Want to automatically sort and store your items in Minecraft? Look no further than the dropper in Minecraft. It instantly collects and moves items around without you ever touching a chest. But how does it work? Join us and learn how to make a hopper in Minecraft to upgrade your storage!
How to Make a Hopper in Minecraft 1.20
Our guide goes over everything you need to know about hoppers in Minecraft. Explore all the sections to discover all aspects of these Redstone components.
What is a Hopper in Minecraft
Hoppers are storage-based Redstone blocks that can collect and transfer items. They can pull items from one container and then push them into another one. This simple yet powerful mechanic makes the hopper vital for automatic farms and even item sorting.
Where Do Hoppers Spawn
Hoppers don't spawn naturally inside any structures within the game. Moreover, since they are a functional block, you cannot even trade with villagers to get them. The only way to get this block is by learning how to make a hopper in Minecraft.
How Many Items Can a Hopper Hold in Minecraft
The hopper in Minecraft only has 5 inventory slots, each of which can hold a complete stack of items. At its highest value, a hopper can hold up to 320 items. But, this number goes down when you place
Crafting Ingredients for a Hopper
You need to get the following items to make a hopper in Minecraft:
- 5 Iron Ingots
- 1 Chest
- Crafting Table or Crafter
We already have a dedicated guide on how to get iron in Minecraft. You can rely upon it to easily find iron ore and even uncover ways to directly get its ingots. But, if you end up with raw iron, you must smelt it inside a furnace to use it for the hopper's recipe.
Make a Chest
Hopper, at its core, is a storage block in Minecraft. So, it's no surprise that its crafting recipe requires a chest. Fortunately, you only need to make a hollow square with wooden planks to craft a chest. This recipe works with all types of wood in the game including bamboo wood.
Crafting Recipe of a Hopper in Minecraft
Once you have all the items, follow these simple steps to craft a hopper in Minecraft:
1. First, open your crafting table by right-clicking on using secondary action key on it.
2. Then, place your chest in the middle of the 3x3 crafting grid.
3. Next, place one iron ingot beneath the chest in the grid.
4. Finally, place two ingots in the top two cells of the first and last column of the crafting grid. Just like that, you are ready to use a hopper in Minecraft!
How to Use a Hopper in Minecraft
At the top, hoppers have an opening to collect items, meanwhile, their bottom part consists of a tunnel that transfers items. Alternatively, you can also right-click on the hopper to open it and place items.
Follow these steps to connect a hopper with another block:
1. To begin, place down a container block that you want to connect with your hopper. For our example, we are going to use a chest but, you can find the complete list of compatible blocks in the next section.
2. Then, equip a hopper and right-click while looking at the side of the chest. The hopper will be placed, with its tube facing toward the chest.
3. Alternatively, you can also place the hopper while looking at the top of the chest. Then, the hopper will be above the chest with its tube pointing downwards.
4. Meanwhile, when you want to pull items out of a block, you must place the hopper beneath it. But, to do so, you have to make sure the target block has space below it and then place it.
Pull Items Out of Blocks
When the hopper is below a container block, it starts to pull items out from it. This process is automatic and doesn't until until either the container is empty or the hopper is full. If there is no item above the hopper, it can collect the items that get thrown or dropped on it.
Furthermore, the hopper also continues to work when there are partial blocks on top of it. This means that the hopper can collect dropped items even when there is soul sand or slabs above it.
Blocks Compatible with Hopper in Minecraft
You can use a hopper in Minecraft to collect or send items to the following blocks:
- Chests (regular/large/trapped/boat/minecart)
- Barrel
- Dispenser
- Dropper
- Brewing Stand (only deposits in ingredient slot)
- Chiseled Bookshelf
- Crafter (only collects ingredients)
- Composter
- Decorated Pot
- Furnace/Blast Furnace/Smoker
- Jukebox (only extracts after disc finishes playing)
- Shulker Box
Not to forget, you can also connect multiple hoppers, pushing items from one to another, to create a hopper pipe.
Minecart with Hopper
If you want to transport your hopper with all the items in it there is no better option than a minecart. Simply, place a hopper and a minecart inside the crafting grid to turn them into a Minecart with Hopper. This crafting recipe is completely random and you can place the items anywhere in the grid.
Limitations of Hopper in Minecraft
Even though it has extreme potential, the hopper cannot interact with all storage blocks in Minecraft. These include:
- Lectern
- Ender Chest
Moreover, several blocks in Minecraft only accept certain types of items. For example, you can only put plants and natural items inside a composter. Similarly, you cannot put a Shulker box inside another Shuler box even with a hopper.
How to Lock a Hopper in Minecraft
Hoppers in Minecraft operate on their own and don't require any Redstone power to function. But, you can send a Redstone signal to the hopper to lock all its functionality. A locked hopper loses its ability to collect or transfer items. To unlock it, turn off or break the Redstone signal and power down the hopper.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why won't my hopper feed into the chest?
Make sure that your hopper isn't locked and its pipe is focused on the chest. These are the most common errors that players make while using a hopper with other containers.
How do you connect a hopper to a chest without opening the chest?
Unfortunately, Minecraft uses the same key to open chests and place blocks. This makes it hard to connect hoppers with chests. But, you can hold down your crouch/sneak key to avoid opening the chest.
Make and Use a Hopper in Minecraft
With access to a hopper, you are ready to upgrade your inventory system in Minecraft. So, the next step is to make automatic farms with Crafter in Minecraft to push the hopper to a new level. Combined with item farms, it is sure to push you ahead on all the Minecraft survival servers. But, how are you going to use hopper in your world? Share your ideas and discover blueprints on our Discord server!