Thanks to Alastair Darling's latest budget, the price of beer (and other alcohol) has literally increased overnight. However you don't have to be affected by this. In fact you can actually cut the cost of beer by more than three quarters by brewing it yourself.
The initial outlay for a very good home brew kit is currently about £60 and you get everything you need to make your first 40 pints. The kit from Brew It Yourself includes:
- a 25 litre brewing bin
- a paddle (for mixing)
- a syphon (for transferring from the brewing bin to the barrel)
- steriliser (to clean everything before you get started)
- a hydrometer (to help determine when your beer is ready for kegging and it's approx ABV)
- a Woodfordes Wherry beer kit (a very tasty and drinkable beer)
- a 40 pint barrel
The only other things you'll need is some water, some instructions (they're on the box, but nothing beats pictures to help you on your way) and a little bit of patience and in 4 - 6 weeks you'll have 40 pints of your own delicious brew.
This first batch works out to about £1.50 a pint due to the initial outlay, however your second and subsequent brews will come in at about 50p a pint. Now if that's not an incentive to brew your own, I don't know what is.
Home brewing is also a great hobby and there's loads of information on the Brew It Yourself forums.
Just one word of warning: before you know it, you'll have 3 or 4 kegs on the go with all your mates queuing at the front door wanting to come drink your beer.
Blog Entries
Replies: 0