It’s 2016. The days of a pub choice of either imported “premium” lager or boring brown bitter are, thankfully, behind us. Whether it’s pale ales or porters, stouts or saisons, India pale ales (IPAs) or barrel-aged sours, visit your local bar or bottle shop and you’ll be spoilt for choice. You probably even have a favourite beer, a favourite style, a favourite brewery. But have you ever considered brewing your own? Yes, history is littered with undignified DIY attempts at this subtle art, which can go horribly wayward in the wrong hands. But, with a little creativity and a bit of time, you can make delicious brews to rival those you’d purchase. At least, this is what I learnt putting together my book Craft Brew, which features 50 real recipes from the world’s best breweries for you to make at home. Just make sure you’re familiar with the following five sound principles before you begin your journey into brewing (which you can start with the recipe from Berkshire brewery Siren Craft Brew, at the end of this page):

Don’t be tempted by kits You can buy boxes that give you the adulterated materials to make a sort-of beer. You can also buy ready meals. It doesn’t mean you should. Kits will provide a mere droplet of the satisfaction you’d get from making beer from scratch.

Spread the work As with drinking it, beer is best brewed with likeminded others. Getting friends involved from the start means you can share the cost, the work and the results.

Get creative The brilliant thing about home-brewing is that you can make a different beer every time. Fancy flinging a handful of smoked malt into an IPA? Go for it. Want to load up your jet-black porter with copious New World hops? Who’s going to stop you?

Take it seriously Or don’t.
 As with any pastime, from beekeeping to bouldering, you can get as geeky as you like. There’s a lot of science in beer-making, if you look for it. But a laidback approach ensures brewing never feels like a chore.

Don’t just drink beer… …Think beer. Next time you open a bottle of your go-to craft beer, sip then stop. What does it actually taste like? Sweet, sour, bitter, bold? Tropical, citrusy, piney, mellow? Once you truly immerse yourself in what you’re drinking, figuratively speaking, you’ll be able to think about how you could recreate or improve on those flavours yourself.

Ready to give it a go? Here’s a recipe featured in Craft Brew for the fruity and refreshing Undercurrent oatmeal pale ale from cult establishment Siren Craft Brew, which currently makes some of the most exciting beer in Britain.

While you can get pretty technical with fancy pieces of apparatus, there are easy homemade hacks for most of the things on this list; online guides abound.

• _Mash tun: _

An insulated container with a drain tap and a false bottom. Craft your own using a picnic-style cool box and some bits of plumbing.

• **Hot water kettle: **

A large heatproof container. A big stovetop pan will do the trick.

• **Fermenter: **

A sealed container of glass, plastic or steel – with an airlock to let CO2 out – in which your creation will become alcoholic over time.

• _Bottles, caps and bottle-capper: _

To package your beer ready for drinking.

Plus:

• A long spoon for safe stirring
• A big jug for pouring and measuring
• A siphon tube for liquid transfer
• A thermometer
• No-rinse sanitiser for keeping everything clean
• Some digital scales for accurate weighing.

There are plenty of reputable online brewing supply shops where you’ll find everything you need. Try themaltmiller.co.uk or brewuk.co.uk.

Malts:

• 2.66kg Maris Otter pale
• 520g malted oats
• 260g wheat
• 260g Carahell malt
• 40g Caraaroma malt

Hops:

• 7g Magnum hops
• 40g Cascade hops
• 16g Palisade hops
• 12g Columbus hops

Other:

• 10l water
• 1 standard sachet Fermentis US-05 American Ale yeast
• 90g priming sugar

Crush the malts. Add about 10l water at 68ºC to your mash tun, give it a stir, then put the lid on and leave it for 1 hour. Take the lid off, then recirculate: open the tap at the bottom of the mash tun and withdraw a few pints of the hot liquid, close the tap, then pour very slowly and carefully over the whole of the top of the crushed and soaked grain. Repeat this several times until the liquid runs off clear of too much debris.

Next, “sparging”. Open the tap at the bottom of the mash tun a little so it drains into your boil kettle (gravity helps). Pour a few more jugs of 68ºC water gently over the top of the grain and let it soak through until you have about 23l in the boil kettle, aiming for an original gravity of 1.044. Turn on the heat, and when the liquid’s been at a healthy boil for 10 minutes, add the Magnum hops. Boil for another 50 minutes, then add 20g Cascade hops. Boil for another 10 minutes, turn off the heat then add the remaining Cascade, Palisade and Columbus. Strain the liquid to a fermenter, cool to between 15ºC and 21ºC, then add the Fermentis US-05 American Ale yeast. Put the lid on and leave at around 20ºC for 2-3 weeks.

Drain into another vessel, add the priming sugar, stir and bottle. After about a month, you should have a 4.5 per cent beer; chill a bottle down, crack it open and celebrate. You’re now a craft brewer.