7 reasons to brew your own beer at home

Somebody cracks open a beer in your backyard, pours it, takes a sip, and then asks whether you made it. That's the moment every homebrewer is quietly working towards, and it's a lot more achievable than most people assume.

Brewing isn't really about ending up with something to drink. It's about making something yourself and then handing it to somebody. If you like beer, it's worth a go, and here's why.

1. Your beer, your rules

The lagers on a bottle shop shelf are made to appeal to as many people as possible, which is exactly why none of them taste like your favourite thing in the world. Brewing your own puts you in charge of it. Fancy a mango pale ale, go and make one. Want a stout so dark it's basically dessert, that's yours to decide too.

You can play with hop combinations, dial the sweetness up or down, push the bitterness, or chase that toasty malt character you liked in something you drank once. It stops being beer and starts being your beer.

2. It's actually hands on

Brewing isn't a press a button and wait sort of hobby. You measure out the ingredients, stir the wort, watch the airlock start to bubble, and every step of it is something you did rather than something that happened to you. That's rare in a hobby these days.

And it sits in a nice spot between being a real challenge and being genuinely relaxing, which is a combination not much else manages.

3. It doesn't have to cost the earth

The big myth about homebrewing is that it drains your wallet. There's plenty of shiny gear to get carried away with later, but a basic setup is all you need to start: a fermenter, an airlock, a hydrometer, and a kit with the ingredients in it.

Once the gear is paid for, the only thing you're buying per batch is the tin and the sugars, and that works out well against buying the same amount of beer. A Coopers liquid malt extract kit is about the simplest starting point there is.

4. You don't need to learn the jargon first

If you've ever searched how to start homebrewing and come away feeling flattened by the sheer volume of opinions, you're not alone, and honestly that's the internet's fault rather than yours. Brewing doesn't have to be complicated to start. A ready to brew kit keeps the decisions small and gets the basics right for you, so batch one has a good chance of being drinkable.

Nobody starts out knowing this stuff. You learn what hops do by using them and what a longer ferment does by leaving one alone, and none of that is knowledge you can get ahead of by reading harder. Once the first batch is done you'll have a feel for what to change next time, which is the bit the forums can't give you.

5. It slows you down, in a good way

Between work and kids and everything else that piles up, hobbies that make you stand still are worth something. Brewing does that. Heating the water, adding the malt, timing the hops. It makes you pay attention to what's in front of you for an hour, and there's not a lot left that does.

Then weeks later you pour the first glass of it, which is a decent pat on the back for an hour you'd otherwise have spent scrolling.

6. It's a good thing to hand somebody

Whether you're running a barbecue or just pulling a bottle out at trivia night, handing somebody a beer you made is a different act from handing them one you bought. It's a small thing and it lands every time.

It's not bad for your own head either. You'll look at a bottle of the stout you finally nailed and think, right, I did that.

7. You stop being a spectator

If you already geek out about beer with your mates or go out of your way to try something new, you're halfway there. Brewing your own moves you from talking about it to doing it, and brewers are a generous lot with advice, swaps and opinions about your water.

So where do you start

Pick a kit for a style you actually like drinking, get a fermenter and something to sanitise it with, and brew the thing. Batch one is the one that teaches you the most, and it doesn't have to be perfect to be worth doing.

If you'd rather talk it through before you spend anything, come in and ask us. That's a much shorter conversation than a forum thread.

Shop related products

• Coopers Original Real Ale 1.7kg. A forgiving first kit and a beer most people will drink.
• Coopers Original Draught 1.7kg. The safe crowd pleaser if you're brewing for a barbecue.
• Coopers Brew Enhancer 1 1kg. Better body than plain sugar, and it's the easiest upgrade to make.
• Beer Essentials No Rinse Sanitizer 25g. The step people skip, and the reason their first batch tasted odd.

Did you know we also stock Coopers and Beer Essentials starter kits in the shop, along with 30 and 60 litre fermenter systems, bottle cappers, crown seals, PET and glass bottles, hydrometers, thermometers and hop pellets. Not all of that is on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's on the shelf.

The rest of the beer gear is in the homebrew beer supplies collection, and if you want a hand picking a first kit, Brewhilder will walk you through it.

Read next

• How to brew a Coopers English Bitter at home
• Top 5 common homebrewing mistakes and how to fix them
• Homebrew ingredients, what hops, malts and yeast actually do

I'm still of the view that the best beer is the one somebody hands you, which is convenient, because it means I don't have to make it.

Cheers

Candeece