by our roving reporter Dex
Now I know what you are thinking….Potent….Foul tasting….Cloudy beer?
10/15 years ago you would probably have been right. Recent years have seen many more people taking up the ‘hobby’ and the quality of ingredients, equipment and general knowledge of brewing has greatly increased. A large part of this can be attributed to the internet and forums such as www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk allowing brewers the means of sharing their experiences and suppliers to further promote the art of brewing.
The are currently 3 different types of home brewing, All grain, Extract and Kits. All grain and Kits are the most popular.
The All grain style of brewing consists of Malted Grains, Hops and Yeast. The Malted Grains are mashed with hot water to extract the sugars and flavours from the grain then the resulting liquid called ‘Wort’ is boiled along with the hops which also provide flavour, bitterness and aroma. The yeast is then added to transform the fermentable sugars in the wort into alcohol. Books to get you started.
Kits are much quicker and easier to make but All Grain brewing is very satisfying and produces a higher quality drink.
The initial cost of buying all equipment for kit brewing can be as little of £25 with each brew costing between 20-50p a pint.
The costs of All Grain brewing are initially higher starting at around £80 for bog standard plastic equipment going upto many thousands of pounds for stainless steel. The price per pint is about the same as kits but as said previously produces a better …
