How to homebrew beer

Homebrewing has long been popular with beer lovers on a budget and no surprise it’s boomed in recent times. But beyond saving money DIY beer is a great way to experiment with different styles, and the science of the process tends to appeal to handy types.

Pasion for a profession
Dave Bonighton, co-owner and head brewer of Mountain Goat Beer in Richmond, Victoria, was an enthusiastic homebrewer long before his passion become a profession. ‘I travelled in the US and Europe and discovered great beers you couldn’t get here. When I got home I started trying to make some.’

Dave says online access has made DIY beer easier with kits from all over the world, plus a global community of fellow aficionados.

‘There are forums and blogs, there’s always someone to ask for advice. It used to be just a cheap way to make beer, but more see it as a way to make good, unusual beers,’ he says.

Dave cites award-winning homebrewer Ross Mitchell, whose signature creation is flavoured with vanilla beans, star anise and ginger. ‘But all you need to get started is sugar and a yeast.’

Start with a stout
Basic kits are available in most major supermarkets and homebrew stores such as Grain and Grape (www. grainandgrape.com.au) in Yarraville, Melbourne.

Dave recommends starting with darker beers, saying ‘amber ales and stouts are quite big and flavoursome and can hide minor faults’, and working up to light lagers and pale ales that are delicate and need to be well-balanced.

To avoid mistakes he suggests making notes to aid future attempts. The biggest mistake, he says, is not cleaning the bottles thoroughly.

Boutique bre wing
‘There’s a trend towards premium beers,’ says Matt Kirkegaard, journalist and former editor of Beer & Brewer (www.beerandbrewer.com). ‘A lot of brewers get into grain brewing, where you boil grains up during a 13-brew day, rather than just taking an hour to mix up kit ingredients.

‘It’s not just to save money any more. People want to have control over the process and the final flavours. Grain brewing appeals to tinkerers and DIYers, they work on it endlessly to get exactly the beer they want.’

Matt says during the greed-is-good 1980s the Coopers brand boomed and beer sales were through the roof. ‘But during the recession that followed it was the homebrew arm of the company that kept them going. People didn’t want to stop drinking beer because money was tight. And a lot of guys who start brewing for cost reasons discover great flavours they didn’t know about.’