Homemade beer - it's cheaper than going to the pub!

Beer is just getting too expensive these days. If you go to any pub in the UK the chances are you'll be paying between Ł2.50 and Ł3 for a pint of real ale. In the cities you can pretty much guarantee that it'll be Ł3 or more with J D Wetherspoon pubs being the only exception. Everyone knows I'm a fan of this chain and they're one of their pubs are one of the few places you can still go to get a reasonable priced pint. Still, prices rise and if you're on a very low wage you'll still feel the sting even in your local 'spoon.

A cheaper alternative?

We go to pubs to enjoy a pint and to socialise. But why not invite some friends round to sample your beer. Have a karaoke party, watch a movie, play games, cards. In effect you will have you're own limited 'public house'. Have you got space in the spare room or a dart board and a pool table? Then there are those summer BBQ parties to look forward to where you can offer your guests a lovely pint of you're own homemade beer. Perfect!

Beer making equipment

It might sound complex and expensive, but apart from the initial outlay for some basic equipment it's really not that expensive at all. In fact you might be able to acquire the equipment for free using Freecycle.org. Over the years I have picked up pressure barrels and fermenting buckets etc. from Freecycle at no cost to myself. People often start brewing and then give up after a while then have a clear out to get rid of all the equipment. You can sometimes pick up a bargain on eBay too for the same reason.

You'll need the following: A 5 gallon fermentation bucket, a pressure barrel with tap, a large plastic jug, long plastic spoon to stir the brew and a syphoning tube (used later).

Beer kits - cheap, quick and surprisingly good

Beer kits are surprisingly good Once you have your brewing equipment you'll need stuff to make beer with. Whilst we'd all love to do a full mash brew and boil our hops etc., to be honest the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to make beer is to use a kit and the results are often surprisingly very good indeed. I have been brewing with kits for many years and only had two failures. Once when a friend rang as I was syphoning beer into a barrel - it ended up all over the floor, and another time I tried fermenting with bananas to create a banana flavoured beer. Okay, this wasn't exactly a failure but the beer didn't clear properly. It was an experiment that just didn't have the results I was after.

Beer kits range from very cheap (around Ł7) to quite expensive (closer to Ł20). But this basically means your beer will range from 17p a pint to maybe 50p a pint. I'd suggest trying a few different ones to see which you prefer. You can buy a kit for quite a few different types of beer, for example, Best Bitter, Yorkshire Bitter, Stout, Sottish Export and there's even a Lager and Cider kit if you fancy something different. There are a number of different companies making their own versions of these kits too, e.g., Tom Caxton, Youngs, Geodie to name but a few. The kits can be bought from a number of online shops and can sometimes also be bought in the high street too. Shops such as Wilkinson and Morrisons often stock a range of home brew kits and you can quite often find a home brew section in health food shops. I don't entirely understand why health food shops stock beer and wine kits but it does come in handy if you want to get a brew going but can't be bothered with the hassle of ordering online.

Part 1: Homemade beer - it's cheaper than the pub!
Part 2: How to make beer at home, step by step guide
Part 3: Put your beer in a pressure barrel then prime it