful, though, as the crystals have a massive explosion when destroyed!

Additionally, you can trade full glass blocks with the librarian for emeralds. The normal exchange rate is four glass for one emerald, which is a really good deal with an automatic farm!

Automatic Glass Production in Minecraft: The Ultimate Building Guide

Glass production can be automated with just a few resources, without much effort. As long as you are familiar with hoppers, this should be no problem. As long as a furnace is supplied with fuel and smeltable material, it works completely automatically. We will use this in our glass farm.

The whole process can be further simplified with two additional automatic farms. First, you will need a lot of sand. We introduced a sand farm in a previous article (Automatic Sand and Gravel Farm in Minecraft: Infinite Resources Made Easy) that you should definitely use for this process. We will build upon that with this tutorial.

For fuel, you can also use automatic farms. For example, blaze rods from the Nether (Build an Automatic Blaze Farm: Endless Blaze Rods and Experience Points) are a productive source! But a simple bamboo farm (How to Build an Automatic Bamboo Farm: Abundant Fuel and Building Material) also serves a purpose and can even be built in the End. However, you can also simply manually insert sand and fuel.

Building Materials

• 2 Furnaces
• 6 Hoppers
• 6 Chests

Step-by-Step Guide: Building an Automatic Glass Farm

Since we are connecting the glass production to our sand farm, we have built it in the End. But you can choose a location of your choice!

The setup is simple, as all you need is a basic setup for an automatic smelter. You need to know the different inputs and outputs of a furnace and equip them with hoppers and chests so that everything works completely automatically. Hopefully, our attached image with the signs and frames illustrates the mechanism!

1. At the top, insert the block you want to smelt. In our case, this is, of course, sand. We have connected the smelter directly to the chest for our sand farm.

2. On all sides, whether back or front, fuel can be introduced into the furnace via hoppers. Here you can connect a manually filled chest or integrate an automated farm for fuel like bamboo. You will need to incorporate this into the design.

3. The finished product comes out at the bottom, in our case, glass blocks. These can also be collected with a simple hopper and a chest.

The automatic glass production can also be expanded if you have more sand available. Our presented sand farm can generate several stacks per minute!

Conclusion

Nothing works in Minecraft without glass! You can use it for your creative ideas and even dye it in all 16 colours to make your buildings look even better. However, glass is also required for some other recipes that you need for progress in Minecraft. Secure a steady supply of glass for all your construction projects on your own server. Rent your Minecraft server and build with a clear view! Use a simple furnace setup and sit back.