New homebrew kit

Brewing has been one of my favourite hobbies for a long time. I’ve never had a particularly fancy kit, nor have I ever produced anything noteworthy, but it’s a fun and rewarding activity nonetheless. Saturdays brewing and sharing a few bottles of something special or rare with my friend Nathan were always a blast.

I haven’t made any beer since moving to London back in ‘15. There’s just not enough extra space in the flat for all the extra kit. I’ve finally cracked and started putting together a small-volume kit so I can get back into brewing and teaching my son more about it - I’ve dragged him along to breweries all over the world, so he’s developed quite an interest in how it works …and how it tastes (shhh).

I plan to start brewing regularly - I’d really like to get better at it and improve my kit over time, even if it is a small one. I’ll create a post here for each batch. It will be a brew log of sorts, where I can track the process, results, and any notes that will help improve the next batch.

The new kit #

Fermenter #

To get a simple start, I picked up one of these 1 (US) gallon kits from Brooklyn Brew Shop - it includes a small fermenting vessel and some accessories that provide a good base to build around. The included ingredients will help kick start getting back into the swing of things:

• Beer Making Kit

You’ll want to pick this up on Amazon if you’re buying in the UK, otherwise shipping from the US will be laughably expensive. Support your local homebrew shop if you’re able. - I was buying during Covid-19 lockdown so Amazon was my only option.

Necessities #

I had no appropriate gear going into this, so I needed to pick up a bunch of other stuff, too:

• Pot - 8 litres
• Spoon
• Strainer
• Funnel
• Hydrometer

Keg #

I decided that I didn’t want the hassle of bottling - storing and cleaning bottles is a hassle, even when you have space, plus I don’t feel like waiting the extra time for bottle conditioning. I decided to splash down the extra money for a keg to keep things simple:

• uKeg Stainless

Again, if you’re in the UK, you’ll want to grab this from Amazon or see if your local shop has anything comparable.

The keg is charged using food-grade CO2 cartridges, so I picked up a cheap box of those as well:

• CO2 cartridges

Final thoughts #

This should make for a decent enough start for brewing some small batches. I’m excited to start teaching my son about brewing and (hopefully) enjoying some good beers.

Cheers!