How To Brew Your Own Beer

Buy a brewing kit from your local brewing shop which contains, amongst other things, a liquid mixture of oats and hops.

Once you have your brewing kit, the first thing to do is sterlise your fermenting vessel with the contact steriliser.

Put your tin of extract into warm water for 15 minutes and then open the tin. Remove the top of your fermenting vessel, being careful not to rest it face down as this risks contamination. Pour as much of the extract as you can into the vessel. There is likely to be quite a lot of extract left in the tin, so boil a kettle and fill the tin about half way with the hot water. Holding onto the tin with a cloth, give it a stir with a sterilised spoon to loosen up what's left behind, and then pour this into the vessel.

Repeat this with the second tin.

Empty the rest of the kettle into the fermenting vessel, and stir thoroughly with the same sterilised spoon as before, making sure that all the extract is dissolving.

Fill the vessel with 23 litres of cold water.

Open up your packet of yeast with a pair of scissors, and sprinkle it onto the surface of the liquid in the vessel. This will cause the sugars to ferment, and create carbon dioxide, and of course, alcohol. Put the lid back onto the vessel and leave at room temperature, ideally 20 degrees, for 5 days. Make sure you fill the air lock with a little liquid to help prevent contamination. Ensure the area the vessel is left in does not experience excessive vibrations, as this will disturb the process.

Once the days have passed, put a syphon into the vessel and the other end into your keg. Give the syphon a quick pump down, to start the liquid flowing into your keg. Once all the liquid has transferred, pour 3 ounces of sugar into the keg.

Make sure you grease the keg seal with petroleum jelly to prevent contamination, and screw it onto the keg tightly.

Store this for 14 days, in the place where you wish to dispense it, as moving the keg will disturb the sediment. To aid this, let the tap hang over the table edge slightly.

After 14 days, you can decant and taste your beer. If you find it is not carbonated enough for you, you can buy a gas canister which screws onto the keg top and inserts carbon dioxide, thus pressurising the keg.