Craft Your Own Beer. It's Fun, Easy and Creative.

A good quality beer kit.

Starting with a kit is the easiest way to begin crafting your own beer. You can also make beer from scratch using grains, hops, water and yeast but this is quite involved so we recommend new brewers to go the kit route for their first brew at least. Kit manufacturers do most of the work for you. You get a concentrate that requires the addition of water and yeast to get the fermentation started. We recommend to use our own Barking Kettle or Brew House from RJS Craft Winemaking. These high-quality kits will give you excellent results.

Use the right equipment.

Make sure you use new food-quality equipment. Don't try to save money by using old plastic buckets, siphons, etc. We recommend new equipment because old plastic containers, spoons and hoses can have scratches or may have odours and stains from previous use. Scratches can contain spoilage bacteria while odours can be transferred to your wine leaving it undrinkable. It's false economy and a waste of your time if you have to pour a batch of beer down the drain. Stainless steel or glass containers and utensils are an exception and can be safely used if properly cleaned and sanitized.

In most cases it's best to purchase an equipment starter kit. These kits contain all the equipment recommended for making high-quality beer and are usually sold at a discounted package price as compared to buying the individual pieces.

Buy equipment starter kits now at Brewery Lane E-Store

A clean and tidy environment.

it's important that you work in a clean and sanitary environment. If you want to avoid accidents and mistakes make sure your work area is tidy and uncluttered.

Brewing is essentially food preparation so use common-sense. Prepare the area as if you were getting ready to cook.

You don't need a large area to work in however access to hot and cold water is essential. Most people use their kitchen or laundry room. You will also need a warm area with a fairly constant temperature of 20° - 25° Celsius for the fermentation to take place. If this is not possible in the room you wish to use then you can purchase heating belts and wraps for your fermenting vessel that will keep the temperature constant.