I don’t have a fancy, thousands of pounds setup. Aside from not having spent that level of money, I don’t have the space. And the great thing about home brewing is that you don’t need a lot of space to be able to do it on a relatively small level. There are home brew supplies that cater for everyone, whether it’s someone with an entire garage or room dedicated to the hobby or someone with no more than a spare cupboard.
Buying Home Brew Supplies
I got my first kit from supermarket, Tesco. But home brew supplies aren’t available from every single Tesco (only some of the biggest stores) and they’re not particularly readily available on the High Street either. In fact, your best bet is probably to try online. Of course, Amazon and eBay will have no shortage of options, but why not try some of the independent retailers? A quick search online will show plenty of results and you might even come across a retailer located locally to you.
What About Home Brew Kits?
There are, of course, the homw brew fanatics who will tell you that home brew kits aren’t ever going to make the most phenomenal ale ever! But for those who cannot feasibly spare the cash or space for a massive setup, and particularly for first time brewers, home brew kits are a great and good value option. Home brew kits are available from as little as £15, depending which you get. But as with anything, you do get what you pay for. Don’t expect the kit to contain absolutely everything you’ll need, either. Generally speaking, home brew kits for beginners won’t contain your bottles etc and if you don’t already have them, you should budget for buying things like that too.
The Cost of Home Brew Supplies
I paid £25.99 for my starter kit. Of course, this wasn’t the highest end kit. It produced 40 pints of ale. On top of this, I bought glass bottles, bottle caps and a bottle capper. All in all, my total spend for my first home brew supplies set was just under £50. Once you have your basic set up though, future batches will be much lower in terms of cost.
Of course, if you have more space and money is no concern, you could spend literally thousands on home brew supplies to enable you to produce larger quantities of ale. But for the average Joe, who takes this up as a hobby and who only wants to produce enough ale for themselves and their friends, £100 is way more than enough to get set up and going.
