How to Craft a Hopper in Minecraft

Making the Hopper

Learn the crafting recipe. First, make a crafting table out of four wooden planks. Place the table and use it by right-clicking. Insert these items into the crafting grid, in exactly this order: First row: iron ingot, (blank), iron ingot Second row: iron ingot, chest, iron ingot Third row: (blank), iron ingot, (blank)

Make the chest. If you don't have a chest, make one using eight wooden planks. Place them in the crafting table area, leaving the center square blank. Use planks, not logs. To turn a log into four planks, just place one in the crafting area.

Find the iron. Search in caves and underground to find iron ore, which looks like stone with beige flecks. Mine it using a stone pickaxe. Smelt the ore in a furnace to make iron ingots. Once you have your chest and iron, make the hopper using the recipe above.

Using a Hopper

Crouch. Hoppers are placed onto containers. If you click on the container, though, it will open instead of placing the hopper. To prevent this, crouch. While crouching, you can place hoppers onto containers. To crouch on a computer, hold down ⇧ Shift. (On Mac, press ⇬ Caps Lock once for a permanent crouch.) On most consoles, crouch by pressing the right analog stick once. Press again to stand up.

Place the hopper on a container. Think of the hopper as a large funnel (the input) ending in a small spout (the output). Hold the hopper and click on the surface where you want the spout. In other words, click where you want items to end up. This is usually a chest or other container. The hopper will not ever change direction after it's been placed. If you make a mistake, break it with a pickaxe, pick it up, and place it again. You can place the spout above an object or on its side. You cannot place the spout underneath an object.

Drop items in the hopper. Test your hopper by dropping items into it. If a container is attached, the item should move to the container. If there is no container attached, the item will stay in the hopper. Look at the hopper inventory by interacting with it, just as you would with a chest. The hopper only moves one item at a time, but the items move quickly. Even a large stack shouldn't take too long.

Place a container above the hopper. Any container above the hopper will drop items into the hopper funnel. Try putting a furnace on top of the hopper, and smelt some iron. As each iron ingot appears, it will fall into the hopper, then into the container the hopper leads to.

Set up an automatic furnace station. Hoppers work great with furnaces, which use many items and normally need frequent tending. Here's the setup you need to keep your furnace running on its own: A hopper on the side of the furnace will fill its fuel slot. Keep a chest above this hopper filled with coal or other fuel. A hopper above the furnace will fill the top slot of the furnace. Keep a chest above this hopper filled with raw meat, ore, or other ingredients. A hopper below the furnace will pick up the finished items. The small end of the hopper should connect to a chest, where these items will end up. Your furnace will burn until it runs out of fuel or ingredients, or until the final chest runs out of space.

Deactivate the hopper with redstone. An active redstone signal will lock the hopper, preventing items from entering. Attach the hopper to a lever or button using a line of redstone dust. Use the lever or button to turn your hopper on or off.

Adding Hoppers to Minecarts

Combine a minecart and hopper. Place the hopper directly above the minecart in a crafting area. The result is called a "minecart with hopper." This travels like a minecart, and picks up items like a hopper. This travels much farther than a regular minecart when it passes over powered rails.

Pick up items with the hopper. The minecart and attached hopper will pick up any items on the tracks or right next to them. The hopper also grabs items from any container directly above it. Place the cart below any container and wait for it to fill up. Send it on its powered track to deliver items without having to travel with them.

Unload items with another hopper. At the destination, build a hopper leading to a chest. Place the rails directly on top of this hopper, just like laying a track on the ground. When the moving hopper arrives at its destination, have it stop on this track. The items will automatically drop out into the hopper beneath it, then into the chest. If you're a redstone whizkid, you can make a system that automatically sends the cart on its way once it's reached a certain capacity. The key to this is a redstone comparator. Because hoppers are disabled next to detector rails, this is tough to set up. Minecraft players have posted many creative solutions online.