Brewing your own beer can be a very simple and rewarding pass time, not to mention a delicious way to save money. And if you’ve never tried beer from a homebrew beer kit you’ll be amazed at the standard these kits are reaching these days.
Before you can start brewing, you’ll need to get a little bit of equipment, but many retailers offer packages comprising everything you need to get underway. The essentials for brewing from beer kits are a fermenting bucket with lid and bubble airlock, sterilising cleanser, a long spoon, and either a tap or syphon. Then you’ll need to decide whether to bottle your beer or treat yourself to a pressure barrel.
Like most hobbies, homebrewing involves an initial investment, but once you have your equipment, that’s you set up for years of satisfying brewing to come. And the savings on shop- or pub-bought beer will easily pay for your gear in no time
So once you have your equipment, the next step is ingredients. And while it is entirely possible to brew beer at home from raw ingredients, it’s an awful lot quicker and more reliable to choose from the incredible selection of beer kits available to buy.
The process varies from one kit to another, but the general flow is something like this. Mix the contents of your kit with around 6 pints of boiling water, top up with cold water to the 40-pint mark, sprinkle with sachets of yeast and hops, and leave to stand somewhere warm for 7-10 days.
At this point, the beer is ready to transfer to your barrel or bottles, where you’ll need to charge it with sugar.
After two days, move the beer somewhere cool for a couple of weeks and then it’s ready. Top tip: our experience tells us that the longer you leave the beer in the barrel or bottles, the better it tastes!
Enjoyed home-brewing? Why not make your own sloe gin or elderberry wine in time for Christmas?
Best homebrew kits
Here’s our pick of some of the best kits to get started.
Woodforde’s Wherry
Woodforde’s of Norfolk have been brewing award-winning beers since 1981, using fresh ingredients local to their home in the Norfolk Broads. A Supreme Champion Beer of Britain, Wherry is their legendary amber ale. Wherry is a perfectly balanced 4.5% session beer, with the floral and citrus notes subtle enough not to overpower the beer.
The homebrew kit comes complete with everything you need, bar a little extra sugar (we recommend using brewing sugar, but you can use anything you have to hand). We left it in the barrel for a little longer that it suggests – maybe 3-4 weeks rather than 14 days – and found this improved the flavour hugely. You’ll struggle to find a better standard ale to begin your homebrewing journey.
Buy Woodforde's Wherry homebrew kit
St Peter’s Cream Stout
Describing itself as one of England’s original craft breweries, St Peter’s have been creating award-winning beers in Suffolk since founding in 1996. Their range of beer kits includes some of the most reliable on the market – their ruby red ale, golden ale and India pale ale are all highly recommended – but it’s their cream stout that we’ve returned to time and again.
Its flavour is strong and distinctive, with more bite that you might expect at a comfortable 4.7%, with bittersweet notes of coffee and chocolate, in a pleasingly dark and creamy brew. As with many kits, it benefits greatly from longer in the barrel and remains one of the most satisfying brews we’ve made.
Buy St Peter's Cream Stout homebrew kit
Festival New Zealand Pilsner
The Festival World Beer Kit range brings a world of great brewing to your home. The range includes beers from around the globe – there’s a great American IPA, a German Weiss beer, the strong Belgian Dubbel and a Vienna red lager – but we can’t get enough of this fresh 5% pilsner with Pacific jade and gem hops.
As you get to know the beer, you can vary the level of hops you add to suit your own palate, but we found putting the whole sachet in gave it a deliciously refreshing citrus and melon flavour without becoming too floral.
Buy Festival New Zealand Pilsner homebrew kit
Peach To Their Own
If you fancy trying something a bit different, Munton’s Tap Room Series is well worth exploring. Each of these master-brewer’s creations is a limited run, so keep your eyes peeled for a brew from off the beaten track.
We tried their Peach To Their Own IPA, which, coming in at 5.7%, is a punchy brew. As you could probably guess, this is a peach-flavoured beer, which is an ancient and well-loved style of beer, but given a funky twist here. We chose to bottle this one rather than keep it in a barrel, so we can pull it out to impress guests, rather than keep on tap for our regular pint.