If you like your beer, brewing your own makes a lot of sense.

A case of 750ml bottled premium beer will cost about $50, but you can easily set yourself up to brew your own, and it works out at about $8-10 per case, once you’re up and running.

The initial starter kit to make your first 30 bottles of beer will only cost about $80, including the ingredients for your first batch. The kit can be used over and over again, not only to make beer, but apple cider and ginger beer, too.

The ongoing costs for each new batch can be less than $24 for the beer concentrate, sugar, carbonation drops and crown seals.

Brew your own beer

Gather your supplies

Brewing kit with: fermenting drum; tap; bottle-filling tube; air lock and grommet; sanitiser; brush; thermometer; spoon; hand capper; crown seals; malt/sugar; carbonation drops; wort concentrate (a viscous liquid extracted from malted grain and hops); and hydrometer

Note: You need to supply your own bottles, but remember that well-used bottles may have weaknesses if they’ve been knocked around beforehand.

Here's how:

Step 1 Screw tap to bottom of fermenting drum, making sure the sediment-reducer slot faces up and the tap spout down. Fit grommet to lid, then wash all equipment. Mix sanitising powder with water as per instructions (we used 30ml per litre of water) and pour into drum. Add air lock and mixing spoon (anything that will come into contact with the brew) and screw on the top of drum. Shake it around so all surfaces are sterilised, then let a bit of solution run out through the tap. Pour out solution and do not rinse.

Step 2 Put can of wort concentrate in the sink and add boiling water to warm it up so it’s less viscous or treacly. Let stand for 5 minutes or so.

Step 3 Boil 2 litres of water and add to fermenting drum. Open warm can of wort and pour into drum. Most of the liquid will come out. Add contents of malt/sugar bag and stir thoroughly.

Step 4 When fully mixed, add water using wort can until you have about 20 litres of brew. Using the can washes the last of the concentrate into the mix.

Step 5 At this stage, stick self-adhesive thermometer to side of drum on the bottom half. The temperature should be between 22-30º. If cold, you may want to add warm water to the mix to lift the temperature slightly. The ideal fermentation temperature is 25º. When temperature is ideal, top up brew to 23 litres.

Step 6 Sprinkle the yeast on top of the wort as soon as you can to start the fermentation process. The yeast is the active ingredient, which converts the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Step 7 Screw lid on tightly and push air lock into place. Partly fill air lock with clean water. The lock allows carbon dioxide to escape while stopping wild yeast and bacteria entering the brew. Set brew aside to ferment when the temperature is about 25º. The air lock will bubble away, but after a few days will settle as fermentation comes to completion. This takes 5-7 days, depending on the weather. Let brew sit a further day before bottling. Bottling before fermentation is complete may cause bottles to explode.

Step 8 (not pictured) Either use glass bottles (30 x 750ml – more for stubbies) or use screw-top PET bottles. Make sure your bottles are completely clean. Using the same cleaning solution as for the drum, scrub bottles with a bottlebrush. Also sanitise the filler tube.

Step 9 Fit filler tube to the tap and turn on tap. The pipe will fill with beer, but none should escape at the valve at the bottom. Then put 2 carbonation drops in a 750ml bottle (1 in a 375ml stubby bottle). The fermentation process has allowed carbon dioxide to escape through the air lock and the beer will be quite flat, so carbonation drops are needed to gas the beer.

Step 10 Press up a cup to open the valve; draw off the first cupful and discard. Fill a bottle to just below the top. Lower the bottle and the valve will close. It’s very easy to control.

Step 11 Once filled, cap bottles with crown seals as soon as you can. Lay a new seal on the bottle and use a hand capper and hammer to seal the cap on bottle neck. Store bottles in a stable temperature out of direct sunlight for at least 3 weeks. Clean and sanitise all equipment.

Try making this handy beer brewing cabinet